Witchcraft in Catalunya

A fair spring afternoon and the unusual absence of tourists in Plaça del Rei in Barcelona became an invitation to seize the moment and to open my senses. I started taking a few notes while sipping a coffee on the terrassa of a local bar in the plaça. The smell of my coffee led me to think that it was a relatively new smell in this place, and to reflect on how different things were almost 500 years ago. The very spot where I was sitting had once been filled with smoke and the slightly bitter smell of human flesh burning. 

On June 2, 1522, after being found guilty as charged in a trial held by the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, a monk and a woman were handed to secular authorities to pay for their crimes. His: heresy; hers: being a witch.

Magic, Sorcery and Witchcraft

Chance has always been difficult for humans to explain and accept. Magical thinking is a consequence of the way the mind works in an attempt to explain seemingly inexplicable phenomena. Thought mechanisms to relate causes and effects are triggered automatically whenever we want to make sense of the world around us. The notion of magic seems to naturally fill many gaps in our experience. Historically, magical thinking has been so integral to the human experience that scholars have long studied the influence it has had in shaping history, culture, agriculture and the sciences.

Though magic and sorcerers have been present throughout the history of mankind, the notions and stereotypes we have today about witchcraft spring primarily from two sources: the legal and religious manuals and treaties that described it and framed its persecution, and the literary sources that emerged covering this matter. In the English tradition the principal sources are Shakespearean and later the works that outlined the persecution of witchcraft. In the Spanish tradition, the most conspicuous examples are found in Fernando de Rojas’ play La Celestina (1499) and several novels by Miguel de Cervantes (El coloquio de los perros, El licenciado Vidriera). Perhaps the most notable Catalan contribution is the Directorium Inquisitorum by Nicolau Eimeric (an Inquisitor from Girona)—that I’ll address later.

Agent Provocateurs

Over the centuries seers, diviners, conjurers, soothsayers, herbalists, healers and wizards were all considered a regular, inevitable, indispensable and sometimes menacing presence in society. Who qualified for those roles? Lefties, redheads, people with a limp, albinos or anyone with unusual birthmarks—essentially, any differentiating feature could potentially be read as a sign of either a propitious or a doomed fortune. 

Sorcerers in Catalunya during the late Middle Ages tended to fit a specific profile, they were: usually old women, often widowed, in most cases quite poor (therefore vulnerable) and possessed a wide knowledge of plants and substances and their properties. For many of these individuals who struggled to seek out an existence, sorcery often became a last resort for subsistence. Records show that  it was customary for the Crown of Aragon to grant Christian and Jewish women alike licenses for practicing as midwives and healers. These individuals were accepted members of the community, providing valuable services such as remedies for wounds or offering advice before making an important decision. They also provided hope in the form of potions and love-philtres. 

Much like the miracle of fertility placed woman in the center of many ancient religious traditions, over time, the tools and tasks traditionally linked to women appear as the instruments of sorcery. It is perverse that the two most positive and important roles women played in society at the time—birth giver and nurturer-healer—were used to denigrate them and to discredit their contributions, essentially turning them into the  enemy.

Records also show how, as medicine became institutionalized through university studies, an increasing number of letters were written by students in an attempt to smear women who wished to participate in the practice of healing. Letters petitioned authorities to bar women in this area with claims ranging from breaching of the rights granted to medical guilds to sorcery and witchcraft. In most cases authorities would be indulgent to women if their practices were kept private in scope and did not suppose monetary exchange.

Historical Context 

We tend to simplify the Middle Ages with whatever notion we have of feudalism. The truth is, many significant events and social changes took place in this thousand-year-long period. Subsistence crises were frequent as a consequence of wars, crop failure and natural disasters.

During this period, the 14th century stands out in particular. All of Europe was affected by a series of events that led to what is known as the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. Beginning in the 10th century, a period of warm temperatures that spanned approximately three centuries led to an overpopulated Europe. But the end of the 13th century saw a significant fall in temperatures and widespread flooding that resulted in a series of crop failures and food shortages that would provoke what is known as the Great Famine of 1315-1317. 

