Witch Hunts

This article explores the play "Vinegar Tom" (1976) by the English playwright Caryl Churchill (1938). The subjects under study are the figure of the Other, one of Churchill’s main themes, the witch-hunt that took place in England in the 17th century and the relationship between the Catholic religion and modern medicine. In some of her plays Churchill explores the conversion of the Other into different phantasmatic realities. Specifically, here we will see how she examines one minority: the women accused of witchcraft during their trials, which involves the mechanism of the scapegoat and, in this case, an important role for the Catholic Church. We will explore the beginnings of modern medicine and its implications, then and now, for how women’s bodies were conceived and their current relationship with medicine. Churchill tells the story of the Others, the minorities, the excluded and analyses the ghosts and phantasmatic realities that she detects today. She is always intere...

I vår pågående forskning utforskar vi en tidigare förbisedd moderskult inom den fornnordiska och europeiska kontexten, med fokus på symboler som den stora modern, valan och den heliga hästen lämnat efter sig i språk och arkeologi. Genom en tvärvetenskaplig metod bygger vi på vår samlade analys på över 1300 sidor och föreslår en mer nyanserad förståelse av fornnordisk tro, där kvinnlig andlig auktoritet och naturens kraft står i centrum. Våra resultat utmanar de rådande tolkningarna och öppnar för en bredare diskussion – vi ser fram emot era tankar och frågor!
Detta är ett revisionsdokument som vi fortfarande arbetar med och uppdaterar varannan månad.

James’s Daemonologie (1597) reflects his personal and political anxieties, emerging in the wake of the North Berwick witch trials, in which he was directly involved. By reshaping continental demonological concepts – especially the diabolical pact and witches’ sabbath – he adapted European stereotypes to a Scottish context. In Daemonologie, witchcraft is framed as religious apostasy and moral subversion, with the sabbath depicted as a blasphemous parody of Christian liturgy. However, his version omits sensational elements like infanticide and cannibalism, focusing on theological concerns. This essay argues that James’s construction of witchcraft was not merely theoretical but a strategic response to contemporary religious and political challenges, bolstering his image as a divinely appointed ruler.

European witch hunt studies have become an academic sub-field in early modern history and one that generates passionate debate. One controversial topic is the history and historiography of the Malleus Maleficarum (1487), a manual for witch hunters written by Henrich Kramer, known as Institoris (c. 1430 – 1505). Since the 1970s, most researchers have viewed the Malleus Maleficarum as an authoritative text that exemplifies the collective misogyny of the early modern period. Ultimately, many scholars consider the Malleus Maleficarum to be responsible for initiating and fuelling the European witch hunts due to its level of misogyny. A few academics argue differently, suggesting that the Malleus Maleficarum was not the sole text fueling the witch hunts but rather was one among a larger body of treatises that helped create a widespread culture of misogyny that, in part, influenced the witch hunt throughout Europe. The conventions implemented in the Malleus Maleficarum were common to late medieval and early modern commentary about gender and these conventions were not just shared in demonological and inquisitorial manual writing but in many other academic genres. While the Malleus Maleficarum can be considered misogynistic, it was not an isolated text. Views of women were expressed in a larger discussion referred to as the Querelle des femmes (Debate of the Sexes or The Women's Question). Consequently, the misogynistic tendencies reflected in Institoris' writing are not original, unique, or even unusually misogynistic for the period. A close examination of the Malleus Maleficarum alongside Querelle des femmes sources reveals an ideology preoccupied and troubled by inherent and virulent anxiety of women's nature, role, and status in society. This preoccupation fuelled both Querelle des femmes treatises and demonological and inquisitorial writings. Analyzing the Malleus Maleficarum in the context of Querelle des femmes sources shows how it belongs to the general gender discussions that were taking place in the premodern period.

In recent times, the social activist organisations in India have raised the alarm about the growing number of acts of violence against women that have been accused of witchcraft. Accusations of witchcraft and violence against the alleged witches are not a new phenomenon in Indian cultural history; both men and women have been the target of persecution because of alleged use of harmful magic for personal gain, or out of vengeance or envy. But what makes the contemporary form of the witch hunt particularly worthy of analysis is the setting of the phenomenon in the context of contemporary social and cultural changes in India, where the social and symbolic repression of femininity coincides with violent economic and political changes undermining the meaning of the sanctified social and symbolic order. All these changes are accompanied by fear of losing traditional identities, and in particular the fear of the privileged classes for losing their existing prerogatives. The reaction to these emerging fears is literal and symbolic violence directed at cultural actors not always openly contesting the old order, but, in particular, at those who, for various reasons can be targeted and used as scapegoats. The article is a preliminary analysis of the growing phenomenon of violence against women, motivated by religious or quasi-religious reasons. Using the approach of psychosocial studies, the author analyzes the mechanisms of production of the discourse on witchcraft in India and points to various, inter alia, psycho-social causes of the contemporary epidemic of accusations against women of witchcraft.

A study of two recent contributions to the scholarship on witchcraft and magic uncovers an uncomfortable dilemma. On the one hand, authors argue that magical practices should now be interpreted on their own premises; on the other hand, attempts to take seriously the experience of magic are bracketed and 'disbelief' in magic is encouraged. I argue that such disbelief affirms, ironically, the polarization between religion and magic which is the object of critique and arises from an unexamined fear, directed principally at religion and Christianity. When left unexamined, this fear of religion takes the place of the historically attested religious maligning of magic studied by contemporary scholars, and, it is proposed, results in discourses of violence that repeat, unwittingly, the very stereotypes which modern accounts of witchcraft and magic set out to eradicate.

