Review article
Incantatrix, Fattucchiera, Witch, Sorceress, Harridan, Hag – Perceptions of Witches in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
Kosana Jovanović
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Philosophy, Rijeka, Croatia
Julija Trstenjak
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Philosophy, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
This article aims at revealing a veritable image of perceptions of witches in the regions that were politically, socially, and culturally related in the period between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. Namely, the author investigates regions of northern Italy and the entire Adriatic coast in the afore-mentioned timeframe, since both regions formalized their legal attitude towards this problem exactly in this period. The study is divided into two parts. The first (introductory) part delivers an overview of witches’ prosecutions in Europe in the Middle Ages and Early modern times, and the principal part of the article delivers an analysis of analogies and diversities regarding the issue, especially as seen in the Croatian and Italian scholarship. The study is based on the analysis of the extant relevant sources and literature, which includes records of the court trials (for the Italian side) and Dalmatian cities’ statues (for the Croatian side). The chief goal of this investigation was to inspect to what extent these regions treated witches in a similar way.
Keywords
Witches; prosecutions; statutes; juridical records; Northern Italy; Croatian Adriatic coast; Middle Ages; Early modern Times.
Hrčak ID:
217685
URI
Publication date:
20.6.2018.
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