In the Kingdom of Aragon, territorial expansion towards the south and relative economic vitality had attracted migrants from beyond the Pyrenees. Eventually these demographic dynamics became unsustainable and set the stage for what would become one of the greatest disasters to hit Europe. The Black Death arrived at the Port of Messina on 12 ships in October of 1347 and was in the city of Barcelona six months later. In a period of just five years, this plague decimated Europe’s population, which not only killed between 75 to 200 million people, but also disrupted the production system and destroyed Europe’s social fabric.

Even now, it is not unusual in times of social tension and unrest for desperation and superstition to lead to the appearance of movements and initiatives that place the blame for disasters on society’s marginalized members. The expulsion of Jews from England (1290) and France (1306) exemplify this. It had its reflection in the Spanish peninsula through a series of persecutions that culminated in the uprising of a mob that killed and destroyed the Jewish neighborhood in Seville on June 6, 1391. These movements would propagate through several cities and would reach Barcelona in August that year.

In a society so heavily impregnated by the religious element, bad weather, disease or any misfortunes were often associated with the presence of the devil and divine punishment. A minority recurrently targeted as a scapegoat for these disasters was the one formed by those women identified as sorcerers. 

Tolerance in the Beginning

Despite the fact that since its creation in the fourth century the Catholic Church considered sorcery heretical, records show that its attitude towards magical practices was very permissive and even indulgent. This is greatly due to the long process of expansion throughout Europe for the conversion of new believers. The early stages of Christianity’s expansion on the continent was a process of assimilation that had as a consequence an exchange of rites, symbols and concepts between local creeds and the new church. The profusion of saints and the many versions of the virgin are but vestiges of this process. Entities such as spirits, angels, demons and even the devil were not fixed by the Church until the Late Middle Ages.

In fact, the early Catholic Church stated that witchcraft did not exist; admitting witchcraft’s existence would imply the existence of powers beyond those of God's. When infractions related to witchcraft were brought forth, the perpetrators were generally punished with fasting and penance. This attitude toward sorcery was held for centuries. It was a position so strongly held that the Council of Paderborn in the 8th century explicitly outlawed condemning people as witches and stated that whoever burnt a witch would incur the death penalty. 

Centuries later, to counter the emergence of heretical movements, the Catholic Church created a group of institutions in the 12th century, commonly known as the Inquisition, charged with investigating and prosecuting heretical practices. The Inquisition was a tool to counter divergent movements such as Catharism, the Waldesians and other Christian interpretations that clashed with Rome’s official dogma. The creation of the Holy Inquisition created a body of legal and theological thought that shaped and stabilized Christian dogma. As a consequence, the figure of the devil gained its position as Christ’s antagonist and with it the figure of the witch was born. While sorcery is a timeless and universal phenomenon, witchcraft itself is a concept contemporary to Catholic doctrine.

The Charm Turned Into Smoke

It was in 1326 when Pope John XXII issued the Papal Bull Super illius specula in which he described those who engaged in witchcraft. In it he declares that their practices are inspired by the devil and as such should be considered heretical crimes and therefore would fall under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. Scholars like Alan Kors have indicated that this happened after he became the victim of assassination attempts that employed poisons and sorcery.

The first studies by the Holy Inquisition addressing the heresy of witchcraft were written by the Girona-born Inquisitor Nicolau Eimeric in the second half of the 14th century. The underlying thesis of his Directorium Inquisitorum (1376) was that in their "inherent" weakness, women were easily tempted and corrupted by the devil to do its bidding. The Directorium is the first organization of the doctrine which details the rituals of witchcraft. Part of the Directorium compiles the practices of witches, they include: to sacrifice, worship, pray and dedicate themselves to the demons, promising obedience. Witches were believed to swear in the name of a demon; sing hymns honoring demons; to prostrate themselves before demons; observe chastity in their honor; obey their commands; to fast and whip themselves; light candles and incense; to offer their own blood and to burn sacrificed animals. In other words, it outlined an inversion of the Catholic ceremonial. The work includes other rites known to us via popular culture such as drawing a circle on the floor, placing a baby in it and putting a mirror, a sword or an amphora in front of the baby.

