Yeah, it was a populist concession to the protestant Reformation. The high middle ages would leave you just being seen as a cunning person or a lunatic depending on charisma and reproducibility.
Crazy people have always existed (yeah sorry I know that’s a harsh and reductive description mental illness), and most times and places throughout history if you were spouting stuff people didn’t understand they’d most likely just chalk you up as a crazy person and ignore you, not put you on trial for being a witch. Unless you were threatening to upset the social order, then you might get in hot water, otherwise you were just another lunatic.
Yeah, it was a populist concession to the protestant Reformation. The high middle ages would leave you just being seen as a cunning person or a lunatic depending on charisma and reproducibility.
Crazy people have always existed (yeah sorry I know that’s a harsh and reductive description mental illness), and most times and places throughout history if you were spouting stuff people didn’t understand they’d most likely just chalk you up as a crazy person and ignore you, not put you on trial for being a witch. Unless you were threatening to upset the social order, then you might get in hot water, otherwise you were just another lunatic.