West European Studies

Throughout the course of history, stories of witchcraft controversies have been scattered in different parts of the world. The practice of witchcraft was feared and condemned in history because the practice was believed to be equal to making an overt or tacit agreement with the Devil, which would mean renouncing the baptismal vows and religious affiliation of the people who participate in it (Homza 153). Also, many of the extraordinary and harmful events in the past were attributed to magical results of witchcraft or sorcery. Belief in supernatural powers, the extraordinary role of causing events not normally within the province of human determination, and the participation in unorthodox rituals are some of the very foundations of witchcraft (Kors and Peters 1). These reasons served as basis for certain individuals to be hunted and punished either by religious institutions, because of their heretical affairs that opposed the teachings of the Church, or by the state government, because of the secular crimes like causing harm to other people or disrupting peace in a community. The belief and fear in the existence of witches can probably be characterized more as a result of cultural realities which were highly influenced by the prejudices of the more dominant religious beliefs in the past.

In some documents that have been gathered for this paper, a couple of previous cases of witchcraft that have been recorded in history are analyzed and attempted to be objectively explained based on their historical context and relation to reality. These documents intend to explain whether the witchcraft controversies were real or they were only a by-product of the cultural formation of the past that involved fear of the extraordinary. The first document that was explored is about the mass trial and conviction of several women believed to be practicing witchcraft in the year 1526. The document presented in Lu Ann Homzas book is entitled Deliberations on the Reality and Heresy of Witchcraft, 1526, and it presents a narrative deliberation about the decision of the Spanish Inquisition on the prosecution of the accused women. The people who were part of a group of Spanish consultants that reviewed the case of the prosecution and execution of witches in Navarre were composed of Dr. Arcilla, the Bishop of Guadix, the Bishop-elect of Granada, Dr. Luis Coronel, Master Arrieta, Dr. May, the Bishop of Mondonedo, Licentiate Polaneo, Dr. Guevara, and Licentiate Valdes. These men were mostly doctors of theology, leaders of the Church, or prominent religious servants of the community. Their analyses were mostly based on theological perspective that takes into highest consideration the truths of their religious beliefs before making conclusions on the situations of the women believed to be engaged in witchcraft.

The document explored is composed of significant opinions by influential people in the religious sector. It is actually a discussion that highlights how the occurrence of witchcraft effects was analyzed through the canon laws of the Church. Because witchcraft in early modern Europe involved explicit or implicit pacts with demons, and magic that was intended to harm, the document rightfully emphasizes the significance of the Spanish consultants in the deliberation of the witchcraft incidences (Homza 153). The strong detestation of the religious sectors towards witchcraft also helped to cement the idea that witchcraft is indeed real, existing, and powerful.

There were several doubts that were raised and hoped to be resolved by the consultants in this document. Most of the doubts are focused on the question of whether the persecuted women were indeed really witches and if there was legality on the punishments towards their execution. The first doubt questions whether the witches that were reviewed had indeed committed the crimes they had confessed or if they were only fooled (Homza 154). The Spaniards had a divided opinion on this. Half believed that the witches really committed the crimes, and that they indeed flew during their rituals, while the other half believed that their imagination had great influence on this. Even from the very first doubt that was raised, the role of imagination has already been mentioned. All throughout the document, the effect of imagination seems to have intensified the controversy on whether the impact of witchcraft was real or if their supernatural effects were only fictional and were only perceived to be real by the greater population. Indeed, there were several objects in the past that could have affected the imagination of the people such as hallucinogens. Other literary works suggest that evil-doers practice and accomplish their nefarious arts with the help of drugs, poisons, and medications (Weyer 283). This implies that there are several other factors that could have resulted in hallucinations of supernatural acts and contributed to the distortion of peoples imaginations. The deliberation document of the Spanish consultants shows how imagination makes confessions become less weighty when there are no proofs.

Another concern that was raised for the Spanish consultants was whether the knowledge of evil deeds and the punishment for this should concern the inquisitors of heresy. The deliberation document is actually intended for the people who held or will hold the trials for the accused witches. The prosecution of witchcraft tended to involve Spanish Inquisition in conflicts over jurisdiction and debates over process and penalties (Homza153). This part of the document reveals the influence of the religious leaders in the concerns of the secular government because their opinion mattered on when they are asked about the amount of prying that the Inquisition should involve themselves in. All of the men agreed on Dr. Arcillas statement that inquisitors should be informed about the crimes that the witches were accused of since they were regarded as infidelity to God (Homza 159).

The responses in some parts of the document say that the condemned witches should be punished but the consultants did not all agree to what extent should the women be punished and for what crimes (Homza 156). This significantly reflects the kind of mindset that the people who wrote the document must have. They reflect the truth that there are unresolved debates in determining the innocence of the women persecuted.