The most important civil documents condemning witchcraft practices in Catalunya are the Ordinacions de les Valls d’Àneu written in 1424 under the ruling of Count Arnau Roger IV of Pallars. This document details a ritual of “gathering in a hidden, nighty ceremony in the magic spot of Biterna to pay homage to the he-goat.” This document also links witchcraft to the disappearances and deaths of babies.

Christian charity towards widows and old ladies in the form of lenient sentences whenever they trespassed laws in previous centuries changed drastically in the first half of the Modern Age. In his essay La Caçera de Bruixes (The Witch Hunt) Agustí Alcoberro describes this change of outlook towards witchcraft in this way: “The new theological and canonical formulation of witchcraft, understood as a universal sect presided by the devil conspiring against humanity, had devastating effects in the centuries to come. Compared to the medieval sorcerer, who worked individually, using simple magic which had very limited repercussions, the modern witch became a dangerous peril for the survival of local communities and the whole Christian world.”

Persecution

Persecution of  witches in the 1420s and 1430s in the Alps and the printing of several treaties on demonology widely distributed later on in the century helped spread the notion of the witch as a significant social and spiritual threat which started a wave of repression that would last around a century. 

Books and writings of that period described witches showing all the modern features included in the image created by theologians and inquisitors of the 13th and 14th centuries. As mentioned earlier La Celestina, a play written by Fernando de Rojas in 1499, epitomizes how all the attributes that distinguished a witch, belonged to popular culture and were shared and recognizable for all.

In Catalunya, secular persecution of witchcraft in medieval times is documented starting in the 14th century. Researchers have not found written indications of sorcery or divination being considered dangerous practices previous to that time. The peak of Modern Age persecution of witches in Catalunya took place between 1616 and 1622. However, the last documented execution for witchcraft in Catalunya occurred on January 6, 1767, in Prats de Lluçanès.

Letters and writings by the clergy and authorities describe the madness and absurdity of the whole endeavor. For instance, at the time there was an itinerant figure, a man who was a “discoverer of witches” that traveled from town to town claiming to have the knowledge and the special powers to ferret out hidden witches. Naturally, these highly specialized skills allowed him to offer this service to communities that needed help in eradicating the witches that lived among them—for a fee, of course. Usually, this person was either a religious fanatic or a scoundrel looking to turn a quick profit. Records show cases in which the Church revealed the discoverer’s lies, dismissed his claims and banished him with a warning against denouncing new “discoveries” ever again.

Two Ways to an End

Secular processes in Europe in general, followed this sequence: 

  • Accusation of witchcraft by a “discoverer” or denunciation by a neighbor would lead to detention of the accused.
  • The alleged witch would be tortured until she confessed.
  • Officials would register the confession.
  • Officials would embark on a second session of torture to make the accused provide the names of her associates in wrongdoing.
  • The witch would be executed by hanging in a public act.
  • The process would continue through a chain of detentions of all those named by the convicted witch.

Victims of the repression were characterized by all the basic elements of the modern concept of a witch: old, lonely women accused of worshiping the cult of the devil, capable of flying, engaged in nocturnal, orgiastic rites, the killing and cannibalization of children. Features that are perfectly illustrated in the works that Francisco de Goya made for the cabinet of the Duchess of Osuna.

