The World of the Witches

340 Pages·2001·10.754 MB·English

by  Julio Caro Baroja

Julio Caro Baroja was a Spanish Basque anthropologist and historian
who was best known for his ethnographic studies of Basque and Spanish
traditional cultures and folklore. He was a nephew of the well-known
novelist Pio Baroja, was a member of the Spanish Academy of History,
and is well-known as the author of the classic ethnography of the
Basques whose activities in witchcraft inspired the present work. Dr
Baroja died in 1995.
Also by Julio Caro Banja
The Basques
Los Pueblos de Espana
Los Vascos
Las Brujas y su Mundo
Los Judios en la Espana Modema y Contemporanea
Vidas Magicas e Inquisicion
Los Baroja
Las Formas Complejas de la Vida Religiosa
I
THE WORLD
OF THE WITCHES
Julio Caro Baroja
Translated from the Spanish by Nigel Glendinning
PHOENIX
PRESS
5 UPPER SAINT MARTIN’S LANE
LONDON
WC2H 9EA
A PHOENIX PRESS PAPERBACK
First published in Great Britain
by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1964
This paperback edition published in 2001
by Phoenix Press,
a division of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd,
Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2H 9EA
Copyright © 1961 by Revista de Ociodente, SA. Madrid
Translation copyright © 1964 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
The moral right of Julio Caro Baroja to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it may not
be resold or otherwise issued except in its original binding.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Printed and bound in Italy by
• Grafica Veneta S.p.A.
ISBN 1 84212 242 8
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1 A PRIMARY CONCEPTION OF THE NATURE OF THE WORLD 3
AND OF EXISTENCE
Sky, sun, moon and earth - The moon and its sphere of
influence - Magical thought; the conception of man and
the world
PART I
THE CLASSICAL BACKGROUND
2 THE NATURE OF THE WITCH IN GRAECO-ROMAN TIMES 17
Theories about magic - Magic and religion in the classical
world - Maleficent magic - Amatory magic - Mercenary
magic - Metamorphosis - Conclusions
3 CHRISTIANITY, PAGANISM AND WITCHCRAFT 41
Christian and pagan views of early magic-Legal and
theological doctrine - Witchcraft during the decline of the
Roman Empire- Witchcraft amongst the German and
Slavonic peoples - The nature of civil and religious laws
4 the witches’ goddess 58
Barbarian laws concerning witches - Diana, Holda,
Herodias - Critical and satirical comments on witchcraft -
More about pagan gods
v
WORLD OF THE WITCHES
PART II
THE RISE OF WITCHCRAFT
5 THE DEVIL’S PART 69
The Devil in the medieval cosmos - Demonolatry - Devil­
worshippers - Dualism
6 THE SABBATH 79
New views of magic and the works of the Devil-Notable cases
of sorcery in the fourteenth century - The first ‘Sabbath’ -
The cult of the He-goat-A general view of the ‘Sabbath’ -
Inquisitorial practice - The 'Malleus Maleficarum’
7 THE RENAISSANCE CRISIS 99
Witchcraft in Italy - The Celestino as an archetype -
Doubts entertained by some Spanish theologians - Views of
some Italian intellectuals - The reaction in Germany
8 THE DEFINITIVE FORM OF THE CRIME OF WITCHCRAFT 112
The contribution of French judges to the theory of witch­
craft - Daneau and Bodin - Pierre Gregoire and Remy -
Boguet and Martin del Rio
9 THE SPIRIT BEHIND THE DECLARATIONS 122
German witches and Walpurgis night- Witches in the
British Isles-New discussions
10 WITCHCRAFT AND POSSESSION BY DEVILS 131
The production of spells by material means - Possessed
persons, the Devil and those who induce possession-
Towards new interpretations
PART HI
THE CRISIS OF WITCHCRAFT IN THE
BASQUE COUNTRY
11 WITCHCRAFT AMONG THE BASQUES IN THE SIXTEENTH 143
CENTURY
Basque Country from 1466 to 1527- Witch­
craft in The Basque Country from 1527 to 1596
vi
CONTENTS
12 THE GREAT TRIALS OF THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 156
IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY
Pierre de Lancre - Satan’s regal position at coven - The
Church as model for the ‘Sabbath’ - Credulity and lack of
critical approach
13 THE WITCHES OF ZUGARRAMURDI 171
The structure of the supposed witches’ ‘sect’ - Acts com­
mitted by sect members
14 PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE 180
ZUGARRAMURDI TRIALS
The theories of Pedro de Valencia - The action taken by
Inquisitor Alonso de Salazar y Frias
15 WITCHCRAFT IN THE BASQUE PROVINCES AFTER THE MAJOR 190
TRIALS
A municipal trial: the Fuenterrabla witches - The views of
Dr Lope Martinez de Isasti
PART IV
THE DECLINE OF WITCHCRAFT
16 THE GREAT CRISIS 201
Major critical works - The witch-hunters discredited -
Gassendi and Malebranche - Later trials
17 THE ENLIGHTENMENT 209
Critical currents in the early eighteenth century - Voltaire
and Feijoo’s views on witchcraft - Criticism in the late
eighteenth century
18 WITCHCRAFT IN ART AND LITERATURE 216
Hieronymus Bosh, or objective criticism - Realism in litera­
ture - Goya and the modem mentality - Romanticism and
folklore
vii
WORLD OF THE WITCHES
19 MODERN VIEWS OF WITCHCRAFT 227
Devil-worship in our Basque Provinces today - First-hand
information about a typical witchcraft case - More data on
witchcraft in the Basque country - Witchcraft amongst
people in other areas
20 SOME MODERN INTERPRETATIONS OF WITCHCRAFT 242
Anthropological interpretations - Theological interpretations
-Modern demonologists - The views of psychiatrists - The
witnesses - Witchcraft and politics - The personality of the
witch
259
NOTES
307
INDEX
Viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
BC 400 Cabeiric cup with a scene representing Circe
offering a potion to Ulysses (Reproduced by kind per­
mission of the Ashmolean Museum}
Witches' banquet
Witch riding to a Sabbath on a monster
Baptism by the Devil at the Sabbath
Homage being paid to the Devil
Devils, witches and sorcerers dancing
Witch producing a storm
Sorcerers changed into animals cast their spells
Jan Ziarnko's plate for De Lancre's Tableau de 1’incon-
stance (Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian
Library)
Engraving by Jacques Callot of The temptation of St
Antony (Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian
Library)
Illustration of a sorceress casting spells by Jan van de
Velde (Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian
Library)
ix
WORLD OF THE WITCHES
Print of a witchcraft scene by David Teniers the younger
(Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian Library)
Plate illustrating the Sabbath from Laurent Bordelon’s
L’histoire des imaginations extravagantes de Monsieur
Oufle (Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian
Library)
Goya's Capricho 60—Practice
Capricho 67—Wait until they've anointed you
Capricho 12—Hunting for teeth
Capricho 68—Attractive teacher
Early nineteenth century woodcut of witches (Reproduced
by kind permission of the Bodleian Library)
X