Persecution of Witches Research Papers (original) (raw)

Organisé par David Bardey (doctorant en histoire médiévale, UMR6298 ARTEHIS) et Rudi Beaulant (docteur en histoire médiévale, UMR6298 ARTEHIS).

Pagan beliefs and practices in 19th century Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary, Wisewomen, healers, and seers. Culture loss under repression and displacement from the land. Festival enactments... more

Pagan beliefs and practices in 19th century Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Hungary, Wisewomen, healers, and seers. Culture loss under repression and displacement from the land. Festival enactments of "Burning the Witch." Rites of witch-detection. Demonization and stubborn retention of pagan elements. Book draft from Vol XIII of Secret History of the Witches.

Witches’ Sabbath offers an overload of the emblematic characteristics which were attributed to witches during the early modern period, underpinned by the complete nudity of the witches. Naked witches were not often depicted in the... more

Witches’ Sabbath offers an overload of the emblematic characteristics which were attributed to witches during the early modern period, underpinned by the complete nudity of the witches. Naked witches were not often depicted in the illustrations of respectable, cautionary literary works concerning witches, hence this artistic choice on Baldung's part is a rather innovatory. Interestingly only a year after the unveiling of Witches' Sabbath in 1510, Die Emeis - which preocuppied itself with the Lenten sermons of Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg - was published in Strasbourg similarly depicting naked witches. Although we cannot say whether the inclusion of naked witches in Die Emeis was solely the result of Baldung’s depiction, it is very likely that Geiler would have been familiar with Baldung's work due to its popularity and this woodcut could have indeed influenced his own opinions and artistic choices. Whether Baldung intended his woodcut to not only reflect a “real-life” representation of witches but, more importantly, influence how they would be depicted by their persecutors in the future is debatable. Much of the debate surrounding this piece centres on this point: was it Baldung's intention to realistically depict witches or should Baldung’s work be viewed as satirical. Either way, there is much that this woodcut can tell us about what those who genuinely believed in the existence of witches and the way fear of witchcraft was constructed for public consumption.

A structured and partly annotated bibliography of religious non-conformism / dissent / heresy / heterodoxy and its repression in the history of Christianity (now around 750 standard pages) intended to update and supplement, among others,... more

A structured and partly annotated bibliography of religious non-conformism / dissent / heresy / heterodoxy and its repression in the history of Christianity (now around 750 standard pages) intended to update and supplement, among others, Grundmann, Herbert, Bibliographie zur Ketzergeschichte des Mittelalters (1900-1966), Rome 1967, and Berkhout, Carl T. – Russell, Jeffrey Burton, Medieval Heresies: A Bibliography 1960-1979, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 1981. All headings are now also in English; some annotations are in Czech.

RESUMO: Os autores estudam um caso de linchamento ocorrido na cidade de Guarujá. Formulam sua hipótese a partir da teoria mimética de René Girard, demonstrando, no caso concreto, a presença de sinais vitimários que tornam um indivíduo... more

Desde la Antigüedad hasta la Modernidad la humanidad ha te-mido y reverenciado a monstruos y héroes. Este libro explica de forma cronológica la evolución de ambos e intenta dar res-puesta a la razón de su existencia, ya que los dos... more

Desde la Antigüedad hasta la Modernidad la humanidad ha te-mido y reverenciado a monstruos y héroes. Este libro explica de forma cronológica la evolución de ambos e intenta dar res-puesta a la razón de su existencia, ya que los dos cumplen una función vital en nuestra sociedad desde sus inicios: son los representantes de las fuerzas del caos y el orden, las encarna-ciones del Bien y el Mal más absolutos. Dioses, héroes, reyes, cazadores, monstruos del abismo, gigantes, brujas, vampiros y asesinos en serie son los protagonistas de esta obra que sostiene una idea simple y constante a lo largo de la misma: monstruo y héroe son creaciones del Estado, es decir, de quie-nes detentan el poder para obtener legitimidad y perpetuar su situación el máximo tiempo posible. Sin embargo, el monstruo es algo más que una construcción del Estado, lo es también del individuo en su deseo de dar sentido a su existencia. Por este motivo, pese a tener unos rasgos comunes a lo largo de la historia, los monstruos se transforman conforme lo hacen también las sociedades. De este modo, dan respuesta a nues-tras inquietudes, nos ayudan a conocer el mundo en el que vivimos y, lo más importante, nos permiten reconciliarnos con nosotros mismos al hacerles a ellos responsables del mal que vemos en el mundo. El hombre contemporáneo no cree en los monstruos, pero suele verlos allí donde mira, puesto que son un mal necesario.

