[DanaC]

How were these women accused? Who pointed the finger and called them witches? Women, in most cases. For reasons of their own, most likely catty, insignificant reasons, women hurled accusations at each other providing fuel for the trials.

Plenty of accusations came from men.

Speaking of war, the battle of the sexes predates all the religions. Men had been fighting the battle of the sexes for thousands of years, because women don't want men to do what they want to do.

And women had been fighting the battle of the sexes because men don't want women to do what they want to do.

but it's funny, women used the church and it's social structure to control men's behavior with ever increasing effectiveness. Women "civilized" the frontiers, smoothed the cultural rough edges and generally made men behave, by way of the church, because it was the only organization they were allowed to join, the only place they were allowed to congregate and conspire.

Depends on which era of Church history you are talking about. In the 8th and 9th centuries an increasing number of women joined holy orders....but they were really only the elite and their level of control was seriously limited. Later, in the 11th and 12th centuries many monastic orders stopped supporting sisterhoods, enacting rules to prevent the founding of any further convents and banning priests and monks from ministering to women.

Much of the softening of those cultural rough edges came from male clerics (such as the Peace of God movement) and women played a very small role in any of it until relatively recently.