Fragile Reputations

Kathryn Arnoldy, Mason Fiore, Justin Ryder, & Steven Everitt

Scientific Revolutions

Abstract

Walking a Tight Rope on a Razors Edge | the Fine Line Between Acceptance & Persecution

For our exhibit piece, our group decided to make a tri-fold poster on four prominent figures. All of which were either heretics from Europe, or they were involved with The Salem witch trials. The two our group decided to focus on from Europe were Galileo and Giordano Bruno. The two from the Salem witch trials were Bridget Bishop and John Proctor. The tri-fold poster contains pictures and a biography of each person accused of witchcraft and heresy. In the middle of our poster, we attempted to create something fun that people who saw it could participate in. To make the poster more interactive and hands on, we made a flow chart. The flow chart has questions about the viewer’s behaviors or actions which could lead them to either being accused of being a witch or heretic during this time period.

Bridget Bishop, of Salem, Massachusetts, was the first person of many to be accused of witchcraft and subsequently hung during what would come to be known as the Salem witch trials. Mrs. Bishop married at the age of twenty and soon after moved to Salem, Massachusetts with her husband. After six years of marriage, Mrs. Bishop was widowed by the passing of her husband. Shortly after her husband’s death, Mrs. Bishop married a man by the name of Thomas Oliver. Their marriage was marred by volatility, and they were often witnessed arguing publicly. The residents of Salem took notice and, due to their scrupulous nature, Mrs. Bishop was soon in their crosshairs. Shortly after their public dispute, Mrs. Bishop’s husband, Thomas Oliver, died a suspicious death. His death reverberated throughout the close-knit community, and many residents grew quite suspicious of Mrs. Bishop. Eventually, as a result of the untimely deaths of her two prior husbands, Mrs. Bishop was accused of witchcraft. Since the claims were based upon unsubstantiated evidence, the charges were soon dropped (Kion).

Mrs. Bishop went on to marry for a third and final time. This time to a man by the name of Edward Bishop. Mr. Bishop was well respected and well known within the town of Salem. Mr Bishop owned a sawmill and was heavily involved with the church (Douglas). Unfortunately, their marriage met a similar fate to the two prior. Just as before, the couple argued frequently and publicly. Being a non-conformist, Mrs. Bishop was not the typical Puritan wife. She often dressed in black with vibrant colors and was not submissive to her husband, which was atypical for the time. Being the outgoing person that Mrs. Bishop was, she decided one to open a tavern within the confines of their household. Her actions caused an outrage in the community and on April 18^th, 1692, Mrs. Bishop was arrested for a second time, and again, faced charges of witchcraft.

During the trial, things quickly spun out of hand. Residents of Salem began spewing unfounded claims of a variety of crimes supposedly perpetrated by Mrs. Bishop. An example of this was when a respected official accused Bridget, and three other women, of appearing to him every night (Douglas). He began to sleep with a sword and had a friend stay over one night (Douglas). In the middle of the night, he got into a fight with the witches, but his friend did not see anyone except the man struggling with the sword (Douglas). Many of these accusations seem to be fabricated from a dream or mental illness. At the time, these people may have believed that it was really happening. Either people really believed in these things, or they did not want Bridget in the village any more. They decided to accuse her of everything, until Bridget was hung. That day was viewed as being the first step to ridding the town of witchcraft.

Another, more well-known individual that is portrayed in our exhibit piece is John Proctor. In 1666, Mr. Proctor purchased a farm in Salem. He spent his days working and living off the land. When the outcries of witchcraft began in Salem, Jon Proctor spoke out against the outlandish accusations. He called them scams on the people being accused. This is the main reason why Jon was accused of, and later hung, for practicing witchcraft. Soon, his entire family was being charged with practicing witchcraft including his wife, Elizabeth, Elizabeth's sister, and all of his children (Lugar).

Throughout the trial of his wife, Jon stayed with her and continued to believe she was innocent. Ultimately, he was condemned for supporting her. While imprisoned, Jon wrote a letter to the clergy of Boston who, at the time, felt uneasy about the witch hunts that were taking place in Salem. Proctor pled with the clergy to move the trial to Boston, or at least have different judges appointed. Jon described, in detail, how unfair the trials actually were. He spoke of Rebecca Nurse, who had a flawless record and, because she spoke out against the witch hunts, was killed. Unfortunately, Jon Proctor was hung on August 19^th of that year (Lugar).

For his outspoken ways, Jon was killed because he simply questioned what the majority was doing. This seemed to be the overlying theme dealing with the Salem witch trials. At the time, people were afraid of these things and wanted the church and their religion to be the most powerful thing. They did not want witches to be more powerful and therefore, attempted to seek out something that did not exist. This is an excellent comparison to the Heretics, who were accused and prosecuted for something much different.

Giordano Bruno was born in 1548 and died February 17, 1600. Bruno was born in Nola, Italy (Kessler). He was a philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. Bruno was convicted of heresy during the time of the Inquisition. He openly opposed and posed questions about the Catholic faith, which is one of the reasons he was easily accused of heresy. Many of his books questioned the Catholic faith and brought up other “magical ideas.” Some people even thought that he was a magician that could “inspire memory retention” (Kessler). In one of his books, Ars Mernoriae (Art Memory) is where he makes a point to say that Christianity was entirely irrational along with various other religions (Kessler). This brought him under a close watch by the Church. Bruno also believed in Copernicus’ models of the solar system, but did not explain it using science and math like Copernicus did. He used magical powers to explain the theories which also caused him to be under question (Yates). Once he was put under question of heresy, he was imprisoned for seven years. After seven years of imprisonment, Bruno was eventually burned at the stake by authorities in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy (Kessler).

One of the most famous of all the cases tried by the Roman Inquisition involved Galileo Galilei in 1633. Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, and was the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia Ammannati (Reston 1). Although he grew up with a desire to join the priesthood, he attended the University of Pisa to pursue a medical degree, at his father’s urging. However, he did not complete his degree and instead studied mathematics.

If Galileo had pursued a life of priesthood, he may very well have never become the scientist we recognize him to be today. Due to the revolutionary nature of his theories, Galileo was soon met with opposition. His position in regards to Copernicus’ heliocentric theory, and the resultant paradigm shift, forced him into confrontation with the church. The confrontation came to a head when Galileo made his way to Rome to argue against the banning of Copernicus’ theories. The Church, under orders from the Inquisition, told Galileo that he was no longer allowed to support the heliocentric principles that he so fervidly defended. Galileo, being the better man, removed himself from controversy all together. Eventually, he was called upon by Pope Urban VIII to author a book on both Copernicus’ heliocentric theory and the opposing views regarding geocentric nature of universe. (Brodrick) When the book was published, it was not the religiously biased examination of the two theories that the church expected. His work was interpreted as an attack on the theory of egocentrism, and therefore the Church itself. Galileo was ordered to stand trial in 1633. It was at this trial that he was found to be “vehemently suspect of heresy.” Galielo was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life and his book was subsequently banned by the Church (Artigas, and Shea 169).

Overall, these four individuals have taught us that to live as a free spirit and to freely express ones ideas, we must walk a tight rope on a razors edge between acceptance and persecution. During the Salem witch trials, the accused were often tried based upon accusations of witchcraft. In reality, the accused often times had not actually perpetrated any real crimes; they had only fell victim to the unfortunate paranoia of the day. If found guilty, more often than not, the accused paid with their life. In comparison, during the Roman Inquisition, those accused of heresy needed to commit crimes against the church. Those prosecuted were not ultimately faced with death but rather a life of imprisonment.

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