ier than others but because of the community spirit within these small enclaves the children of your neighbor may as well be your children, and one would never consider withholding food or aid from a poorer neighbor. Women in these communities could choose their path and remain single and independent or marry and have children. A woman was also virtually unlimited in the number of children she could have. More children meant more hands to contribute to chores and farm work, which in turn meant there was more food for the family to eat. Extended family was also a large part of this lifestyle and as such there were always grandparents, and perhaps even great grandparents who would help to raise the communities children and allow the mothers to contribute more fully to community life.There were several events that led up to the century known as "the Burning Times". By the middle of the16th century, the which-hunt was in full swing. In brief, the historical timeline of the witch-hunt and those events leading to the witch-hunt are as follows: Prior to the 11th century the Catholic Church did not even acknowledge the existence of Witches. To accuse or take action against one suspected of being a "dark witch", Vampire or other supernatural being was punishable by cannon law. It was only towards the beginning of the 11th century that the church began to look upon the practice of "healing arts" as a possible form of witchcraft and began to dole out minor punishment for the practice of unlicensed healing.In 1227 Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisitional Courts to arrest, try, convict and execute heretics. This mandate did not include "Witches" per se. In 1252 Pope Innocent III authorized the use of torture during inquisitional trials (Trevor-Roper, 1969, p. 43). This greatly increased the conviction rate. In 1258 Pope Alexander IV instructed the Inquisition to confine their investigations to cases of heresy. They were to not investigate charg...
