Off with Her Head by Eleanor Herman

Author:Eleanor Herman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

“She Beguiled Many People Through Her Satanic Wiles”

In the early fifth century, a time when the increasingly powerful Catholic Church clashed with the remainders of the pagan world, Hypatia of Alexandria was a renowned pagan mathematician, scientist, teacher, and philosopher. Known for both her genius and her acceptance of people of all religions, she gained great power as top politicians routinely asked her advice, particularly on ethics. But there were many public officials who did not want a woman to have that kind of influence, especially one questioning their ethics. When the Roman imperial prefect Orestes turned to her regularly for advice on how to handle the unruly population, her political opponents said she had enchanted him with witchcraft, being “devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes and instruments of music, and she beguiled many people through her Satanic wiles.” Her enemies, evidently at a loss at what to do with scientific instruments, assumed she was up to no good with them.

As conflict increased between Orestes and Bishop Cyril of Alexandria—no great fan of Hypatia’s—Cyril’s followers blamed the witch, now a venerable sixty-five years old, for preventing peace and prosperity in the city. In March 415 CE, a mob seized her from her carriage, dragged her into a church, carved out her eyes and her living flesh with oyster shells, then tore her limb from limb. As if that weren’t enough already, they then carried the pieces of Hypatia outside the church and set them on fire.

The dazzling Anne Boleyn was also called a witch, and many at the time believed she had used witchcraft to become queen. Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador to England, wrote that the king “had been seduced and forced into this second marriage by means of sortileges and charms.” Because, as we all know, Henry VIII was a weak, vacillating sort easily overcome by a woman whispering incantations over a candle.

Though Anne’s hair was likely auburn, she was posthumously given black hair to make her seem more witchlike. In Anne’s lifetime, the Venetian ambassador described her hair as “marrone,” which can refer to a range of shades from brown to auburn. Her daughter Elizabeth I wore a ring—now called the Chequers ring, named after the prime minister’s country residence, where it resides in an antiquities collection—that opened up to show two miniatures, one indisputably of herself, the other, most experts agree, of her mother. No other Tudor court personage wearing a 1530s headdress could conceivably be the person whose image Elizabeth, born in 1533, would have wanted in her ring. Yet the Anne figure has red hair.

Another clue to Anne’s identity is that the miniature was hidden, covered by rubies, diamonds, a pearl, and a bit of blue enamel in the shape of the letters ER (Elizabeth Regina). The ring had to be opened to see her. Elizabeth rarely, if ever, mentioned her mother. In 1536, Henry VIII had Anne Boleyn executed on trumped-up charges of adultery, annulled their marriage, and officially declared Elizabeth a bastard.

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