This article shows how a social movement organization focused on microcredit loans is able to mobilize a community against its own cultural practice of witch-hunts. Successful mobilization against witch-hunts are possible when two conditions are met: first, when activists are able to tap into microcredit groups' social capacity for collective mobilization (defined by ties of mutual dependence, reciprocity, and friendship); and second, when activists are able to use strategic framing to present a coherent argument about the congruence of microcredit and anti-witch-hunt goals. In this context a master frame (women's development) emerged that effectively forged the seemingly disparate goals of microcredit loans and anti-witch-hunt campaigns into one synthetic movement. In contrast, successful mobilization against witch-hunts was difficult in areas where the activists did not have access to the microcredit networks or were not able to strategically frame the campaign.

This article shows how the disenchantment of the world has caused what I call. a paranoid re-enchantment of the world. Max Weber introduced the disenchantment of the world in his lecture Politics as Vocation (1917). On Weber’s account, a disenchanted world is the product of capitalism and the gradual retreat of religion. However, the Weberian thesis has been variously challenged. As Hans Joas claims, the disenchantment paradigm has to be historicised, read in accordance with the time and the space This is especially the case of politics in the United States of America and Poland, where the world has re-enchanted due to conspiracy theories and the abiding presence of religious influence. I will explain this re-enchantment of the world through Richard Hofstadter’s famous notion of paranoid politics as outlined in his book The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964). Hofstadter claims that political paranoia is not the product of unstable minds, but it is brought about by the perception of sane minds about conspiracies and threats from either inside or outside a country. President Donald Trump’s apocalypticism and the ways in which Polish politicians have used the so-called gender ideology and abortion to stoke fear.

Keywords: Richard Hofstadter, Max Weber, Disenchantment of the World, Re-enchantment of the world, Donald Trump, Paranoia, Abortion, Gender Ideology

Samuel Meiger’s De panurgia lamiarum (Hamburg, 1587) is the only manual on demonological witchcraft known to survive in Middle Low German. Drawing on a vast array of classical, biblical and contemporary material, Meiger demonstrates that witchcraft constitutes a transgression of all Ten Commandments and consequently defines it as “the mother of all sins”. His volume – which combines theological discussion with a great wealth of gruesome anecdotes and historical testimonies of charms and evil eye performed throughout history – functions as a catalogue of all types of witches and sorcerers, who “violate and trample upon all the precepts of the divine law”. In the present essay, I offer a fresh, in-depth analysis of Meiger’s oeuvre developed in the course of the preparation of the first critical edition of the Middle Low German text.

Este artículo explora la conexión entre la empatía, la brujería y la relación madre-hijo en la novela ejemplar El coloquio de los perros (1613) de Miguel de Cervantes, poniendo especial atención en el episodio de la bruja Cañizares. Partiendo de una perspectiva hermenéutico-literaria e histórica, a la que acompañan los aportes de la psicología en torno a la noción de empatía, el presente análisis se propone desentrañar las relaciones emocionales entre el perro Berganza, su serie de amos y la bruja. De esta forma, se ofrecerá una revaluación de la reescritura cervantina del género de la picaresca, así como de los dilemas emocionales de los personajes y los lectores, y de la ejemplaridad latente de la obra en el contexto de la brujería en la España aurisecular.

In her detailed explanation of magic and its influence on the mind and societal thought of the inhabitants of an early and modern Europe; Lyndal Roper extends a hand to the reader as she describes the intersections of religion and its demonization of sex.

La correlazione tra condizioni metereologiche e persecuzione delle streghe, da cui nasce questo articolo, non è certo nuova. Ampiamente dibattuta dalla  ricerca internazionale sin dagli anni ottanta del Novecento, soprattutto nell’ambito della storia ambientale, è tuttavia una prospettiva poco esplorata nella storia dei processi di stregoneria in Valposchiavo.

Bajo una mirada patriarcal, la bruja ha representado lo perverso femenino, erigiéndose como la antítesis del modelo normativo de femineidad. La construcción de este estereotipo en el género de terror ha enfatizado su rol de villana con poderes sobrenaturales, aunque sin olvidar su condición histórica de víctima del patriarcado, una doble cualidad contradictoria que se ha exacerbado en las producciones audiovisuales estadounidenses pos-11S. ¿Cómo se fabrica una bruja en el siglo XXI? Este texto se aproxima a las transformaciones iconográficas y a las resignificaciones que ha sufrido dicho estereotipo en la ficción televisiva, explorando sus dimensiones políticas desde una perspectiva feminista en tres series: Salem (2014-2017), True Blood (2008-2014) y American Horror Story (2011-), temporadas Coven (2013) y Apocalypse (2018).

Palabras clave: monstruosidad femenina; brujería; género de terror; estereotipo; 11 de septiembre; series televisivas.

