France in history

[joggerjayne]

1. Burning cats for amusement ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat-burning

2. Zidane's World Cup Final head-butt

3. Cheating their way to South Africa.



... is that a reasonable snapshot ?

[daffy654]

We don't have a history of putting witches to death in any manner fred,on the whole we just let them be about their business.

[jake-the-peg]

In England witchcraft was a felony and thus punishable by hanging. Alice Molland is thought to have been the last person to suffer for witchcraft, at Exeter in 1684. However, Scotland did burn witches and there are many recorded instances of both sexes suffering this fate. On the 18th of May 1671 Janet McMuldroche and Elspeth Thompson were strangled and burned at Dumfries.

http://www.capitalpun...ntuk.org/burning.html

[fredpuli47]

"on the whole we let them go about their business" ? That would have been very understanding of us ! Withcraft Acts were passed in 1542 [Henry VIII ; penalty: death with forfeiture of all property]; 1547 {Edward VI repealed it ] 1563 [Elizabeth I reinstated the 1542 Act, stating in the preamble that, since its repeal, many witches and others had caused mischief ] ; 1580 [ she added a provision against persons who foretold the date of her death (!) ]; 1604 [ James I : added a provision against foretelling where gold could be found, and against body-snatching from graves]; 1726 [Removed the death penalty]
Putting witches to death was especially popular around the time of the Civil War. Matthew Hopkins made a fortune in public rewards through 'discovering ' witches. In a tour through one county alone, according to Samuel Butler ('Hudibras' ), he caused 60 women to be hanged as witches. Three were hanged after one trial in 1645 from being 'discovered' in just one village, Manningtree. He was eventually discredited, for using torture and flimsy or invented evidence in his 'discoveries,' and died in retrirement from being Witchfinder General,ironically in Manningtree.