Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-p5m67 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-12T14:40:27.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Demonological and Anti-sorcery Theories in Spain

from Part I - Witches and Their Enemies in the Early Modern World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2025

Martin Austin Nesvig
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Get access

Summary

This chapter analyzes magic and attitudes toward magic in early modern Spain. The time period for review is primarily the sixteenth century. The chapter summarizes basic Spanish terminology such as hechicería, bruja, and sortilegio. There are two elements to this discussion. First, the chapter examines the cases of famous witch crazes in the Basque region of Spain in 1525 and 1609–11 in Zugarramurdi. There is a lot of popular imagery concerning witch crazes, seen for example in Goya’s painting of the Aquelarre, or the witches’ sabbath. In reality, Catholic courts and the Inquisition were skeptical of the existence of witches. The chapter analyzes some specific anti-sorcery writings such as treatises by Martín de Arlés and Martín de Castañega. It also looks at inquisitor manuals such as those by Alfonso de Castro, Nicolau Eimeric, and Diego de Simancas. Furthermore, this chapter examines the role of royal law in Siete Partidas in establishing jurisdiction over witchcraft. The chapter also includes some observations about uniquely Spanish types of magic and folk healing, such as the belief in the evil eye, herbal remedies, and Saint John’s Night.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
The Women Who Threw Corn
Witchcraft and Inquisition in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
, pp. 31 - 54
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×