Definitions for "BURNING TIMES"
A historical time from about 1000 B.C. through 1700 A.D. when hundred of thousands of people were tortured or burned by the church over chages of witchcraft. The Burning Times reached a peak with the issuance of "The Malleus Maleficarum" of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This was the famous "Witches Hammer" that provided guidelines in the detection, arrest, interrogation and killing of witches. On December 9, 1484 the Pope Innocent VIII issued his famous Bull that authorized Kramer and Sprenger as inquisitors granting them exceptional authorization in the persucation of Witches.
A term commonly used to refer to the persecution of "witches" during the Middle Ages, even though many areas did not use burning as punishment for those convicted of Witchcraft. Much historical inaccuracy and myth is associated with this term, up to and including the supposed death toll of nine million.
Historical reference to the time period during the Dark Ages when millions of men, women and children were tortured, mutilated and killed because of suspected anti-Christian, witchcraft and devil worshipping practices. Most of the people killed were not witches at all but merely innocent Christians caught up in the false accusations and social unrest that characterized this era.
Keywords:  christy, singer, moore, irish, folk
Burning Times is an album by Irish folk singer Christy Moore.