Editing Satanism (section)

===Medieval and Early Modern Christendom===

{{See also|European witchcraft|Maleficium (sorcery)|Witch-cult hypothesis}}
[[File:Baldung_hexen_ca1514.jpg|thumb|360x360px|[[Hans Baldung Grien]]'s ''Three Witches'', c.&nbsp;1514]]
As Christianity expanded throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, it came into contact with a variety of other religions, which it regarded as "[[pagan]]". Christianity  being a monotheist religion, Christian theologians believed that since there was only one God (the God of Christianity) the gods and goddesses with supernatural powers venerated by these "pagans" could not be genuine divinities but must actually be demons.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=23}} However, they did not believe that "pagans" were deliberately worshipping devils, but were instead simply misguided and unaware of the "true" God.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=24}}

Those Christian groups regarded as [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]] by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] were treated differently, with theologians arguing that they were deliberately worshipping the Devil.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|pp=24–26}} This was accompanied by claims that such individuals engaged in acts of evil—incestuous sexual orgies, the murder of infants, and [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]—all stock accusations that had previously been leveled at Christians themselves in the [[Roman Empire]].{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|pp=25–26}} In Christian iconography, the Devil and demons were given the physical traits of figures from [[classical mythology]], such as the god [[Pan (god)|Pan]], [[faun]]s, and [[satyr]]s.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=24}}

The first recorded example of such an accusation being made within [[Western Christianity]] took place in [[Toulouse]] in 1022, when two clerics were tried for allegedly venerating a demon.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=25}} Throughout the [[Middle Ages]], this accusation would be applied to a wide range of Christian heretical groups, including the [[Paulicians]], [[Bogomils]], [[Cathars]], [[Waldensians]], and the [[Hussites]].{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=28}} The [[Knights Templar]] were accused of worshipping an [[Cult image|idol]] known as [[Baphomet]], with Lucifer having appeared at their meetings in the form of a cat.{{sfn|Medway|2001|p=126}} As well as these Christian groups, these claims were also made about Europe's Jewish community.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|pp=28–29}} In the 13th century, there were also references made to a group of "Luciferians" led by a woman named Lucardis which hoped to see Satan rule in Heaven. References to this group continued into the 14th century, although historians studying the allegations concur that these Luciferians were probably a fictitious invention.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|pp=29–31}}

Within Christian thought, the idea developed that certain individuals could make [[Deal with the Devil|a pact with Satan]].{{sfn|Medway|2001|p=57}} This may have emerged after observing that pacts with gods and goddesses played a role in various pre-Christian belief systems, or that such pacts were also made as part of the Christian cult of saints.{{sfn|Medway|2001|p=58}} Another possibility is that it derives from a misunderstanding of [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s condemnation of [[augury]] in his ''[[On Christian Doctrine]]'', written in the late 4th century. Here, he stated that people who consulted augurs were entering ''quasi pacts'' (covenants) with demons.{{sfn|Medway|2001|pp=57–58}} The idea of the diabolical pact made with demons was popularized across Europe in the story of [[Faust]], probably based in part on the real life [[Johann Georg Faust]].{{sfn|Medway|2001|pp=60–63}}

As the late medieval gave way to the [[early modern period]], European Christendom experienced a schism between the established [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the breakaway [[Protestant]] movement. In the ensuing [[Reformation]] and [[Counter-Reformation]] (1517–1700 CE), both Catholics and Protestants accused each other of deliberately being in league with Satan.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=35}} It was in this context that the terms ''Satanist'' and ''Satanism'' emerged.{{sfnm|1a1=Medway|1y=2001|1p=257 |2a1=van Luijk|2y=2016|2p=2}}

====Witch trials====

[[File:Wickiana4.jpg|thumb|The [[torture]] used against [[Witch trials in the early modern period|accused witches]], 1577. Estimates of the number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe vary between 40,000 and 100,000.]]
The early modern period also saw fear of Satanists reach its "historical apogee" in the form of the [[Witch trials in the early modern period|witch trials of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries]],{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=36}} when between 30,000 and 50,000 alleged witches were executed.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=36}} This came about as the accusations which had been leveled at medieval heretics, among them that of devil-worship, were applied to the pre-existing idea of [[European witchcraft|the witch]], or practitioner of malevolent [[magic (paranormal)|magic]].{{sfnm|1a1=Medway|1y=2001|1p=133 |2a1=van Luijk|2y=2016|2p=37}} The idea of a conspiracy of Satanic witches was developed by educated elites, although the concept of malevolent witchcraft was a widespread part of popular belief, and [[folkloric]] ideas about the night witch, the [[wild hunt]], and the dance of the fairies were incorporated into it.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=38}} The earliest trials took place in Northern Italy and France, before spreading it out to other areas of Europe and to Britain's North American colonies, being carried out by the legal authorities in both Catholic and Protestant regions.{{sfn|van Luijk|2016|p=36}}

Most historians agree that the majority of those persecuted in these witch trials were innocent of any involvement in Devil worship.{{sfn|Medway|2001|p=70}} Historian Darren Eldridge writes that claims that there actually was a cult of devil-worshippers being pursued by witch hunters "have not survived the scrutiny of surviving trial records" done by historians from 1962 to 2012.<ref name=devil-oldridge-2012-39>{{cite book|title=The Devil, a Very Short Introduction| last1=Oldridge| first1=Darren| publisher=Oxford University Press |page=39 |year=2012}}</ref>
However, in their summary of the evidence for the trials, the historians Geoffrey Scarre and John Callow thought it "without doubt" that some of those accused in the trials had been guilty of employing magic in an attempt to harm their enemies and were thus genuinely guilty of witchcraft.{{sfn|Scarre|Callow|2001|p=2}}

====Affair of the Poisons====
{{main|Affair of the Poisons}}
In a scandal starting with the poisoning of three people, prominent members of the French aristocracy, including members of the king's inner circle, were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcraft. Between 1677 and 1682, during the reign of King [[Louis XIV]], 36 people were executed in Satanic panic known to history as the [[Affair of the Poisons]].<ref name=JPLS2023:chpt.2-Poisons/> At least  some of the accusers were implicated others under torture and in hopes of saving their lives. These highly unreliable reports include what "may be the first report of a satanic mass using a woman as an altar".<ref name=JPLS2023:chpt.2-Poisons>[[#JPLS2023|Laycock, ''Satanism'', 1981]]: Chapter 2, Imagining the Black Mass. The Affair of the Poisons</ref>