The document was intended to help the Spanish Inquisitors on the legality of their decision to execute those who were condemned for committing abnormal actions. Also, the document notes several remedies for the plague of the witches so it was also written to help society ease their problems regarding their fear and anger towards the accused witches. Dr. Arcilla recommended for these women to be re-instructed by teaching and example about faith.

Most of the men believe that reformation is the answer to cure the problem. Preachers and Bishops should be sent to the places that have witchcraft problems so that they could perform pontifical acts and administer sacrament of confirmation (Homza 163). This reflects the social concern that witches were as real as the intention of the religious sectors to cleanse them because the consultants recognize that the controversy was receiving too much attention that priests are pushed to do more converting and reforming.

The second document explored in this paper is Martha Fews On Her Deathbed, Maria de la Candelaria Accuses Michaela de Molina of  Casting Spells which historically examines an event in Guatemala in 1696 that was blamed to witchcraft magic and sorcery. In the document that contains testimonies from witnesses, Guatemalan commissioner Dr. don Joseph de Banos y Sotomayor acted upon the rumors that Michaela de Molina, a candy seller, had cast a harmful spell on Maria de la Candelaria, an Indian servant. The spell that Michaela was accused of causing made Maria extremely ill and expel and vomit numerous items from her body (Few 166). The incident was related to the strong accuses against people involved in witchcraft that they were very likely to hurt the people who caused harm to them. During the height of witchcraft beliefs, every negative and harmful incidence in a community was blamed to the person that citizens believed to be involved in sorcery. This was a cultural practice that projected a more terrifying image of witches because of the projected motivation that they had that empowered them when they caused destruction or inflict pain to people.

The document is probably intended for the people who wanted to also investigate the different effects of witchcraft in the old times. The document rightfully tackles whether what happened to Maria was really related to the destructive witchcraft practices. Maria experienced a different kind of sickness which had symptoms of nausea, fainting spells, and body swellings plus extraordinary symptoms, including the expulsion of various items through her nose and mouth such as blood, rocks, pieces of charcoal, locks of hair, and even rags (Few 166). Mythical powers of curse and dark magical rituals that were linked to witchcraft are blamed for this strange and unnatural event. The document recorded confessions of eyewitnesses that could prove to all people that the events were not only part of Marias imagination, for there were religious people who were also present when she was vomiting strange things.

Michaela was blamed for what was happening to Maria for several reasons. First, the two women had been involved in public disagreements that ended harshly. The idea of revenge by the means of harmful acts was a cultural stigma that was very powerful in the old times. Many of the reported cases of witchcraft attacks in history were linked to themes of vengeance or anger by one party to another. Michaela and Marias disputes had the necessary elements that could make people conclude that the accused wanted Maria to be harmed.

Also, another significant reason for Michaela to be the prime suspect of Marias hardship was the fact that one of Michaelas friends, Teresa, who was living with her during that time, was a known witch who was formerly jailed in a town near their town for the crime of murder. Dona Juana, the mistress of Maria, presumed that Michaela got help from the Teresa to do evil to her servant because they were both angry at her (Few 171).

The intended audience of the document was the people who wanted to seek justice as payment for the harmful actions of witchcraft. Michaela was tried and convicted of sorcery and the authorities seized her properties then imprisoned her in the public jail until May of the following year (Few 167). Michaela was fully convicted because the witnesses of the trial proved that she and her friends had deep grudges against Maria and that they wished her evil. The document reveals the truth that people saw anger as the strongest motivation that would force people to intentionally wish someone else to experience such horrible things. Because the illness was out of the ordinary, only the power of witchcraft could be blamed and used to explain how the extraordinary and harsh event occurred.

Both documents essentially describe what caused the heightened aberration against anything related to witchcraft and sorcery. The belief is muddled with accusations of harmful actions and is constantly linked to the works of the Devil. The documents that explore the trials and granting of punishments for women who were believed to engage in supernatural practices also reflect the religious and ideological values that were most dominant in the past. The controversies of witchcraft practices are not always treated to be historical and fact-based accounts. Rather, they would fall under cultural and anthropological issues that people could use to evaluate and analyze the mindset that was prevalent in the past.

The documents also reveal how people thought, behaved, and decided legal matters in the past. The controversies on witchcraft practices may not explain the realities of society wholly, but they reflect subjectivity of the past religious ideologies. Belief in the existence of witchcraft was heightened by the fear of what damaging and uncontrollable things the supernatural rituals could produce. The perception that they were real also strengthened the religious faith of more population because it was deemed as the only defense and weapon against whatever evilness witches can impose to people.