Žena a čarodějnický sabat

Abstract

This bachelor thesis follows the development of the myth of Sabbath as it was created by Christian demonologists in the last centuries of the Middle Ages. It tries to trace its mythical roots and influences of older pre-Christian traditions. It begins with medieval theories of conspiracy which caused the persecution of lepers in France at the beginning of the 14th century and ends with great European hunters, whose justification was based on the belief in the mysterious witches gathering. I assume from the thesis of the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, who considered the Witches Sabbath to be transformed idea of the conspiracy of lepers, on which were grafted demonized pagan motives and the new conception of the devil, which crystallized at the end of the Middle Ages. I also try to interpret the motives of the Sabbath as the projections of the social taboos, which had in the centre figure of woman. From this perspective, I evaluate the figure of the devil, who became the shadow of the society at that time.