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Essay:Greatest Myths of World History (view source)
Revision as of 16:03, April 17, 2009
, 16:03, April 17, 2009Adding new myth
According to an anti-Christian myth, the medieval Catholic Church employed a trial to test potential witches by sinking them in water. If they floated, they were guilty, if they drowned, they were innocent. While the ordeal by water did exist, it was used to test potential criminals in general, rather than specifically witches<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ordeals1.html]</ref> and the accused were pulled out of the water before they drowned. The ordeal was mostly based on Germanic paganism and was in fact opposed by the Catholic Church.<ref>Fourth Lateran Council. Canon 18: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.html]</ref>
According to an anti-Christian myth, the medieval Catholic Church employed a trial to test potential witches by sinking them in water. If they floated, they were guilty, if they drowned, they were innocent. While the ordeal by water did exist, it was used to test potential criminals in general, rather than specifically witches<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/ordeals1.html]</ref> and the accused were pulled out of the water before they drowned. The ordeal was mostly based on Germanic paganism and was in fact opposed by the Catholic Church.<ref>Fourth Lateran Council. Canon 18: [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.html]</ref>
===Medieval dissections===
Anti-Christian sources often claim that dissections were forbidden by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. This myth is most likely derived from the book ''History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom'' by Andrew Dickson White. He supports his assertion by a bull published by Pope Boniface VII in 1300 which allegedly forbade dissections. In reality, the bull concerned the burial of noblemen who had died abroad and had nothing to do with dissections. At the time when this ban was supposedly in place the famous surgeon Mondino performed numerous dissections and even wrote a book on the subject of which 25 editions were altogether published.<ref>The Popes and Science by James Walsh</ref>
===Columbus sets out to discover America===
===Columbus sets out to discover America===