The Basque Witch Trials of the seventeenth century represent the last attempt at rooting out supposed
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
from
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
by the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
, after a series of episodes erupted during the sixteenth century following the end of military operations in the
conquest of Iberian Navarre, until 1524.
The trial of the
Basque witches began in January 1609 at
Logroño
Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...
, near Navarre, bordering
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
territory. It was influenced by similar persecutions conducted by
Pierre de Lancre
Pierre de Rosteguy de Lancre or Pierre de l'Ancre, Lord of De Lancre (1553–1631), was the French judge of Bordeaux who conducted the massive Labourd witch-hunt of 1609. In 1582 he was named judge in Bordeaux, and in 1608 King Henry IV commande ...
in the bordering
Labourd
Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...
,
French Basque Country
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...
. Although the number of people executed was small in comparison to other similar persecutions in Europe, it is considered the biggest single
event of its kind in terms of the number of people investigated: by the end of the phenomena, some 7,000 cases had been examined by the Inquisition.
Process
Logroño
Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...
, though not a
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
city, was the setting for an Inquisition tribunal responsible for the
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.
The medieval state took ...
, and for the provinces of
Alava,
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
,
Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
B ...
,
La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N ...
and the North of
Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...
and
Soria
Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...
.
As was typical of "
witch trials
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...
", those accused of
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
were predominantly women, however this tribunal also targeted children and men, including priests allegedly guilty of healing with ''nóminas'',
which are
amulets
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
bearing the names of
saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...
.
The first phase ended in 1610, with a declaration of
auto-da-fé
An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from Portuguese , meaning 'act of faith'; es, auto de fe ) was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mex ...
against thirty-one of the accused, five or six of whom were
burned to death including
Maria de Arburu
Maria de Arburu (died in Logrono, Spain, 1 November 1610) was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials
The Basque Witch Trials of the seventeenth century represent the last attempt at ...
. Five people were included in the declaration symbolically, as they had died before the ''auto-da-fé''.
Thereafter proceedings were suspended until the
inquisitors had a chance to gather further evidence on what they believed to be a
widespread witch cult in the
Basque region.
Alonso de Salazar Frías
Alonso de Salazar Frías has been given the epithet "The Witches’ Advocate" by historians, for his role in establishing the conviction, within the Spanish Inquisition, that accusations against supposed witches were more often rooted in dreams a ...
, the junior inquisitor and lawyer in training, was designated to examine the matter at length. Armed with an
Edict of Grace, promising pardon to all those who voluntarily reported themselves and denounced their accomplices, he traveled across the countryside during the year 1611. He visited mainly the vicinity of
Zugarramurdi
Zugarramurdi is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain. It passed into history as the setting of alleged occult activity featured in the infamous Basque witch trials held in Logroño ...
, near what is now the
French-Spanish border, where a cave and a water stream (Olabidea or ''Infernuko erreka'', "Hell's stream") was said to be the meeting place of the witches.
As was usual in cases of this kind, denunciations flowed in. Frías finally returned to Logroño with "
confessions" from nearly 2,000 people, 1,384 of whom were children between the ages of seven and fourteen, implicating a further 5,000 named individuals. Most of 1,802 people
retracted their statements before Frías, attributing their confessions to
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
. The evidence gathered covered 11,000 pages in all. Only six people out of 1,802 maintained their confessions and claimed to have returned to
sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
s.
In the stir of the events, proceedings were started in
Hondarribia
Hondarribia ( eu, Hondarribia; es, Fuenterrabía; french: Fontarrabie) is a town situated on the west shore of Bidasoa river's mouth, in Gipuzkoa, in Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain.
