pagna survivals and backlash against herbalists

[kjc0123]

What is the meand of "pagan survivals" and "backlash against herbalists" in the following sentence?

For several centuries dominantly Christian societies believed that Satan  was acting through human and other animal servants. These beliefs can be seen as a reaction to emerging alternatives to the Christian hierarchial order, such as the worldly knowledge and cultural practices brought into a relatively backward Europe from the Middle East by those returning from the Crusades. Also targeted were surviving rites of Europe's indigenous pagan faiths, many of which still persisted among folk in the countryside, despite centuries of official Christianity. Over the centuries, there were extensive efforts to root out the supposed influence of Satan by various measures aimed at the people that were accused of being servants of Satan. People suspected of being "possessed" by Satan were put on trial.

Many of the suspects were women who lived in towns, villages or rural areas and who may have been practicioners of herbalism, natural healing or midwifery. Late-medieval Christian authorities in Europe (both Catholic and Protestant) regarded any such expression of non-Christian, natural spirituality with intense paranoia and hatred. This was in accord with literal readings of the Old Testament, which contains fierce attacks against the polytheism of non-Hebrew peoples.

This "Just so story" view of the history of European witch hunts has long dominated the popular imagination. It is also quite likely to be false. Recent research on the matter calls into question the very existence of alleged "pagan survivals" and "backlash against herbalists".

[smorodina]

Hmm, not sure what allen's problem is here, so I'll have a go at an answer. 'Pagan survivals', I think, refers to earlier, non Christian, beliefs that still persisted in what had become an officially Christian society. Some of these still survive today in such festivals as May Day and others. So in the passage, anybody holding these pagan beliefs would be persecuted.

 

 A 'backlash' occurs when a minority belief becomes unpopular, and the society turns against the practitioners. Again this may result in the kind of branding of herbalists as agents of the devil. This may arise from peoples need to find a scapegoat for their troubles.

 

Did you used to post under a different name? Keira, if I remember?