Village Infernos and Witches’ Advocates: Witch-Hunting in Navarre, 1608–1614. Lu Ann Homza

Abstract

In December of 1608, María de Ximildequi, a young domestic servant, returned from the French Pays de Labourd to her home in the village of Zugarramurdi in Spanish Navarre. With her, María brought tales of witches and witch cults, and on the heels of these reports came the most virulent wave of witch hunting in Iberian history. Enduring for years, involving thousands of villagers and multiple inquisitors, religious authorities, and even several judiciaries, this witch hunt finally came to an end after the Inquisitor Alonso Salazar, among others, shared his concerns with the Inquisition’s Suprema, or Supreme Court, which in turn issued new, strict guidelines for matters of witchcraft. In Village Infernos and Witches’ Advocates: Witch-Hunting in Navarre, 1608–1614, the fifth volume in Pennsylvania State University Press’s Iberian Encounter and Exchange series, Lu Ann Homza reexamines the famous witch hunt of early modern Spanish Navarre. Over the course of its introduction, five chapters, and an epilogue, this book skillfully accomplishes its stated objective of “increasing our understanding of inquisitorial practice, community norms, relationships between children and adults, and this particular witch hunt in early seventeenth-century Navarre” (16). Homza achieves this through a focus on the crucial roles played by children, fresh attention to the secular cases brought against witch accusers, and an investigation of the external influences that contributed to the Inquisition’s ultimate termination of this dramatic witch hunt. Among the many careful conclusions Homza draws—which range from the centrality of children to the delinquency of inquisitorial notaries—emerges one of the key qualities of witchcraft: that “witchcraft…never came down to single causes or explanations” (51). These multifaceted influences, contexts, and understandings occupy the pages of this engaging book.