The diabolical act of witch hunting prevails in many communities all over the earth. The individual branded as a-Witch‖ is often a woman and generally belongs to the low caste and tribes. This social crime of hunting is more rooted in superstitious and the belief system of the societies rather this act is committed by the connivance of a few people who conspire against disadvantaged, vulnerable, innocent gullible illiterate tribal women, grabbing their land, animal, money, for personal revenge or even sexual favors. These atrocities are committed in the name of purging the society of a witch. Witch hunting which are the common phenomena in the state of Jharkhand, which is located in the eastern part of India. The purpose of this article is made to examine the reasons, consequences and measures taken to address this social malady the role of adult education in curbing the belief system and the social position of the tribal women which makes them easy targets in this state.

La voz femenina es la dimensión de una postura de mundo múltiple que vindica la libertad individual. En la voz femenina no hay un significado unificado ni totalizado, sino construido y plural, abierto al significado del acontecimiento de la palabra en el presente. Esta voz no puede simplificarse a que hable un personaje mujer, alcanza una complejidad mayor, al ser perspectiva específica de la realidad, cuyo enfoque expresa la otredad y la búsqueda de una voluntad propia. La voz femenina es, por tanto, presencia, introspección, disidencia. Si partimos de estas afirmaciones, ¿quién es la bruja Cañizares desde la dimensión de la voz femenina? ¿Quién es para sí misma? ¿Quién es para el 'otro', para la sociedad? Intentaremos dar posibles respuestas a estas inquietudes, centrándonos en tres aspectos: la poética de la ambigüedad como medio de construcción de la voz de la bruja, la expresión del deseo erótico y la crítica a la violencia masculina en los discursos de la Cañizares. La Cañizares es una bruja sabia, una bruja crítica, que conoce cómo funciona la obra de Dios, cómo funciona la sociedad y cómo funciona ella misma dentro de las normas sociales, sexuales y culturales. Si bien es adepta al diablo, cuestiona las potestades que este dice tener, pero reconoce, a un mismo tiempo, que no tiene la suficiente fuerza de voluntad para dejar los placeres con él: "Todo lo veo y todo lo entiendo, y como el deleite me tiene echados grillos a la voluntad, siempre he sido y seré mala" (Cervantes 2001, 597). La voz femenina de la Cañizares implica, por tanto, no sólo la expresión del deseo erótico, sino una reflexión sobre su lugar en el mundo, lo cual supone la conciencia sobre sí misma, la conciencia sobre el otro y la conciencia sobre la sociedad, esto es, una ética de la existencia; la parte reflexionada de la libertad individual. Ante el reconocimiento de la Cañizares de no poder dejar los deleites con el diablo, nos preguntamos ¿cuál es la distancia discursiva precisa que debe mantener para estar dentro de la sociedad sin estar fuera de sí misma y al mismo tiempo obedecer los impulsos del deseo erótico sin exiliarse? He ahí el juego en la palabra entre parecer y ser; el movimiento entre un ritmo ajeno y un ritmo propio; la tensión entre intentar definir su identidad en una sociedad en la que la bruja es el símbolo de lo ajeno, de lo prohibido, de lo otro. La voz de la Cañizares nace de la incertidumbre, de la contradicción. Estamos ante el juego de la poética de la ambigüedad cervantina para configurar personajes femeninos complejos, libres. Es significativo observar que la novela que abre la colección de Novelas ejemplares es La gitanilla, y la que la cierra, El coloquio de los perros. Tanto Preciosa como la Cañizares presentan personajes femeninos atípicos, disonantes, en el sentido de que hacen una distancia de sí mismas y del mundo, que les permite reflexionar sobre su condición, por medio de una voz que no sólo es crítica de su entorno, sino plena de perspectivismo, con lo cual exteriorizan una mirada problematizada de la realidad. No olvidemos ese "parece que" con que inicia La gitanilla, y que está determinando sígnicamente, sin duda, tanto la voz de Preciosa, como la de la Cañizares, en la última novela de la obra, puesto que esa frase inicial es la clave cervantina para entender que nada en las novelas es lo que parece ser. Por

