The top picture is amazing. It's reminiscent of woodcuts, of course, but there's a romanticism (I don't mean that in a mushy way) that is almost Victorian (and I don't mean in a stuffy sense.) It looks like the best of Cruikshank, to be honest, only without the cartoonising.

It also reminded me of something related to the 'witch' thing. You know the derogatory expression 'faggot' for a homosexual man? That expression arose because men 'convicted' of such a crime were bound head and foot (often with their partner) and burned with heretics. England didn't burn its witches, as witchcraft was considered a civil, not ecclesiastical offence (Scotland however did burn witches, as did Ireland on four or five occasions, the last of which was as recently as the Oscar Wilde trial.) Anyway... I digress. "Heretics," that is people who didn't pray the way the church wanted (so Catholics under Elizabeth say, or protestants under the Charlses) were guilty under church law. So they were bound and burned at the stake, whereas the so called'faggots' were used as tinder (God help them). Witches were hung, sentence carried out by the civil authorities, sherrifs etc, and the 'witchfinders', who were appointed by the courts. (Most of the rest of Europe burned them, with the church sitting in judgement.)

Edited 2012-09-08 12:16 pm (UTC)