Basque witch trials facts for kids
The Basque Witch Trials were a series of events in the 1600s. They were the last big effort by the Spanish Inquisition to stop what they thought was witchcraft in Navarre, a region in Spain. These trials followed earlier, smaller events in the 1500s.
The main trials started in January 1609 in Logroño. This city is near Navarre and the Basque region. The trials were also influenced by similar events happening nearby in the French Basque Country, led by a man named Pierre de Lancre. Even though not many people were executed, these trials were huge. About 7,000 cases were looked into by the Inquisition. This makes it one of the biggest witch-hunts in terms of how many people were investigated.
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What Happened During the Trials?
Logroño was where the Inquisition tribunal was located. This court was in charge of cases from the Kingdom of Navarre and other nearby areas. Like many "witch trials" in Europe, most of the people accused were women. However, in these trials, children and men were also targeted. Even priests were accused if they were thought to be healing people using special amulets with saints' names.
First Phase and Executions
The first part of the trials ended in 1610. Thirty-one people were declared guilty in a public ceremony called an auto-da-fé. Five or six of these people were burned to death. One of them was Maria de Arburu. Five other people were included in the declaration, but they had already died in prison.
After this, the trials were paused. The inquisitors wanted to find more proof about what they believed was a widespread witch cult in the Basque region.
Alonso de Salazar Frías's Investigation
Alonso de Salazar Frías, a younger inquisitor and lawyer, was chosen to investigate further. He traveled around the countryside in 1611. He carried an Edict of Grace, which promised forgiveness to anyone who admitted to witchcraft and named others.
Frías mainly visited Zugarramurdi, a village near the French-Spanish border. There was a cave and a stream there, called "Hell's stream," where witches were supposedly meeting.
Many accusations came in, as was common in these types of cases. Frías returned to Logroño with "confessions" from nearly 2,000 people. A large number, 1,384, were children aged seven to fourteen. These confessions also named about 5,000 other people.
However, most of the 1,802 people who confessed later said they had lied. They claimed they had been tortured or pressured into confessing. The evidence collected filled 11,000 pages. Only six people out of 1,802 stuck to their confessions. They claimed they had gone back to the sabbaths (witch meetings).
The Executed Few
Out of about 7,000 people accused in the Basque witch trials, only six were eventually executed. These were Domingo de Subildegui, María de Echachute, Graciana Xarra, Maria Baztan de Borda, Maria de Arburu and Petri de Joangorena. They were condemned because they kept refusing to confess, show regret, or ask for mercy. They were accused of many acts of sorcery by different people. They were burned at the stake on November 1, 1610, in Logroño. The effigies (statues) of five others who had died in prison were also burned.
Doubts and Skepticism
In Spain, belief in witches was not as strong as in some other parts of Europe. It had become weaker over time, partly due to old laws that made believing in supernatural things like witches a crime. While some belief in witchcraft remained in northern mountain regions like Galicia and the Basque Country, it was generally less common.
The Spanish Inquisition mainly focused on other groups, like Protestants or people who were secretly practicing other religions. As early as 1538, the Inquisition had told its judges not to believe everything they read in Malleus Maleficarum, a famous book about finding witches.
In March 1610, the Bishop of Pamplona, Antonio Venegas de Figueroa, wrote to the Inquisition. He said that the witch hunt was based "on lies and self-delusion." He also noted that there had been little talk of witchcraft in the region before the trials began.
Educated people in Spain were often doubtful about witchcraft. They saw it as a belief from northern Europe or Protestant areas. Salazar, the youngest judge, also had doubts. He said he found no real proof of witchcraft during his travels, even with all the confessions. He questioned the whole idea behind the trials.
Because the judges disagreed, the matter was sent to the Inquisitor-General in Madrid. The older judges even accused Salazar of being "in league with the Devil."
The Inquisitor-General seemed to agree that confessions and accusations alone were not enough proof of witchcraft. For some time, the main office of the Inquisition had been skeptical about claims of magic. They had only allowed the earlier burnings because of the panic reported from Logroño.
In August 1614, a decision was made to stop all trials that were still pending in Logroño. New, stricter rules for evidence were put in place. These rules effectively ended witch-burning in Spain. This happened much earlier than in many Protestant countries in the North.
Why Did This Happen?
The Basque Witch Trials happened for several reasons. In Europe, the Catholic Church was trying to control old customs or beliefs that they felt threatened their power. Witch trials were one way they tried to stop old traditions and show their authority.
The so-called sabbaths or akelarres might have been secret meetings. People would gather in forests or caves, away from official religious or civil authorities. They would eat, drink, talk, and dance, sometimes all night. They might have even used special herbs or ointments that changed their minds.
Today, scholars like Emma Wilby suggest that the people accused of being witches used their own experiences to describe the witch sabbath. These experiences could come from folk magic, making medicines together, or even popular Catholic practices. The focus on Catholic rituals in the Zugarramurdi trials, along with similar trials in the French Basque Country, led to some of the most detailed descriptions of the Black Mass in Europe.
See also
In Spanish: Brujas de Zugarramurdi para niños
- Navarre witch trials (1525–26)
- Akelarre (witchcraft)
- Brujería
- Labourd witch-hunt of 1609
- Maria de Arburu