ScaThe history of witchcraft and its relentless persecution unveils an eerie reflection of humanity’s darkest insecurities—a theater where fear choreographs brutality, and superstition scripts social control. Across centuries and continents, from the fiery witch trials of medieval Europe to the silent cries echoing through rural India, witchcraft accusations have served as the alibi for societal discord, gender-based violence, and systemic oppression. It is a narrative as old as time, and yet, as contemporary as tomorrow’s headlines, where the word "witch" is less a label and more a cultural dagger, striking down the vulnerable under the guise of morality and tradition.
This study embarks on an ambitious exploration of the witch-hunting phenomenon, tracing its spectral presence from historical accounts to its chilling manifestations in today’s world. The work argues that witch-hunting is not merely a relic of an unenlightened past but a continuing saga, underscored by enduring societal fears and entrenched patriarchy. It deconstructs the macabre dance of superstition and gender politics, where folklore casts women as harbingers of misfortune and witchcraft becomes the pretext for violence. The analysis homes in on India, where systemic failures and cultural inertia perpetuate the scourge of witch accusations, particularly targeting women on the fringes of society—widows, economically disadvantaged, or those who dare to challenge patriarchal norms.
At the heart of this inquiry lies a critical interrogation of the legal frameworks that purport to combat witch-hunting. Despite the introduction of specialized laws like the Prevention of Witch Practices Act in India, the grim reality exposes a gaping chasm between legal intentions and societal execution. Laws that exist as parchment promises often falter against the entrenched cultural narratives that render them ineffective. The study posits that meaningful reform demands not only legislative rigor but also a cultural reckoning—an upheaval of superstition and an unflinching confrontation with patriarchal ideologies that hold these practices in place.
Furthermore, this research delves into the sociocultural substrata that allow such practices to endure. Accusations of witchcraft, often cloaked in the language of tradition and morality, are revealed as tools for settling disputes, silencing dissent, and reinforcing hierarchical power structures. The narrative unveils the interplay of economic anxieties, social rivalries, and patriarchal dominance that underpin these accusations, turning communities into crucibles of fear and suspicion. In rural India, for instance, the label of "witch" is wielded not merely as an insult but as a weapon, leading to mob violence, ostracism, and even murder.
This extensive piece of toil, gets beyond the run-off-the-mill commenting, challenging the reader to grapple with explicitly sore, ‘starkly-intimidating’, discomforting questions: Is the persistence of witch-hunting a failure of modernity to vanquish ancient prejudices, or does it expose a more insidious truth—that progress, when unaccompanied by cultural introspection, is merely a facade? Through a ‘ staring-scan lens’ of historical retrospection, legal critique, and sociological analysis, the study illuminates the harrowing continuum of witch-hunting and its implications for gender, justice, and humanity.
Eventually, this research contends, beyond merely-heaving resistance, that the eradication of witch-hunting necessitates a multifaceted approach: education that dispels the fog of superstition, grassroots activism that empowers victims, and systemic reforms that dismantle the patriarchal scaffolding on which such practices thrive. It envisions a future where the word "witch" loses its potency as an instrument of oppression and becomes a relic of a bygone era, studied only as a reminder of the perils of fear-driven governance.
This research paper is not merely and entirely an account, or chronicle of maltreatment or persecution; it is a call to action, urging society to break free from the shackles of antiquated beliefs and forge a path where reason triumphs over fear, and justice is not an ideal but a lived reality. By examining the intersections of history, culture, and law, it aspires to stir the cauldron of thought and challenge humanity to rise above its basest instincts, ensuring that the ghosts of witch-hunting no longer haunt the corridors of the present.......

Αυτή η εργασία διερευνά τον ρόλο του φωτός όχι απλώς ως μέσου μετάδοσης ενέργειας, αλλά ως κύριου πληροφοριοδότη για τη φυσική πραγματικότητα. Αντλώντας από έννοιες της φυσικής, της θεωρίας σημάτων και της φιλοσοφίας της επιστήμης, προτείνουμε ότι οι ιδιότητες του φωτός ως φορέα πληροφορίας μπορεί να επιβάλλουν θεμελιώδεις περιορισμούς στην κατανόηση της φύσης. Επαναξιολογώντας βασικές θεωρίες, όπως η Ειδική Θεωρία της Σχετικότητας, μέσα από το πρίσμα της θεωρίας πληροφορίας, υποστηρίζουμε ότι οι αντιλαμβανόμενοι περιορισμοί στον φυσικό κόσμο ενδέχεται να πηγάζουν από τις εγγενείς ιδιότητες του ίδιου του φωτός. Αυτή η διεπιστημονική προσέγγιση καλεί σε επανεξέταση των υφιστάμενων πλαισίων, με στόχο να γεφυρωθεί το χάσμα μεταξύ φυσικής και επιστήμης της πληροφορίας.

Las novelas Carcoma (2021) de Layla Martínez y Temporada de huracanes (2017) de Fernanda Melchor comparten una serie de rasgos que generan interés en vistas a un estudio comparativo: entre ellos, el motivo de la casa encantada o embrujada, personajes que se corresponden con el estereotipo de la bruja y habitan casas encantadas. Las dos obras han sido elegidas a partir de un corpus afín a lo que queda definido como Relectura Feminista de la Caza de Brujas (RFCB) que recupera la figura de la bruja como referente simbólico de la lucha feminista. Considera la casa encantada como elemento arraigado y tipificado dentro de géneros ficcionales como el fantástico, el gótico o el terror. Se estudia cómo ese locus dialoga con la tradición, en el marco de la RFCB para abrir nuevos interrogantes en torno al hogar como espacio de encierro para las mujeres.

A  partir  de  un  estudio  de  caso  de  la  novela  Carcoma (2021),  de  Layla  Martínez,  nos  disponemos a explorar las posibilidades de la bruja como figura de memoria. Las hipótesis  planteadas  surgen  de  un  marco  interpretativo  que  denominamos  Relectura  Feminista de la Caza de Brujas (RFCB), un reciente fenómeno cultural que consiste en la actualización del personaje de la bruja y su empleo en diversos discursos feministas, dentro y fuera de la ficción. Nuestro objetivo en este artículo será mostrar cómo, desde este marco y en casos como el de Carcoma, pueden articularse diversos usos de la memoria a partir de dicha figura actualizada de la bruja. Así, proponemos que en la nove-la  de  Martínez  se  trabaja  la  memoria  en  diversas  capas  de  lectura,  y  que  todas  ellas  atañen de un modo u otro al arquetipo de la bruja moderna.

