Women's History Resource Site

King's College History Department

Book Review

Brauner, Sigrid. Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The Construction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995.

In today's society, the term witch conjures up the image of an old hag, usually poor, and of course a woman. This however was not always the case. Witchcraft was not considered gender specific until the fifteenth century, when Kramer and Sprenger put forth the notion that "the insatiable womb led women to consort with devils and practice witchcraft, whereas God had preserved the male sex from so great a crime" (3). With that theory, and the public’s willingness to take it as truth, it led to the redefined look for a witch in the fifteenth century to the present. The numbers will vary on whomever you ask, or what that specific historian believe, but at least tens of thousands of women were tried and slaughtered in witch hunts because of these pre-conceived notions. The witch hunts were a very big cause of many deaths throughout Europe during this time, and the knowledge of these death’s being women are just understood. This book digs deep into not only why they are known like that, but what led to this label.  It raises some good questions in my mind if we today don’t look at the woman as possibly being evil in some senses because of these stereotypes that were given out hundreds of years ago. 

Before her death in 1992, the author of this book, Sigrid Brauner, was a well-respected assistant professor of German literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Being that the author is a woman, I immediately thought I would be in for over 100 pages of how men ruined women’s lives and how men really are the witches in disguise. Surprisingly, and to my delight, this is not the case, as her statements about the perceived notion that women are witches are backed up by factual information. From the very start of the book, she makes it very clear what the book will cover. Why were women singled out as witches for the first time in history, after many years of a non-biased look at witches as being male or female? 

She immediately answers the question of who started the notion of women as witches in the first paragraph with the naming of Kramer and Sprenger as the people who started it. In their book, called Malleus Maleficarum, witchcraft was reinterpreted as a gender specific crime. Some evidence they gave that Brauner found as useful tidbits in her own book was how women succeed in corrupting men because they are "so beautiful to look at" and "contaminating to the touch" with sweet voices that "entice passerby and kill them....by emptying their purses, consuming their strength, and causing them to forsake God" (47). They go on to compare women to vampires and how the woman is a curse worse then the devil. The first part about this is essentially summed up when they say that the spread of witchcraft will threaten to start the arrival of the apocalypse that was told in the Bible. They believed that women were this evil, and that something had to be done. Many historians of course did not believe everything that this book had to say, but it did lay the groundwork for witches being specifically known as women.

 The next person this book centers around is Martin Luther and his teachings. Without really saying it, as much to use as a contrast, Luther is for the most part against the writings of the Malleus. He does go along with how devious witches are, and how they defy the Lord. However, he isn’t as forward as to give a physical description of these witches. In fact, the book says that Luther is not very interested in the sexual aspect of witchcraft. He believes that demons are just as likely to seduce men as women. However, in his view, the downfall of women came with Eve’s sin, and this deprived women’s equality with men. 

Luther, along with other authors such as Paul Rebhun and Hans Sachs were a little more lenient about women and how they shouldn’t be dismissed as much as witches. Rebhun and Sachs were more inclined throughout the book to talk about women as being bad wives and that coinciding with them being witches. However, in very much Luther's style, both believed that both men and women could have women tendencies to being a witch. Regardless, the preconceived notion was already there, and it continued to be there. Throughout the rest of the book, the author keeps talks about different people and how they are intertwined with the "witch craze" and their views on it. For the most part she maintains an objective view while writing, and just sticks to the facts. However, at times it is pretty obvious a woman writing, when she uses such words as calling Kramer and Sprenger's views "narrow" and "conservative" (114) and believed that years later, these views had no merit. She does admit though, at the time, few people questioned these views. 

This book will hit a wide range of audiences because of its topic. The topic I am referring to isn’t necessarily witches though, but how women were given their stereotype as being a witch. In being a witch, this obviously refers to being evil or causing temptation. This is something that still holds some truth today, so it would be interesting for any female today to be able to read this book and be able to see where the origins of this notion came from. I also think that scholars and the general public alike will find this book interesting. Scholars would especially find this book appealing because it dives into the work of Kramer and Sprenger along with early ideas of Luther. The general public would too find this interesting, but more along the lines if they’re trying to get a background of knowledge for a particular reason, rather then just for enjoyment.

The strengths of this book are its fine attention to detail and very good background of knowledge on the subject. She does not waste any time in diving right into the question and answering it. However, after that, it seems like the author does not set out to prove a point, but rather just giving facts on what happened and how people started the notion that women are witches. In looking back in retrospect, this was probably the best way to go about it, because the facts are enough of an argument to back up her opening question. I believe that this book raises questions of where our society is today with women, and also sheds some light as to why some people in today's society look at women as being inferior.

In this book, the author’s point is simple. She wants to get across the point that because of some early writings of a few people in the sixteenth century, witches will always go hand in hand with being women. She states that in the beginning of the book, and she says it again in the end. The middle of the book gives the facts in plain and simple terms, and there can not be much arguing done with her on this point. The book is very thorough and leaves a good impression with all of its points. The author has clearly done her homework in backing up her statements, as her information comes straight from the books that she talks about, such as Malleus Maleficarum, which is the center of her own book, some of Martin Luther’s teachings, and Rebhun’s Sermon on Domestic Peace. Again, Brauner simply states what these writings say and let that do the talking for her, rather then talk in more of a biased tone so us, the reader, will try and believe what she is saying. For some readers, it might actually lead to more questions: why didn’t women fight more to get equal treating, how come there wasn’t a woman who stood up and said that a man was just as capable of doing this witchcraft?  However, for what the author was trying to prove, she did it in a very straight to the point matter, and ended up writing a very good, interesting book that will still be a popular read many years from now. 

URL: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/wrevbrauner.html Written by David Ruggles Last Revision: 12 November 2001 Copyright © MM Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site