Halloween is in full swing and this year we are digging into our archives to find witches!
The ghost of a man buried alive in Malta
The Sorcery Ordinance:0; you can find a transcription in the original old Croatian She further declared that she drew wine from an oak, although she did not see an oak but an empty cottage and an empty barrel from which she drew the wine, and that the witches there drank it:0; and she states that she herself is a true witch. And she declared that [illegible:0; in Oroslavje, Paulina, Matija on Bugetić’s [farm]:0; also Mara Horvatić, a serf of Lord Ilijašić—who were always with her whenever they were engaged in witchcraft dealings.
The above-written Doroteja Stanišić and Elizabeta Stepjković, to Lady Stanko, the widow of the noble Ivan Stepanić, confessed to being witches, because they, together with other witches, had been upon the Medved mountain.
In the presence of the same judge of the nobles. (m.p.)
To that end, she lived and consorted with the demon by methods known to her:0; and by such unlawful and evil compact (as is credible) procured many abortions, or else consecrated to her chief devil unborn or even born children—whether lawfully or unlawfully conceived—unbaptised:0; or, if baptised, first subjected them to depraved magical habits:0; nor refrained from using the corpses of such children for magical purposes. Inflamed with unspeakable hatred against the human race and its subjects, and urged on by her aforesaid chief, she, together with her accomplices—whenever and however summoned and revealed—often produced harmful frost, horrible hail, indescribable drought and aridity:0; thereby causing unexpected sterility of the earth and the greatest failure of crops, consequently the closest famine, and finally the most abundant death of men. No less, without any offence given or any reason, she sapped the strength and robust health of many people by blowing on them, by ointments and touch, by composing and mixing various poisons, herbs, leaves, powders, and roots:0; she brought upon them long wasting sickness, torpor of the heart, and ultimately death. Further, by her prior art, stealing milk from her neighbour’s cows or causing blood to flow and applying it to her own beasts, she bewitched the animals of neighbours or of any who offended her in any way, inflicting on them very grievous loss. In short, she exerted all the powers of her mind and body, in grievous outrage of the divine Majesty and to the harm of the human race, in imitation of the devil and his lieutenant:0; and, in confirmation of the aforesaid, in the year 1708, around the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ just past, she came (doubtless with poisons and malefices prepared) to the house of the worthy Lovro (Lourens) Sagud in the holding of Jertovec, within the bounds of the ruined castle of Zelina in the County of Zagreb:0; and there, having asked Dorotea Nemčić, wife of the said Sagud, for wheat and not obtained it, she so infected their little daughter Agata with a method of sorcery well known to herself that the girl’s flesh was immediately afflicted with very severe diseases—until the said defendant, urged by the child’s parents, returned to the child and, by imprinting a kiss upon her, restored her to her former health.
Likewise, in the same year around the feast of the Ascension of the Lord just past, coming to the cellar of the noble Petar Hadaš on the height called Seremetov Vrh in the aforesaid County of Zagreb, she asked for wine to drink:0; when it was refused by Petar’s brother Franjo, she soon caused the death of about forty young cockerels belonging to the Hadaš household. Similarly, in the year 1706, around the feast of Easter, she came to the house of the worthy Juraj (George) Sagud, tenant of the Zagreb nuns in the aforesaid holding of Jertovec in the same county and bounds:0; and there, after first tickling under his shoulders with her sorcerous and magical hands, and after asking him for a drink which he refused, and after throwing a spinning tool (called a distaff) through the window, the said defendant was so enraged that she bewitched the said George Sagud in such a manner that for the space of an entire week he was forced—by the said defendant’s magical art—to be carried here and there through wastes and byways, crossroads and fourways, and into deep valleys around those parts, by a certain horse (doubtless black, that is, the devil in the form of a horse) upon which she sat:0; and only after very frequent prayers and subsequent feasts and entertainments did the fevers subside after a long time. She deprived him of many animals:0; turned milk-products into blood:0; and perpetrated many other enormous magical works of this sort, devised by the doing and contrivance of the devil, to be more fully declared in law. Thus she made herself manifestly a witch, sorceress, and poisoner, and did not fear thereby to become a perpetual enemy of God most good, of men, and of animals:0; nor did she fear to incur the punishment established everywhere in general by canon and civil laws and by the sanctions of the Realm.
Wherefore the aforesaid lords plaintiffs, by virtue of the aforesaid laws and constitutions, seek judgment and justice upon the aforesaid matters as everywhere enacted:0; and, in accordance with the contents of this action and the demerits of the said defendant, request that effective justice be administered:0; and the defendant is hereby certified to appear by virtue of the present notice. Nikola Kupinić, deputy judge.
Here is the full original document:0; the inquisitor of the faith, his chaplain, and two sergeants of the bishop of Autun, who delivered the said Jehannette de Baugy to the justice of Glennes on Thursday, 23 May 1452, where, on Friday the 24th, the said inquisitor preached:0; the nobleman Pierre de Thoisy, lord of Gamay, councillor, bailiff of Autun and Montcenis, who came, he and his retinue of five on horseback, to accompany the justice of said Glennes on Thursday evening, and remained there:0; Jehan Bouley, Guillaume Le Roy, and Jehan Chastellain, who built the scaffolds for the sermon:0; the food expenses of Robin Le Roy, executor of high justice in the bailiwick of Autun:0; the person who made the stake for tying her, and the reimboursement of the purchase of one hundred logs for burning her.
The news spread, and the Corradino prison cemetery, where Azzopardi is still buried, quickly became a place of pilgrimage, reaching 200 or 300 visitors per day. Furthermore, rumors of a ghost appearance started to be reported:0; there was a man at the gate who let her in and the same man was again there when she came out. As soon as she got outside, she turned round to thank the man, but to her astonishnent he had vanished"
You can find the full report here:0; the anniversary was seen as a good time to restore morality and Christian order. In the area, to that point, sorcery was seen as an innocuous practice to cure diseases in people and livestock:0; but this ordinance equated white magic to black magic, according to the precepts of the Church, making both illegal though with very different punishments. Practitioners of white magic were punished economically and faced banishment, practitioners of black magic, who had made a covenant with the Devil, were burned at the stake. The decree also proscribed punishment for those clients who took counsel from such practitioners. State officials were ordered to prosecute any wizards or clients that they knew:0; it is calculated that 2.000 witchcraft cases were sent to court in Norway between the 16th and 17th centuries:0; with around 350 executions. The last death sentence for witchcraft in Norway was carried out in 1695:0; though cases were brought to court throughout the 18th century, but with no death penalties.
The Royal Decree regarding witch hunt, 12-10-1617, Copenhagen (Denmark). 1 folio sheet, printed and sealed charter on paper:0; 30 x 22 cm. National Archives of Norway – brujería" (witchcraft, which involved a pact with the devil). In Cebu, as in the rest of the Philippines, the latter were commonly practiced, but formal trials were rare. In fact, in his letter Bishop Arce talks about "hechicería". You can find the letter at the
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