Repression was concentrated primarily in the territories of central Europe but spread throughout the continent. The majority of trials were local and had scant intervention by authorities. Consequently, records of these events are patchy, making it difficult to assess the real impact of the persecution of sorcery. The most accepted figures report that around 60,000 witches were executed throughout Europe. The intensity of repression in terms of the percentage of the population affected and the harshness of penalties varied greatly depending on the territory. According to historian Joan Reglà, Catalunya stands out with 400 executions centered in the rural areas of the Pyrenees. This is four times the number of executions for witchcraft in the rest of the peninsula. Research also confirms a pattern specific to gender: for every 30 witches executed one wizard was executed.

The standard procedure followed by the Church in most cases was as follows. Once a possible witch was detected, an Inquisitor would be sent to clarify the matter. He would follow these steps:

Before the Process

  • The Inquisitor would appear in front of the lord of the affected place, be it the king or the highest ranked official, to inform him of his mission, present his credentials and make sure to obtain collaboration from the authorities. Under threat of excommunication, lords would swear to help the Inquisitor.
  • Next, in a sermon the Inquisitor would exhort the people in the community to excise heresy. This was meant to encourage townspeople to denounce any potential witches living among them. A grace period spanning 40 days would allow sinners to confess their trespasses and obtain immediate pardon and a spiritual penance.
  • Once the grace period had lapsed, a stage called a “period of notifications” would start and processes could be triggered by accusation (some one who provided proof of witchcraft), denunciation (individuals informed of suspicious activities that lacked proof, but was provided to avoid being accused of wrongdoing by omission), and inquiry (cases where rumors prevailed but no accusations or denunciations could be collected).

During the Process

  • The accused would undergo a systematic “examination” (torture). There is no need to enumerate here the different techniques used in these torture sessions, as it would only compose a harrowing recount of how prolific humanity can be when it comes to finding ways to inflict pain.
  • Once concluded, the inquisitor would promulgate the sentence in a public act called auto-de-fé. Those found guilty were “relaxed” (handed on) to the secular authority to administer punishment. Depending on the seriousness of the accusation, punishment could consist of confiscations of property, prison, banishment or death.

Auto-de-fé started with a vigil on the eve of the execution. The condemned would be dressed in penitential garments and paraded around town in a procession with sacred symbols. If the accused was sentenced to death, usually they were offered one last chance to repent. If they did they would be garrotted and their bodies cremated, and, if they did not, they would be burned alive.The burning of heretics was meant to be an eternal punishment. What was a soul to do at the second coming of Christ if there was no body to return to?

A Comeback?

Nowadays, the tales of those ordeals seem anecdotal. Toponyms in the Pyrenees reference places where alleged witch meetings took place. More frequently though, we will find in names references to places where witches were hung, such as: el Serrat de les Forques (the ridge of the gallows), la Font de la Bruixa (the witch’s spring), la Font del Cabrit (the spring of the kid), el Clot de l'Infern (hell’s hole), el Camp de les Ànimes (the field of souls), etc. Collections of folk tales and oral traditions compiled in the Pyrenees in the 20th century show the survival of magical creatures and witches, but these are stories related more to pagan cults than to the people and events that took place in a not so distant past.

Some superstitions and practices that were common a long time ago are still in use today. In visiting some shops of contemporary Barcelona you can find amulets and charms that have survived over millennia. In fact, in many cases you can identify practices that were common in Catalunya centuries ago. Names like Alchemy (transmutation of substances), Astrology (study of the stars to foresee the future), Divination (acquisition of secrets), Necromancy (use of corpses to predict the future), Scapulimancy (divination by use of animals’ scapula), Dactylomancy (divination by reading of rings), Oneiroscopy (dreams’ interpretation to predict the future), Quiromancy (divination by reading one’s hand lines) are still alive in our culture and do not seem posed to fade away.

Héctor Cols is an occasional contributor to the Barcelona Metropolitan, covering human or geographical landscapes and helping with data related issues. Héctor is a curious software developer that finds no joy in conversation with Siri or Alexa and prefers to mingle with other kinds of outsiders. A fan of all things Barcelona, Héctor was in charge of the culture section of Resident Aliens, a podcast of the American Society of Barcelona.

Published October 2019, updated October 21, 2024.