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The Navarre witch trials took place in the Pyrenees in the Kingdom of Navarra in 1525-1526. It was a significant event in the treatment of witchcraft cases in Spain, as it led to a decision from the Spanish Inquisition in how to conduct witch trials.
In 1525, the Council of Navarre sent a special commissioner to inspect the mountain regions of the Navarrese North Eastern Pyrenees, "where for a long time they had not known what temporal or spiritual justice means." [1] The commissioner brought along "two girl witches, who know how to discover witches", two sisters of nine and eleven years old. [1] During the inspection tour of the commissioner, the two girls inspected the villagers for signs of the "Devil's mark" in their eyes. [1]
This led to a number of witch trials. The commissioner arrested and executed an unknown number of people for witchcraft in five different places. [1] He purchased masses for the confiscated property of the condemned to ask the blessing of God for his mission.
The Navarrese witch hunt, however, provoked intervention by the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition . In August 1525, the Inquisition was granted jurisdiction over the witch hunt, and 30 people accused of witchcraft were handed over to them. They also insisted on inspecting the ongoing witch trials.
In December 1525, the Spanish Inquisition issued guidelines in how to deal with witch trials. The guidelines cautioned skepticism against spells, which caused most accusations and death sentences, banned the confiscation of the property of anyone condemned for witchcraft,[ citation needed ] reserved for the Inquisition the right to try witches, and paid more attention to "re-educating" witches rather than issuing death sentences.
The guideline to "re-educate" rather than executed witches were followed by the Spanish Inquisition in witchcraft cases from 1526 until the Basque witch trials in 1609; during that time, many people were executed by the Inquisition in Spain, especially in Navarre, but for heresy and not for witchcraft. In 1527, led by the inquisitor Avellaneda, acting on the same valleys the Navarrese Royal Council deputy had punished in 1525 (Salazar, Erronkari), resulting in approximately 80 residents burnt on fire for heresy.
However, witchcraft executions were rare, and it was to be fifty years until another took place. In 1575, the secular courts executed Maria Johan for witchcraft, resulting in the Navarre witch trials (1575–76) with fifty accused witches, a witch hunt which the Inquisition however succeeded in stopping without further executions. [2] It was not until the Basque witch trials in 1609 that the Inquisition again allowed for witchcraft executions, and it was also to be the last.
The Spanish Inquisition did not always succeed in keeping the secular courts from dealing with witchcraft cases, and a failure to do so resulted in a great witch hunt in Catalonia in 1618-1622, with about one hundred victims until it was subdued. [1] After 1622, witch trials in Spain dwindled until the mid-17th century.
The Inquisition was a judicial procedure and a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, but convictions of unrepentant heresy were handed over to the secular courts, which generally resulted in execution or life imprisonment. The Inquisition had its start in the 12th-century Kingdom of France, with the aim of combating religious deviation, particularly among the Cathars and the Waldensians. The inquisitorial courts from this time until the mid-15th century are together known as the Medieval Inquisition. Other groups investigated during the Medieval Inquisition, which primarily took place in France and Italy, include the Spiritual Franciscans, the Hussites, and the Beguines. Beginning in the 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of the Dominican Order, replacing the earlier practice of using local clergy as judges.
The Roman Inquisition, formally Suprema Congregatio Sanctae Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis, was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes according to Catholic law and doctrine, relating to Catholic religious life or alternative religious or secular beliefs. It was established in 1542 by the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Paul III. In the period after the Medieval Inquisition, it was one of three different manifestations of the wider Catholic Inquisition, the other two being the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition.
Akelarre is the Basque term meaning Witches' Sabbath. Akerra means male goat in the Basque language. Witches' sabbaths were envisioned as presided over by a goat.
Sorginak are the assistants of the goddess Mari in Basque mythology. It is also the Basque name for witches, priests and priestesses, making it difficult to distinguish between the mythological and real ones.
