SPECIAL Accusations of sorcery eventually led to the persecution of many women throughout the Middle Ages. Especially from the fifteenth century onward, witchcraft was deemed a secular crime, and mass persecutions became far more common. Women were thrown into rivers, burned at the stake, or hung to dispel their powers and their bodies. During this period, women were disproportionately accused in part due to their supposed spitefulness, feebleness, and evil dispositions.
But magical powers were not always bad or evil. Magic was also sought for healing and protection through the work of special individuals, natural cures, or magical objects. Numerous objects from across the medieval world were believed to carry healing or protective qualities due to their materials, forms, images, or inscriptions. Such objects would be worn around the body…