En su monumental estudio sobre la pervivencia de la cultura clásica a lo largo del Medioevo y a lo ancho de la literatura europea, Ernst Robert Curtius dedica todo un capítulo a los distintos avatares del motivo de la Arcadia. El erudito alemán manifiesta entre otras cosas que, al lado de la epopeya, la poesía bucólica y pastoril (con la que el tópico respectivo se identifica) ejerció un influjo de los más poderosos y duraderos [Curtius 1947/70, 216-237]. Tal vitalidad se debe más que nada al proteísmo de la temática arcádica. Valga como ejemplo la propia «sede» de la utopía pastoril, asentada en la Arcadia griega por un romano. Se trata de Virgilio quien, de hecho, nunca había puesto pies en ella, y por eso mismo pudo imaginarla 1 como un país de un exotismo mítico donde su Títiro reposa eternamente sub tegmine fagi 2. Las raíces más remotas del tema llegan sin embargo hasta Homero, quien menciona que, no muy lejos de la tierra de los Cíclopes, se encuentra una isla «vacía de gente, que sólo cría cabras» [Od. IX, 118] 3 , en donde «hasta la orilla llegan los húmedos pastizales; allí los viñedos brotarían sin cesar, y año tras año ricas mieses cubirirían sus fértiles campos de fácil labranza» [Od. IX, 132-135]. 4 Por consiguiente, para la temática bucólico-pastoril cualquier «forma externa» es adecuada, ya que cualquier «decorado»-con tal que cumpla ciertos requisitos-está capacitado para acogerla en su seno. Asimismo, la «forma interna» puede variar infinitamente, pues (como puntualiza Curtius) el tema respectivo no está estrictamente asociado a un género literario determinado, ni siquiera al discurso poético. Semejante versatilidad proteica obedece sin embargo a un determinismo más profundo. Los constituyentes temáticos elementales del así llamado «complejo bucólico»: el locus amoenus, la arboleda, el frescor, el desembarazado erotismo…-decorado que, desde luego, alude a la «Edad de Oro»configuran (siempre según Curtius) el tópico del «paisaje ideal». A su vez, éste-a la par de otros temas recurrentes y remanentes-remite a ciertos arquetipos enraizados en los arcanos del inconciente colectivo. Entre ellos destaca el de la reconciliación de los opuestos en el seno acogedor de la Naturaleza, tal y como, con poética lucidez y en un lenguaje esencial, lo formula Goethe en un pasaje «arcádico» de su Fausto: «Pues, en donde la naturaleza reina en círculo puro, todos los mundos abrazan uno a otro» [II, 3] 5. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, cuya obra-según resalta Américo Castro en su Pensamiento de Cervantes (1925)-constituye una verdadera enciclo

1. Angela De Benedictis, Heinz Noflatscher, A 500 anni dai processi alle streghe di Schloss Prösels. Proposte per conoscere la storia del territorio dello Sciliar
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/colloquio
DOI: 10.1473/stor337
2. Angela De Benedictis, A mo’ di introduzione
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/debenedictis
DOI: 10.1473/stor338
3. Rita Voltmer, Hexenforschung und Landesgeschichte Eine vorläufige Bilanz mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Tiroler Hexenforschung
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/voltmer
DOI: 10.1473/stor339
4. Christian Zendri, I giuristi e le streghe
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/zendri
DOI: 10.1473/stor340
5. Hansjörg Rabanser, Die Hexen und Zaubereiverfolgungen in Tirol: neue Ergebnisse
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/rabanser
DOI: 10.1473/stor341
6. Michaela Valente, Streghe o povere vecchiette? Il medico Johann Wier (1515-1588) contro la caccia alle streghe
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/valente
DOI: 10.1473/stor342
7. Raffaella Sarti, Streghe, serve e... storiche. Qualche spunto di riflessione su storia di genere e stregoneria
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/sarti
DOI: 10.1473/stor343
8. Tobia Moroder, Kultplätze der Heiden - Tummelplätze der Hexen
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/moroder
DOI: 10.1473/stor344
9. Emilio Poli, Inscenare i processi alle streghe 500 anni dopo. Le iniziative culturali in Val di Fiemme
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/poli
DOI: 10.1473/stor345
10. Heinz Noflatscher, Hexendiskurse, Hexensagen und Gouvernanten. Ein Nachwort
https://storicamente.org/rubrica-studi-2008/noflatscher
DOI: 10.1473/stor346

Based on the data set of Behringer (1997), we develop and test competing models of the determinants of witch hunting in Bavaria in the period 1345-1750, which explain the cyclicity as well as the variation over time from the 14th to the 18th century. Our main focus is on economic factors and their influence on the intensity of prosecution. We analyse this issue by quantifying the importance of grain price fluctuations for the frequency of witch trials/accusations, taking into account other possible explanations like the impact of confession and regional characteristics.

Über die außergewöhnlichen Ereignisse bei und nach den letzten Hexenprozessen in Vaduz in den Jahren 1679/80, die in der gleichnamigen Grafschaft und in der Herrschaft Schellenberg zu schweren gesellschaftlichen Verwerfungen und schließlich zu einer europaweit außergewöhnlichen-weil mehr als zwei Jahrhunderte nachwirkenden-Umwertung der ehemaligen Hexenverfolger zu sogenannten Tobelhockern geführt haben, liegen nur wenige zeitgenössische Aufzeichnungen vor. Deshalb kommt bei diesem Thema selbst unscheinbaren Informationsquellen Bedeutung zu.