Aezkoa Valley is an administrative unit of Navarre, Spain. It is formed by several smaller municipalities: Abaurregaina, Abaurrepea, Aria, Aribe, Garraioa, Garralda, Hiriberri (town), Orbaitzeta and Orbara.
The Basque witch trials of the seventeenth century represent the last attempt at rooting out supposed witchcraft from Navarre by the Spanish Inquisition, after a series of episodes erupted during the sixteenth century following the end of military operations in the conquest of Iberian Navarre, until 1524.
Alonso de Salazar Frías has been given the epithet "The Witches’ Advocate" by historians, for his role in establishing the conviction, within the Spanish Inquisition, that accusations against supposed witches were more often rooted in dreams and fantasy than in reality, and the inquisitorial policy that witch accusations and confessions should only be given credence where there was firm, independent, corroborating evidence. He was probably the most influential figure in ensuring that those accused of witchcraft were generally not put to death in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Spain. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the first institutions in Europe to rule against the death penalty for supposed witches. Its Instructions of 1614, which embodied Salazar's ideas, were influential throughout Catholic Europe.
The Terrassa witch trials took place in Terrassa, then in the Principality of Catalonia, Spain between 1615 and 1619. Six women of the city of Terrassa were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death on 27 October 1619.
The Witch trials in Spain were few in comparison with most of Europe. The Spanish Inquisition preferred to focus on the crime of heresy and, consequently, did not consider the persecution of witchcraft a priority and in fact discouraged it rather than have it conducted by the secular courts. This was similar to the Witch trials in Portugal and, with a few exceptions, mainly successful. However, while the Inquisition discouraged witch trials in Spain proper, it did encourage the particularly severe Witch trials in the Spanish Netherlands.
The Witch trials in Portugal were perhaps the fewest in all of Europe. Similar to the Spanish Inquisition in neighboring Spain, the Portuguese Inquisition preferred to focus on the persecution of heresy and did not consider witchcraft to be a priority. In contrast to the Spanish Inquisition, however, the Portuguese Inquisition was much more efficient in preventing secular courts from conducting witch trials, and therefore almost managed to keep Portugal free from witch trials. Only seven people are known to have been executed for sorcery in Portugal.
The Witch trials in the Italian states of present-day Italy are a complicated issue. Witch trials could be managed by a number of different secular courts as well as by the Roman Inquisition, and documentation has been only partially preserved in either case. A further complication is the fact that Italy was politically split between a number of different states during the time period in which the witch trials occurred; and that historiography has traditionally separated the history of Northern Italy and Southern Italy. All of these issues complicate the research of witch trials in present-day Italy, and the estimations of the intensity and number of executions has varied between hundreds to thousands of victims.
María de Echachute, was one of the victims of the Basque witch trials, and one of six people executed by over hundreds of accused.
Petri de Joangorena was a Spanish alleged witch. He was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609-1614), and one of only six people executed of 7,000 who were accused.
Domingo de Subildegui was a Spanish alleged witch. He was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609–1614), and one of only six people executed of 7,000 who were accused.
Graciana Xarra was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609–1614), and one of only six of 7.000 accused to be executed.
Maria de Arburu was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609-1614), and one of only six people executed of 7,000 who were accused.
Maria Baztan de Borda was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609-1614), and one of only six of 7.000 accused to be executed.
María de Ximildegui was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials (1609-1614). She played an important role in the development of the Basque witch trials.
Maria Johan was a Spanish alleged witch.
Witch trials took place in the Principality of Catalonia in Spain between the 14th-century and 1767. Witch trials were comparably uncommon in Spain, and most of them took place in Catalonia and Navarre. While witch trials were uncommon in the rest of Spain, the witch trials in Catalonia had similarities with the witch trials in the rest of Western Europe, and are therefore a separate chapter in the context of witch trials in Spain. Around 400 women were prosecuted for witchcraft in Catalonia.