Everyone is familiar with the concept of a witch-hunt. Witch-hunts appear in books, movies, television, and plays. The idea is so familiar that it has become metonymic for any situation in which a person is persecuted without evidence. But there is also a prodigious number of misconceptions about what witch-trials were, who led them, when they took place, and what they were really about.
Tag: Middle Ages
“Ring around the Rosie” Is Not about the Black Death, Nor Has It Ever Been
A popular urban legend that has been circulating for decades now claims that the beloved children’s nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie” is actually about the Black Death. Although this may make for a good story, it is, in fact, totally false; the song “Ring around the Rosie” did not even first appear until centuries after the Black Death had been effectively eradicated in England.
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