In her talk, Lu Ann Hozma will explore one of the most famous and dramatic witch-hunts in European history. Between 1608-1614, Spain’s northern region of Navarre was the site of literally thousands of accusations and perhaps hundreds of incidents of local torture as neighbors turned on each other over witchcraft suspicions. The Spanish Inquisition was in charge of processing the witches’ formal trials, but its officials so mismanaged the prosecutions that the inquisitorial leadership in Madrid overturned guilty verdicts and restored honor to the convicted. Now, new archival sources in Pamplona allow us to see these events from the ground up rather than the top down, and their revelations are striking. Not only do we have court testimony from children who self-identified as witches during this six-year period, but we can discern whether and how adult neighbors attempted—or not—to protect those youngsters as local turmoil unfolded. The result is a deeper understanding of children, speech, and community and religious values in early modern Spain.
Open to all members of the Oberlin campus community