Convergencias antecedentes En la literatura española del siglo XX, la obra cumbre de Cervantes, así como su personaje central, fueron pretexto inspirador para autores de diferentes estéticas y períodos, y a partir de una leva, la de los noventaiochistas, en la que abundaron las exégesis del Quijote 1. Entre estos iba a ser Miguel de Unamuno quien más páginas dedicase al tema, tema que dio ocasión a la peculiar relectura del texto cervantino que titularía Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho (1904). Diez años después de publicarse la antecitada obra unamuniana, aparece la del novecentista Ortega y Gasset Meditaciones sobre el Quijote (1914), escrita en 1912 y 1913, y en tantos aspectos en contrapunto con aquella. La primera, en efecto, se vence del lado de una atención apasionada hacia el ámbito anímico, mientras la segunda se centra en el análisis de las ideas y de las técnicas literarias. De Cervantes y de su ingenioso hidalgo se ocuparon distintos escritores del 27, una nómina nutrida de poetas y prosistas que va desde

This article investigates the factors that provoked the trial and death sentence of four witches in Bologna in 1559. That is, it aims to elucidate how a witch hunt (albeit a small one) was triggered in a context where demonology was present, but the persecution of witchcraft had been
kept at a relatively moderate level (and continued to be so after that). Scholarly contributions on witchcraft and witch hunts are now innumerable, but in general, scholars have focused on the social
relations between the alleged witches and the community in which they lived, on the theological culture of the judges, or even on the deep roots of the sabbath. An analysis of a series of trials for magical and superstitious practices held in Bologna shortly before the 1559 convictions reveals how
it was possible to move from simple sorcery to actual witchcraft. This transition was accomplished both because of the malefic nature of some of the spells practiced by the defendants and because of the intervention of diocesan judges who, for various reasons, were more determined than their predecessors to prosecute witchcraft harshly. Although the link between simple superstition and witchcraft has already been explored to some extent, it emerges with particular clarity in these events.

Owen, Elias. Welsh Folk-Lore: A Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales, Being the Prize Essay of the National Eisteddfod, 1887. Oswestry and Wrexham: Woodall, Minshall, and Co., 1896. This book is a comprehensive compilation of North Welsh folk tales and legends, written by the Rev. Elias Owen. The text was awarded first prize at the 1887 National Eisteddfod. It explores the folklore traditions of the region, focusing on fairy tales, superstitions, and historical customs. Owen, drawing on his personal experiences from his travels as a Diocesan Inspector of Schools, and with input from the local clergy and elderly inhabitants, records a wealth of local stories. The work offers insight into the cultural heritage of Wales, particularly the supernatural beliefs prevalent in the 19th century.

"Folk-Lore and Folk Stories of Wales" by Marie Trevelyan. is a detailed account of Welsh folklore, covering everything from mythical creatures like the dragon and the water-horse, to charms, spells, and superstitions. The book includes stories about the origins of natural features like mountains and lakes, as well as tales about witches, wizards, and the devil. The text is also rich in details about Welsh customs, traditions, and beliefs, particularly those related to holidays, food, and farming.

There has been no in-depth research into witches and witchcraft trials on
Transylvanian Fundus regius for over 50 years. The most recent contributions on the subject either examined the language of the relatively abundant surviving witness testimonies or were content with putting the Transylvanian witchcraft trials in the European mainstream context of the modern era. This paper analyses the published documents of the witchcraft trials of the Sighișoara Seat from the point of view of
“dealing” with evil. Starting from the mentality and the state of the theological debate of the time, it focuses on the historical context and the social environment in order to recognize attitudes and strategies of the actors in the process of dealing with evil within the local community.

When we think of witch trials, we tend to think of the Salem witch trials first and foremost. Yet in Finnmark, 135 people were accused of witchcraft in the 1600's. The majority of these cases took place in Vardø and Vadsø.

I spent a few weeks in Vardø researching the witch trials which took place there.

Este trabajo pretende adentrarse en el modo en el que la naturaleza, de distintas formas, está incorporada a nuestro imaginario compartido sobre la brujería. La propuesta se inscribe en la línea de una investigación más amplia, que explora las imbricaciones entre  el  imaginario  de  la  caza  de
brujas  y  los  discursos  feministas  contemporáneos.  Desde este punto de partida, nos interesa explorar qué géneros textuales se activan en las narrativas de la brujería, concretamente los que tratan del aquelarre como acontecimiento  que  encumbra  el  poder  de  la  bruja,  y  qué  cabida tiene  lo  fantástico  en  una  pugna discursiva que interroga lo verosímil, lo mágico y, en definitiva, los límites de lo real. En nuestro estudio partimos de la historiografía tradicional sobre la caza de brujas para llegar a la crítica feminista, para desde ella ahondar en sus implicaciones sociales y políticas, pensando en la bruja como construcción discursiva vinculada fuerte-mente a la naturaleza en diversas formas.

