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I came across the piece by Matossian (1988, see the precis from the Hawai Botany Institute below) suggesting ergotism as at least a possible factor in outbreaks of witch-burning in 17th century Europe some time ago, but thinking about it the other day I wondered if there was at least the possibility that it might also be a factor in the apparently spontaneous outbursts of anti-semitism and pogroms in medieval europe.

Jon Cloke

GaWC

Loughborough University

Ergotism and Witchcraft

It has recently been postulated that such victims of ergotism were often thought to be witches. In talking about witches and witchcraft, just how would one go about deciding that someone is a witch? One thing to keep in mind is that these incidents that we will be talking about happened centuries ago. So, you may think the criteria kind of silly when you hear them. If you saw someone with the symptoms of ergotism, and you didn't know about ergotism, you may guess that the individual having a muscle spasm, tremors and writhing had some type of physical problem, such as epilepsy, or maybe even be on drugs, especially if they were hallucinating. Most people wouldn't think that witchcraft was involved. However, you now know that even during the last century the cause of diseases was still not known. Even today, there are people that not only believe in witchcraft, but even practice witchcraft. It seems that people have always been willing to believe in fanciful explanation for a given phenomenon rather than an a simple one. So when there were large number of people that came down with the symptoms of ergotism, it was concluded that they must have been the victims of witchcraft. It was especially true for convulsive ergotism since some people would claim to hear the devil speaking to them and were thought to be possessed.  Matossian (1988) linked the occurrence of ergotism with periods where there were high incidents of people persecuted for being witches. Emphasis was placed on the Salem Witch Trial, in Massachusetts, in 1692, where there was a sudden rise in the number of people accused of being witches, but earlier examples were taken from Europe, as well.

How did Matossian arrive at the conclusion that the bewitched individuals were victims of ergotism rather than something else? There are many symptoms that are attributed to ergotism and while together they may be rather unique, there are other diseases, or physical afflictions that may also have some of these symptoms. However, Matossian did not rely on just one indicator (the symptoms) to determine that ergotism was responsible for witchcraft hysteria, but looked at several other parameters as well. She looked at where these incidents occurred, the temperature, rainfall, the crops grown in that area and who was affected.

In looking at the geography of where witch trials occurred in Europe, Matossian found that a large proportion of the trials were concentrated in the alpine regions of France and central Europe where Rye was usually grown as the staple. Also, it was in these areas that the best source of "primary" records were kept. In Swabia, in southwestern Germany, they even kept annual records as to the number of trials. Other records such as the price of Rye would give an indicator as to how much Rye was available in a given year and more contemporary research compiling the widths of annual rings of trees in given localities gave an indication as to approximately what the spring and summer temperature may have been. For example, in years where there were a large number of witch trials, there were usually high Rye prices, indicating that it was a poor growing year for Rye and people may not be as selective in what they consumed. Trials were also more common during years when the spring and summer months were usually cooler, and even more so if the climate was colder and wetter than the norm. Cooler temperatures would be more favorable for ergot formation on Rye and even more Ergot would form if the rainfall was greater.

How did the witch hunt begin? Once victims of ergotism began exhibiting symptoms of alkaloid poisoning of Ergot, people began to look for the "witch or witches" that caused this sickness and misery to occur. In Salem, Massachusetts, the witch hunt began, on January 20, 1692 when three pre-teen girls began  began to exhibit symptoms of what Matossian interpreted as convulsive ergotism. This would, of course, have been interpreted as acts of strange behavior on the part of the people of Salem. They began blasphemous screaming, had convulsive seizures, were in a trance-like states. They were taken immediately to a doctor, but after about a month, since a physical answer to for the behaviors of the girls could not be found, the doctor concluded that the girls had been bewitched. Soon other girls were found to "contract" this disease. Even though people were ignorant as to the cause of disease, they knew that disease was commonly contagious and that everybody that came in contact with people with disease often got it as well. However, since ergotism was not a disease, it didn't have the same characteristics as other diseases previously encountered. If this were a typical disease, more people would have showed these symptoms, but it seemed restricted to the girls at this time. It appeared that a "selective force" was causing ergotism. In order to determine who had bewitched them, a witch cake was baked with the infected girls urine.  Consumption of such a cake would reveal to the girls who had bewitched them. After consuming the cake, pressure was placed on the girls to reveal the names of the witches, which they did. They named three women: Tituba, Reverend Samuel Parris' Carib Indian slave, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The Reverend Samuel Parris was the minister in the town of Salem.  Of the three women, Tituba was the only one to confess to being a witch. The two Sarahs maintained their innocence throughout. Sarah Good would be hanged for witchcraft and Sarah Osborne would die in prison. During her confession, Tituba testified that there was a conspiracy led by witches that was occurring in Salem and from there the witch hunt was on. Soon more people came forward to tell stories of how they were somehow harmed by witches and of the visions that they had seen. This led to accusing more people of witchcraft. As the end of the year neared, 20 people accused of being witches were executed. Who would be the most likely people, in a community, to be blamed?

The people that were accused of witchcraft were likely the ones that were trying to help the unfortunate victims. They were usually the doctors, or herbalists, a person who uses plants for medicinal purposes. So these were not the professions to be in during times of witch hysteria. These particular people were selected as the "witches" because, as healers, they had what seemed to be magical powers over the human body when they cured their patients of what ailed them. And the healers were in some cases able to heal symptoms that were associated with ergotism. For example, mistletoe was effective against some kinds of convulsions and spasms. However, during these bouts of ergotism, their accusers reasoned that if someone could cure illness, they also had the power to cause it as well. Which is why they weren't accused of causing bubonic plague and other diseases for which they did not have a cure. Doctors today actually don't have it that different. If you become sick or just say you became sick while a doctor is treating you, you can probably blame the doctor. This situation in which the healer is accused of being a witch is very much analogous to the doctor being sued for malpractice.

However, there are also some records where there did not seem to be any correlation between witchcraft and ergotism. What explanation can be offered for these cases. One explanation of which we cannot be certain is that the symptoms described on records were real. It seems very likely that at least some of the accused people were framed for practicing witchcraft as a means of getting even with somebody. However, these types of events can sometimes be separated. For example, young children and adolescents were frequently the victims and it seemed unlikely that they trying to "get even" with a neighbor. Another explanation was that during bad times when many people became sick and ill, witchcraft persecution would also be prevalent. Witchcraft in this case was used since something or somebody had to be blamed for what occurred.”

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM