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https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.11
Witch Persecutions in Croatia through the Perspective of the History of Emotions (Summary)
Zvjezdana Sikirić Assouline
; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Deniver Vukelić
; Školska knjiga d. d.
Sažetak
This paper analyses the 1749 case study of Barbara Petruša, a serf of Countess Ana Rozina Jelačić, née Baroness Vojnović, on the Vivodina estate in early modern northern Croatia, who was accused of magical crimes. The analysis is conducted primarily through the lens of the history of emotions, complemented by other contemporary historiographical and interdisciplinary approaches. By applying William Reddy’s concept of emotional regimes, Arlie Hochschild’s theory of emotional labour, Richard Firth-Godbehere’s insights into the historical specificity of emotions, and Barbara Rosenwein’s framework of emotional communities, the study demonstrates that emotions were crucial in mobilising the community, shaping witness testimonies, and legitimising judicial verdicts in witchcraft trials.
The 1749 trial of Barbara Petruša reveals that the persistence of late witch persecutions was determined less by legal or theological argumentation than by emotional regimes that structured experiences of fear and anger. Testimonies and the final judgement show that emotions functioned simultaneously as cause, instrument, and consequence: they mobilised the local community, legitimised legal decisions, and reproduced the existing social order.
The application of theories from the history of emotions thus indicates that witchcraft trials were not merely manifestations of “superstition” but forms of collective emotional pedagogy through which communities defined and defended their identities. This is a key indicator that communal emotions were among the primary preconditions for utilising the legal system as a means of resolving personal anxieties, misfortunes, or strained interpersonal relations in witchcraft persecutions in northern Croatia during the early modern period.
Ključne riječi
history of emotions; emotions; emotional regimes; emotional labour; emotional communities; fear; anger; disgust; abomination; witch persecutions; Croatian early modern period
Hrčak ID:
352379
URI
Datum izdavanja:
21.12.2025.
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