The border town is situated on a ...
in 1611, some 35 km away from Zugarramurdi and 19 km from
St-Jean-de-Luz, main hotspots of witchcraft allegations against presumed female witches accused of casting
spells
Spell(s) or The Spell(s) may refer to:
Processes
* Spell (paranormal), an incantation
* Spell (ritual), a magical ritual
* Spelling, the writing of words
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Spell'' (1977 film), an American ...
on living creatures and meeting in
Jaizkibel
Jaizkibel is a mountain range of the Basque Country located east of Pasaia, north of Lezo and west of Hondarribia, in Spain, with at the highest point (peak Alleru). The range stretches south-west to north-east, where it plunges into the sea at ...
in
akelarres, led by a he-goat shaped
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
. Men in this
Bidasoa
__NOTOC__
The Bidasoa (, ; french: Bidassoa, ) is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the village of Oronoz-Mugairi (municipality of Baztan) in the pro ...
region were recruited in droves for
Basque whaling The Basques were among the first people to catch whales commercially, as opposed to aboriginal whaling, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. The French ...
, leaving women on their own (sometimes along with the priests, children, and elders) for long periods. According to evidence given by a witness as attested in the record, "the Devil summoned in the
Gascon language
Gascon (; , ) is the name of the vernacular Romance languages, Romance variety spoken mainly in the region of Gascony, France. It is often considered a variety (linguistics), variety of Occitan language, Occitan, although some authors consider ...
those from
San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
and
Pasaia
Pasaia ( es, Pasajes) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern Spain. It is a fishing community, commercial port and the birthplace of the famous admiral Blas de Lezo.
Pasaia l ...
, and in
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
those from
Irun
Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.
History
It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...
and
Hendaye
Hendaye (Basque language, Basque: ''Hendaia'')[HENDAIA]
Auñamendi Encyclopedia, Auñamendi Eusko Entz ...
, addressing a few words to them."
Skepticism
Belief in witches was comparatively low in Spain. Although it was never strong, it became weaker under the
Visigothic
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
law, established by the Visigoths during their last century of rule in Spain and preserved by the Christian nations during most of the Middle Ages. According to this law, belief in supernatural phenomena of any sort such as witches,
fortune tellers
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical wi ...
, and
oracles
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
was a crime and a
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
. The belief in witchcraft had survived, though to a lesser degree in the northmost mountain regions of
Galicia and the
Basque Country.
The
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
persecuted mainly
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
,
Conversos
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian po ...
(
baptized
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
descendants of Jews and
Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
), and those who illegally smuggled forbidden books into Spain. As far back as 1538, the Council of Inquisition had warned judges not to believe all that they read in ''
Malleus Maleficarum
The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name ''Henricus Institor'') and first ...
'', the infamous witch-finding text. In March 1610,
Antonio Venegas de Figueroa, the Bishop of
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
, sent a letter to the Inquisition in which he claimed that the witch hunt was based "on lies and self-delusion" and that there had been little knowledge of witchcraft in the region before the trials.
Educated Spaniards were typically skeptical of witchcraft and considered it a northern or Protestant superstition. Salazar, the youngest judge in a panel of three, was also skeptical about the ordeal, stating that he had found no substantive proof of witchcraft on his travels, in spite of the numerous confessions. In addition, he questioned the central basis of the trials. Because of the judges' disagreement on how to proceed, the matter was referred to the Inquisitor-General in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. The senior judges,
Alonso Becerra y Holquin and
Juan del Valle Alvarado, accused their colleague of being "in league with the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
." Some of Salazar's objections are remarkable:
The real question is: are we to believe that witchcraft occurred in a given situation simply because of what the witches claim? No: it is clear that the witches are not to be believed, and the judges should not pass a sentence on anyone unless the case can be proven with external and objective evidence sufficient to convince everyone who hears it. And who can accept the following: that a person can frequently fly through the air and travel a hundred leagues in an hour; that a woman can get through a space not big enough for a fly; that a person can make himself invisible
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology.
Since objects can be seen by light in ...
; that he can be in a river or the open sea and not get wet; or that he can be in bed at the sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
at the same time;... and that a witch can turn herself into any shape she fancies, be it housefly or raven? Indeed, these claims go beyond all human reason and may even pass the limits permitted by the Devil.
