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"The Root is Hidden and the Material Uncertain": the challenges of prosecuting witchcraft in early modern Venice
Journal article   Peer reviewed

"The Root is Hidden and the Material Uncertain": the challenges of prosecuting witchcraft in early modern Venice

Renaissance quarterly, v 62(1), pp 102-133
2009
PMID: 19618523

Abstract

History, 17th Century Women's Rights - education Humans Societies - economics Women - education Anthropology, Cultural - education Magic - psychology Judicial Role - history Women's Rights - history Societies - history Female Women - psychology Social Conditions - economics Medicine, Traditional - history Witchcraft - psychology Women - history History, 16th Century Magic - history Italy - ethnology Witchcraft - history Social Conditions - history Anthropology, Cultural - history Punishment - psychology Religion - history Women's Rights - economics Punishment - history
The rich archival records of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Venice have yielded much information about early modern society and culture. The transcripts of witchcraft trials held before the Inquisition reveal the complexities of early modern conceptions of natural and supernatural. The tribunal found itself entirely unable to convict individuals charged with performing harmful magic, or maleficio, as different worldviews clashed in the courtroom. Physicians, exorcists, and inquisitors all had different approaches to distinguishing natural phenomena from supernatural, and without a consensus guilty verdicts could not be obtained.

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Medieval & Renaissance Studies
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