AMBIENTUM BIOETHICA BIOLOGIA CHEMIA DIGITALIA DRAMATICA EDUCATIO ARTIS GYMNAST. ENGINEERING EPHEMERIDES EUROPAEA GEOGRAPHIA GEOLOGIA HISTORIA HISTORIA ARTIUM INFORMATICA IURISPRUDENTIA MATHEMATICA MUSICA NEGOTIA OECONOMICA PHILOLOGIA PHILOSOPHIA PHYSICA POLITICA PSYCHOLOGIA-PAEDAGOGIA SOCIOLOGIA THEOLOGIA CATHOLICA THEOLOGIA CATHOLICA LATIN THEOLOGIA GR.-CATH. VARAD THEOLOGIA ORTHODOXA THEOLOGIA REF. TRANSYLVAN
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Authors: ANDREA FEHÉR.
DOI: 10.24193/subbhist.2019.1.05
Published Online: 2019-06-30
Published Print: 2019-06-30
pp. 123-142
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The main purpose of our article is to underline some contemporary conceptions regarding witchcraft, and to explain why witch trials based on the same charges could have different outcomes. In order to answer our historical question we will briefly discuss the archetype of the women accused with various forms of magic (11 cases) by the Court of the free royal town of Cluj, and we will try to identify based on the information delivered by the interrogations the kind of occult activities these women were involved in. We came to conclude that our Transylvanian cases are less spectacular than the Western ones, since our witches did not participate in large nocturnal assemblies, they could only occasionally fly and were restrained devil-worshipers. What we learned is that they belonged, with few exceptions, to lower levels of society, had divisive personalities and tended to cause conflicts within the community. Although the trials took place within a male-controlled judicial system, the proportion of female witnesses is higher than in any other felonies, which indicates the presence of a social tension between women. Finally, we also discuss the legal foundation of the witch trials, outlining the fundamental changes occurred in criminal law during the second half of the eighteenth century.
Keywords: witchcraft, 18th century, Court Protocols, female crime