The Inquisitor-General appeared to share the view that confession and accusation on their own were not sufficient evidence of witchcraft. For some time, the central office of the Inquisition had been skeptical of claims of magic and witchcraft and had only sanctioned the earlier burnings with considerable reluctance, resulting only from the reported mood of panic from Logroño. In August 1614, it was ruled that all of the trials pending at Logroño should be dismissed. The determination issued new and more rigorous rules of evidence that brought witch-burning in Spain to an end, long before the practice ended in the Protestant North.
Discussion
The background and circumstances leading to the trials are not obscure. In the wider context of religious persecution and conflict in Europe, the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
aimed to suppress old customs or belief systems that they perceived could threaten the authority of the church.
Witch trials
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...
were one of the ways by which they were able to quell old traditions while reasserting their power.
The so-called
sabbaths
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
and
akelarres may have been meetings out of reach of the official religious and civil authorities. Those who attended the meetings would eat, drink, talk, and dance, sometimes all night long, in the forest or caves, at times consuming mind-altering herbs and ointments.
While academic research into the Basque Witch Trials has traditionally focused on the mechanisms of persecution, in recent years scholars such as
Emma Wilby
Emma Wilby is a British historian and author specialising in the magical beliefs of Early Modern Britain.
Work
An honorary fellow in history at the University of Exeter, England, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she has published ...
have argued that the presumed witches drew on a range of experiences to inform their accounts of the witches’ sabbath, from
folk magic
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized rel ...
and collective medicine-making to popular expressions of Catholic religious practice such as liturgical misrule and cursing masses.
[Wilby, Emma. ''Invoking the Akelarre: Voices of the Accused in the Basque Witch-Craze 1609–14''. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2019. ] The emphasis on
Catholic liturgy
In the Catholic Church, liturgy is divine worship, the proclamation of the Gospel, and active charity. Catholic liturgies are broadly categorized as the Latin liturgical rites of the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic liturgies of the Easter ...
in the
Zugarramurdi
Zugarramurdi is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain. It passed into history as the setting of alleged occult activity featured in the infamous Basque witch trials held in Logroño ...
trials is the reason why, along with the trials simultaneously conducted by
Pierre de Lancre
Pierre de Rosteguy de Lancre or Pierre de l'Ancre, Lord of De Lancre (1553–1631), was the French judge of Bordeaux who conducted the massive Labourd witch-hunt of 1609. In 1582 he was named judge in Bordeaux, and in 1608 King Henry IV commande ...
in the
French Basque country
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...
, these persecutions produced the most sophisticated descriptions of the
Black Mass to emerge anywhere in Europe.
In popular culture
It was reported that the
witches
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...
of
Zugarramurdi
Zugarramurdi is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain. It passed into history as the setting of alleged occult activity featured in the infamous Basque witch trials held in Logroño ...
met at the meadow of Akelarre (Basque for "meadow of the
he-goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
"). In Spanish, ''
aquelarre'' has become a loan word from the original Basque and refers to
black sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
.
The village of Zugarramurdi is home t
a Witchcraft Museumthat commemorates the witch trials of the region and pays tribute to the victims.
''
Akelarre'' was a 1984 Spanish film by
Pedro Olea
Pedro Olea (30 June 1938, Bilbao) is a Spanish screenwriter, film producer and film director. His 1984 film '' Akelarre'' was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.
Selected directorial filmography
* ''Días de viejo color' ...
about the trials. The town of Zugarramurdi now celebrates the witches with a feast by the cave on
Midsummer
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mart ...
's eve, June 23, the folk date for the
summer solstice
The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...
.
The Basque witch trials were also featured as a subplot in Season 4 of the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series
''True Blood'', when the spirit of powerful witch
Antonia Gavilán being fed upon, tortured, and condemned to death by
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
priests in the city of
Logroño
Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...
in 1610, takes possession of a modern-day
Wicca
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was ...
n in order to exact revenge on vampires.