Il saggio si propone di portare alla luce un episodio di repressione antistregonica finora sconosciuto che si verificò nell’Italia centrale, in particolare ad Amelia, nel 1446 e che condusse alla condanna a morte di almeno due presunte streghe. Di tali avvenimenti rimangono alcune fonti rinvenute presso l’Archivio comunale di Amelia, ossia una sentenza pronunciata contro una donna chiamata Iohannola il 22 ottobre 1446 e altre notizie riportate nei registri comunali delle Riformanze. Il caso oggetto di studio arricchisce la conoscenza storica di un fenomeno complesso e sfaccettato come quello della stregoneria quattrocentesca (per la quale si dispone di una quantità di fonti importante ma di gran lunga inferiore rispetto ai secoli successivi) e si colloca in continuità con quanto già emerso dalle precedenti ricerche svolte in aree limitrofe. Similmente al processo contro Matteuccia di Francesco, avvenuto a Todi nel 1428 e pubblicato da Domenico Mammoli nel 1969, nonché a quelli perugini di metà secolo studiati da Ugolino Nicolini e da lui editi nel 1987, l’azione giudiziaria amerina non fu intrapresa dal giudice ecclesiastico, bensì da quello secolare e fu caratterizzata, almeno inizialmente, da una certa rigidità; inoltre, se a Todi la condanna di Matteuccia era avvenuta in seguito all’attività omiletica di Bernardino da Siena, ad Amelia le indagini si verificarono con ogni probabilità successivamente alla convocazione, nel 1445, da parte delle autorità cittadine in cerca di predicatori, di frati della levatura di Giacomo della Marca e Giovanni da Capestrano, entrambi minori osservanti particolarmente legati alla figura di Bernardino. I processi dell’anno successivo sono spia dell’instaurazione di un clima di delazione che, dopo le prime condanne, condusse le stesse autorità cittadine a intervenire per porre un freno al proliferare delle denunce.

Starting in the early fifteenth century, Dominican theologians and inquisitors created the new idea of diabolical witchcraft, conceiving it as a cooperative heresy practised by human beings who were under the direct leadership of the Devil. These theologians’ contributions to the witch-hunt included tracts describing the new heretics and handbooks for their prosecution by the inquisition, many of which were written or published in the Italian peninsula between the 1480s and the 1520s. This paper mostly concentrates on the works produced in this time period, stressing the differences between more practically-oriented books, such as Bernardo Rategno’s Tractatus de strigiis or Modesto Scrofeo’s Formularium pro exequendo inquisitionis officio, and more theoretical discussions of witchcraft, such as Bartolomeo Spina’s Quaestio de strigibus. It points out that these texts were often intended to confute and attack doubters and opponents of the witch-hunt as much as they sought to denounce witches
themselves. Finally, it argues that these works were produced most rapidly in the early 1500s, coinciding with the high point of the witch-hunts in Italy and of the debate that this provoked, while the genre later became outmoded, and was quickly abandoned in the second half of the sixteenth century as the Roman Inquisition adopted a newer, more cautious and moderately sceptical approach to the prosecution of witchcraft.

Through a reading of Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Anthills of
the Savannah (1987), this paper attempts to examine the Igbo society‟s
attitude towards gender relations. The paper would study the gender
stereotypes and the existing hierarchy in the Igbo society to assess the
position of the Igbo women. An attempt is made to examine the provisions
for checks and balances of power in the traditional Igbo society to see how it
affects the genders. The paper would discuss the changes that have come to
Igbo society‟s attitude towards gender relations by tracing the trajectory
from Things Fall Apart to Anthills of the Savannah. Finally, an attempt
would be made to examine the representation of women in Achebe‟s novels.
The paper emphasises the importance of maintaining a balance between the
male and the female principles and posits that the inability to maintain a
balance between the two principles led to the tragedy/ downfall of Okonkwo
in Things Fall Apart. The traditional Igbo society depicted in Things Fall
Apart is overtly androcentric; however, the paper contends that society
designed its norms and systems to balance the male and the female
principles. Okonkwo could not appreciate and comprehend the balance of
his culture, and that led to his downfall. The paper argues that Achebe
understands and realises the importance of the balance between the male
and the female principles for the proper functioning and development of the
Igbo society and that he is not gendered/ biased in his representation of
women characters in his novels. The methodology used in the paper involves
a close reading of the primary texts using African indigenous ideas on power
and gender relations as the theoretical frame of references. The paper would
also take recourse to Buchi Emecheta‟s ideas on gender relations for a
clearer understanding of the subject of research.
Keywords : Gender-relations, gender-stereotypes, hierarchy, power,
androcentric and representation.

This thesis is an analysis of the relationship between the emerging demonological literature between the 15th and 17th centuries, the Holy Bible, the wisdom traditions and historical events such as religious reform of the 16th century on one hand, and the witch hunt on the other, seen in the context of the 14th century dialogue by Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola "La strega, ovvero degli inganni dei demoni". The analysis allows us to understand the role of the witch adopted in the dialogue by Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola. She became in fact the only witness of Satan's real presence in the world, and therefore a source of the truths of the Christian faith and of the presence of God. Furthermore, the author's biography reveals the influence of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Girolamo Savonarola on Gianfrancesco Pico's need to defend the truths of the Christian faith from the influence of pagan superstitions. He treats also pagan gods and goddesses as incarnations of demons who in ancient times, tried to deceive man and enslave him to Satan, just as witches do it at present.

This essay is one of a collection of essays written for the course REL374: Witchcraft and Heresy in Medieval Europe in the Spring of 2021. The course was modeled around category analysis with a particular key category for each module, which you will see in bold in each of the essays. The idea was to analyze the assigned reading with particular attention paid to the key category. The key concepts included Identity, Power + Authority, Body/Bodies, Authenticity and/or Legitimacy, Adaptation and/or Evolution, and the Capitol Riots of January 6th (a genius 11th-hour update to the syllabus as we watched history unfold that semester).

Admittedly, the prose and citations are a bit lacking, as these are my first attempts at academic writing. However, I feel it is important to keep them around to remind myself where I started and how far I have come academically and artistically.