The paper examines the history of relations between the Roman Inquisition and the societies of the Venetian Ionian Islands. Specifically, it studies cases of arrest or accusation to the Inquisition of subjects of the Republic of Venice... more

The paper examines the history of relations between the Roman Inquisition and the societies of the Venetian Ionian Islands. Specifically, it studies cases of arrest or accusation to the Inquisition of subjects of the Republic of Venice residing permanently or displaying in the Ionian region delinquent behaviour on issues relating to faith during the period οf the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. Besides the definition of the divergent ideas embraced or propagated by the accused as well as their deviant behaviours and practices, principal issues investigated are on the one hand the role and the policies of the State authorities regarding religious dissent and its repression, and on the other the perception of the Roman Inquisition by the local societies and the reflections of its function in the social domain.

Much has been written about witchcraft, a topic which has attracted the attention of scholars from early times. But sorcery, witchcraft and evil are concepts deeply rooted into our western society and embedded in people’s mind from... more

Much has been written about witchcraft, a topic which has attracted the attention of scholars from early times. But sorcery, witchcraft and evil are concepts deeply rooted into our western society and embedded in people’s mind from Ancient times. Therefore, it is important to study this process form the perspective of cultural studies. Authors such as Stephen Greenblatt have emphasised the importance of understanding a literary piece of work not as an isolated phenomenon, but in relation to its historical context and exploiting its subversive potential. The aim of this paper will be to give the audience a general overview on traditional ideas about witchcraft present in today’s society compared with what scholars and writers have said about this controversial topic in earlier times, in particular in the Early Modern period when witchcraft hunts were at their peak. However, not only the concept of the witch will be analysed but also the historical background will also be taken into consideration as an important part of this study.

Much has been written about witchcraft, a topic which has attracted the attention of scholars from early times. But sorcery, witchcraft and evil are concepts deeply rooted in our western society and embedded in people’s mind from ancient... more

Much has been written about witchcraft, a topic which has attracted the attention of scholars from early times. But sorcery, witchcraft and evil are concepts deeply rooted in our western society and embedded in people’s mind from ancient times. Authors such as Stephen Greenblatt have emphasised the importance of understanding a literary piece of work not as an isolated phenomenon but in relation to its historical context and also focusing on its subversive potential. This article aims at offering a general overview on traditional ideas about witchcraft present in today’s society compared with what scholars and writers have said about this controversial topic in earlier times, in particular in the early Modern period when witchcraft hunts were at their peak. However, not only the figure of the witch will be analysed but also the historical background that surrounded this phenomenon and that helped give shape to contemporary perceptions on this figure.

In 1609, the Bordeaux judge Pierre de Lancre burned 70 people at the stake and then wrote a justification for his actions in his book ‘On the Inconstancy of Witches.’ Therein, Lancre provided a brief history of dance wherein he argued... more

In 1609, the Bordeaux judge Pierre de Lancre burned 70 people at the stake and then wrote a justification for his actions in his book ‘On the Inconstancy of Witches.’ Therein, Lancre provided a brief history of dance wherein he argued that, “the truth is that the passion and excitement of war first created dancing.” His argument aligned with Reformist thinkers he probably nonetheless considered heretical. This paper investigates the conception of dance’s origin in ancient Pyrrhic war dance, and articulates how religious writers in the period conceived of dance and war through the Pyrrhic lineage of antiquity.