See also
*
Navarre witch trials (1525–26)
* ''
Witching & Bitching
''Witching & Bitching'' ( es, Las brujas de Zugarramurdi, links=no; ) is a 2013 Spanish comedy horror film co-written and directed by Álex de la Iglesia. It stars Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, and Carmen Maura.
It won the most awards at the 28th Go ...
''
*
Akelarre (witchcraft)
''Akelarre'' is the Basque term meaning Witches' Sabbath (the place where witches hold their meetings). ''Akerra'' means male goat in the Basque language. Witches' sabbaths were envisioned as presided over by a goat.
The word has been loaned t ...
*
Brujería
Various types of witchcraft and occult religious practices exist in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean cultures, known in Spanish as (pronounced ). Influenced by indigenous religion, Catholicism, and European witchcraft, the purpose may range ...
*
Labourd witch-hunt of 1609
*
Maria de Arburu
Maria de Arburu (died in Logrono, Spain, 1 November 1610) was a Spanish alleged witch. She was one of the people charged with sorcery in the Basque witch trials
The Basque Witch Trials of the seventeenth century represent the last attempt at ...
References
;General
*
*
;Inline
External links
*
Auñamendi Encyclopedia
The Auñamendi Encyclopedia is the largest encyclopedia of Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque peopl ...
in Spanish
María de Echachute burnt at the stake.
María de Echalecu died in prison. Her bones were relaxed to the secular arm".
Joanes de Echegui died in prison. His bones were "relaxed to the secular arm".
María de Echegui sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and
life prison. Freed later.
María de Endara sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and life in prison. Freed later.
Inesa Gaxen their belongings were returned and she was
indult
In Catholic canon law, an indult is a permission or privilege, granted by the competent church authority – the Holy See or the diocesan bishop, as the case may be – for an exception from a particular norm of church law in an individual case ...
ed. Upon her return to
Hondarribia
Hondarribia ( eu, Hondarribia; es, Fuenterrabía; french: Fontarrabie) is a town situated on the west shore of Bidasoa river's mouth, in Gipuzkoa, in Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain.
The border town is situated on a ...
, the local administration did not accept the Inquisition decision; she and her companions were banned to
Hendaye
Hendaye (Basque language, Basque: ''Hendaia'')[HENDAIA]
Auñamendi Encyclopedia, Auñamendi Eusko Entz ...
.
Joanes de Goiburu sentenced to confiscation of his belongings and life in prison.
Miguel Goiburu died in prison. His image was burnt at the stake.
Hernando de Golarte Jesuit. He pleaded for many of the defendants.
Joanes de Iribarren sentenced to confiscation of his belongings and life in prison.
Petri de Joangorena burnt at the stake.
María de Jureteguia sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and life in prison. Freed later.
Beltrana de Lafarga sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and limited prison.
Joanes de Lambert sentenced to confiscation of his belongings and limited prison.
Joanes de Odia died in prison. His bones were "relaxed to the secular arm".
Estefanía de Petrisancena died in prison. Her bones were "relaxed to the secular arm".
María Presona sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and life in prison.
Alonso de Salazar y Frías inquisitor. His reports led to the practical suppression of witch burnings in the Spanish empire one century before the rest of Europe.
Joanes de Sansin sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and life in prison.
Domingo de Subildegui burnt at the stake.
María de Telechea sentenced to confiscation of her belongings and life in prison. Freed later.
Graciana Xarra burnt at the stake.
María de Zozaya died from the tortures before the ''
auto-da-fé
An ''auto-da-fé'' ( ; from Portuguese , meaning 'act of faith'; es, auto de fe ) was the ritual of public penance carried out between the 15th and 19th centuries of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mex ...
''. Her bones were "relaxed to the secular arm". The article quotes from the confession extracted by Alonso Becerra and Juan del Valle Alvarado.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basque Witch Trials
Witch trials in Spain
Trials in Spain
Spanish Inquisition
Basque history
1609 in law
1610 in law
17th century in Spain
1609 in Europe
1610 in Europe