Making a Witch: Inquisitor Manuals and the Collective Imaginary in Early Modern Europe

Abstract

The period from the end of the sixteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century is one of the most interesting in the history of witchcraft in Catholic Europe. There were an increasing number of trials, legal orders, and punishments. Evil was perceived as being omnipresent throughout all levels of life, and theologians, philosophers, and inquisitors including Sprenger, Kramer, Castañega, Ciruelo, Río, Grillando, and Bodin all wrote treatises on the question. They wished to establish the proper response to witchcraft, and in so doing they created the female prototype conforming to the profile of “witch”. The roots of this image went deep into the collective imaginary and drew upon the reigning insecurity, distrust, and fear of the times that suited early modern ecclesiastical authorities. As the seventeenth century advanced, there was a gradual rejection of this stereotype, and a more rational, objective mentality took hold, for example in the works of Wier, Guaccio, Klein, and Von Spee. These men were the first to question the existence of women who met in covens, cast spells, flew through the air, and made pacts with the devil. This article describes the influences on these scholars and experts as they forged the image of the witch in early modern Europe.