This essay is part of a collection of essays written for the course REL374: Witchcraft and Heresy in Medieval Europe in the Spring of 2021. The course was modeled around category analysis with a particular key category for each week, which you will see in bold in each of the essays. The idea was to analyze the assigned reading with particular attention paid to the key category. The key concepts included Identity, Power + Authority, Body/Bodies, Authenticity and/or Legitimacy, Adaptation and/or Evolution, and the Capitol Riots of January 6th (a genius 11th-hour update to the syllabus as we watched history unfold that semester).

Admittedly, the prose and citations are a bit lacking, as these are my first attempts at academic writing. However, I feel it is important to keep them around to remind myself where I started and how far I have come academically and artistically.

The research paper analyzes the phenomena of witch-hunting in Nepal and India within the broader context of violence against women. Considering the case studies, in Nepal, it is found most of the incidents have occurred in the Terai region and the victims of\vitchcraft allegations have been mostly women from the marginalized, poor and etlmic communities. In India, women from tribal communities and widows have been targeted. It is generally seen tI,at ti,e causes behind this specific type of violence are snperstition and belief in witchcraft reinforced by the presence of people like shamans and witch-doctors and tI,eir influence on illiterate (and often fatalistic) communities. However, these are only the visible causes so ti,e research paper attempts to discover the other invisible (root) causes of witch-hunting in these countries. This papcr considers violence against women originating from different levels such as structural, cultural and individual. In patriarchal societies, women are subjected to a subordinate role in relation to men and such subordination is reflected in patriarchal control over resources, discrimination and exploitation in the family, society and ti,e state. It has been generally found that women in both countries have wlequal access to all productive resources, unequal treatment in food and less access to health care and education, which act as a handicap for them from "enhancing their capabilities". Discriminatory practices like female infanticide, dowry, child marriage, polygamy and mistreatment of widows are widespread. Women who attempt to challenge patriarchal norms have become victims to alleged witchcraft practices. Those women who are actively engaged in community service or active members at local tiers government have also become victims of such allegations. Although both tile countries are ti,e member of United Nations and have ratified most global human rights instruments, in practice, human rights violations occur at an alanning scale. There is a rise in the number of incidents of witch-hunting, in which communities are lolling women. Hitherto, tI,ere is no specific law to address the issue.

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The series Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages has nicely balanced monographs with essay collections. Inquisition and Knowledge, 1200-1700, its latest addition, derives from a conference in 2018 at the University of York, and gathers papers by a multinational group of medievalists and early modernists. "Knowledge" here takes many forms: how clerics discovered, created and shaped, or disseminated knowledge about heresy; how, what, and why we now know about medieval inquisitions; and how others in the past acquired such knowledge and what they did with it. Inquisition and Knowledge is divided chronologically, with part one's eight essays concerning the Middle Ages and five essays on the early-modern period in part two. For the purposes of a review, a fruitful way to divide the volume is by interest and approach: that is, by what kind of relationship between "inquisition and knowledge" is being examined and proposed. Some essays concern the content of medieval antiheretical texts: what we can know about heresy and inquisition through them, and what their authors knew. Jessalyn Bird argues, via liturgical sermon collections, that the preaching of Paris masters more commonly addressed heresy than has previously been assumed. Alessando Sala argues for the importance of two formal components of Pope Gregory IX's letters, the arenga (preamble) and the narratio (summary of context that led to papal response) in establishing lasting biblical imagery for heresy, however unreliable they may have been about the reality of heresy. Two chapters, by Reima Vâlimâki and by Adam Poznanski, treat the Celestine monk and inquisitor Peter Zwicker. Valimaki offers a manuscript history, edition, and translation of Zwicker's anti-Waldensian De vita et conversacione. Like Sala on Gregory IX, Poznanski treats the formalities of rhetoric. Here, the focus is on the strategies that Zwicker deployed in his anti-Waldensian treatise, Cum dormirent homines, in order to persuade. Poznanski argues that Zwicker's treatise was practical, demonstrating the persistence of persuasion even amid the coercion of inquisition. Irene Bueno examines the treatment of Eastern-Orthodox Christians in the antiheretical works of Benedict of Alignan, Guido Terreni, Alvarus Pelagius, and Nicholas Eymeric. As in her other work, Bueno usefully emphasizes the "role of the papal court of Avignon as a key intellectual hub" in universalist considerations of heresy (136). Another general theme is practice on the ground of real-world inquisitors. Jorg Feuchter examines the irony-laden career of Nepos of Montauban, who served as assistant and scribe for inquisitions, and as secular judge. But he also assisted in defense. Feuchter notes that while Nepos only redacted the Liber fugitivus with whose authorship he has been credited, this work, the "declared intention" of which "is to provide the accused with instruments to neutralise [inquisitors'] attacks," still sits strangely on his career (74). Pawel Kras casts a fresh eye on Dominican inquisitor John of Schwenkenfeld's investigation in 1332 of sixteen "cowled nuns" in Silesia, an investigation strongly colored by the Council of Vienne's condemnation twenty years earlier of the so-called "Heresy of the Free Spirit." Richard Kieckhefer revisits his influential European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500 (1976), revising its thesis that "sorcery was a datum of popular belief, while diabolism was introduced by learned élites, particularly inquisitors" (195). With illustrations from specific trials, Kieckhefer now suggests a few qualifications, including the clergy's