Before the Fire Burns

Trials for Superstition, Magic, and Witchcraft in Sixteenth-Century Bologna

Bibliographic Data

ID3521248
AuthorsGuido Dall’olio (0000-0002-7865-5520, University of Urbino, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume15
Issue9
Pages1111
Publication date2024-09-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15091111
OpenAlexW4402807000
LanguageEN
References cited21

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

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Superstition · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · History of Science and Medicine

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access