SPAIN: Witchcraft popular in academe

Witchcraft as an academic subject has never been as popular as it is today, says Spanish historian Dr Maria Tausiet. Forums regularly take place at university level and students are increasingly choosing it as a course option.

Throughout history the image of witches has changed dramatically. In Greek and Roman times they were fantastic beings attributed with the ability to perform magic and transform themselves into animal form.

By the 16th and 17th centuries their role had been redefined by the Church, which depicted them as capable of every depravity from casting spells on neighbour's pigs to intercourse with the Devil.

Recently witches have undergone something of a resurrection as more appealing characters in books and films such as JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Spanish historian Dr María Tausiet’s particular interest, however, is in the fascinating transition of the treatment of witches that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. Her latest book, Abracadabra Omnipotens: Magia urbana en Zaragoza en la Edad Moderna [Abracadabra Omnipotens: Urban magic in early Modern Zaragoza"]* was launched last week in Madrid.

It is both a serious academic text and a very entertaining read, packed with real-life stories from the period. This method allows the author to bring the historical city of Zaragoza to life and throw fresh light on what has until recently been a hidden period of history.

Why were there so few witches in the cities? Why has the hunting, torturing and burning – in the large majority of cases of old, poor widows – been considered almost exclusively a rural occurrence?

Many have argued, Karl Marx among them, that urbanisation had a civilising influence over the ‘imbecility of rural life.’ But this cannot satisfactorily explain why, for example, there are so many examples of highly educated and cultured Spanish people, including monarchs, who regularly relied on astrology, magic and ‘pacts with the devil’ to guide them in their decisions.

Tausiet convincingly demonstrates that the ‘magic arts’ were in fact almost as common in the city as in rural areas, and widely accepted across all levels of society. In the city these hidden activities took more real and diverse forms that included, for example, exorcisms, magic circles, spells and fortune-telling rather than, for example, imaginary meetings of large groups of ‘witches’ in the open air.

Many troubled people turned to magic because they saw no other way of resolving their problems; conversely others developed their ‘super-natural powers’ as a means to survive and meet their own needs.

The ‘characters’ that populate Tausiet’s book range from Jerónimo de Liébana, an astute swindler who became influential at the highest levels of the Olivares government, to the unforgettable Pablo Borao whose career as an exorcist provided him uncountable opportunities to give free rein to his extraordinarily uninhibited sexual desire.

Tausiet became interested in witchcraft when she was studying for her bachelor’s degree in history and was asked to organise episcopal archives in a church. When she came across a large number of original witchcraft trials she realised that the transcripts were the key to understanding people's lives and beliefs at the time.

"It is a way of looking at the history of the Church from the other side of the coin," she says.

But not everyone was thrilled with her enthusiastic desire to pursue the study of witchcraft.

"Even today people think it is dangerous for me to be investigating these issues. But I think for that reason it is even more interesting to study and clarify," Tausiet says.

She has published many academic books and articles on the subject of witchcraft, including ‘Ponzoña en los ojos. Brujería y superstición en Aragón en el siglo XVI’ (2000) which is considered to be by far the most comprehensive, detailed and sophisticated study of witchcraft in Spain in the modern age.

“Witchcraft as an academic subject has never been so popular as it is today. Academic forums regularly take place at university level and students are increasingly choosing it as a course option,” she says.

* Abracadabra Omnipotens: Magia urbana en Zaragoza en la Edad Moderna” (2007) Editorial Siglo XXI, España Editores

More information can be found at Dr María Tausiet’s webpage