The Scapegoat: Impotence and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages

Abstract

This essay investigates the question of how women were used as scapegoats for male impotence during the Witch Craze. It analyzes the two medical treatises Trotula and the Secrets of Woman comparing and contrasting how each text prescribe treatments towards the female sex. The perceptions and ideals conveyed in these medical treatises provide an explanation as to why women were placed in a vulnerable position and targeted for threatening male masculinity.