They also fed them with salted herring without allowing water to be given, placed ropes around the neck until the bones broke, and forced them to kneel on a prayer stool consisting of sharp pegs. Once the confession was obtained, new tortures were applied until the accused named all the other witches she knew. This allowed them to continue their hunts. After sentencing, still more tortures could be applied, and these were usually done in public. The hunts were so thorough that in some cities, all but one or two exceptional women were killed.
Witchcraft trials are an important issue in women's history.
They were considered more susceptible to the devil's temptations than men. The way witches were believed to live were based partly on the pagan religions in pre-Christian society, and enlarged by the imaginations of the Inquisitors. Women were forced to confirm these ideas under torture, which allowed the tormentors to claim proof of their claims. Innocent's bull was published as a preface in a book called Malleus Malificarum , which outsold all books but the Bible to Catholics and Protestants alike. This book explained in detail why women were likely to become witches, outlined methods of detection, and described the imagined lifestyles of these women.