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Based on research in the Inquisitorial archives, the book recounts the story of a peasant fertility cult centered on the benandanti. These men and women regarded themselves as professional anti-witches, who (in dream-like states) apparently fought ritual battles against witches and wizards, to protect their villages and harvests. If they won, the harvest would be good, if they lost, there would be famine. The inquisitors tried to fit them into their pre-existing images of the witches' sabbat. The result of this cultural clash which lasted over a century, was the slow metamorphosis of the benandanti into their enemies - the witches. The author shows clearly how this transformation of the popular notion of witchcraft was manipulated by the Inquisitors, and disseminated all over Europe and even to the New World. The peasants' fragmented and confused testimony reaches us with immediacy, enabling the reader to identify a level of popular belief which constitutes a valuable witness for the reconstruction of the peasant way of thinking of this age.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
Religious life and customs, Witchcraft, Hexenglaube, Fruchtbarkeitskult, Hekserij, Riten, Vie religieuse, Sorcellerie, Landbouw, Witchcraft, europe, Europe, history, 1492-1648, Europe, history, 17th century, Italie, Frioul (Italie : Province), Frioul (Province), Italy, History, Italy, social life and customs, Friuli (italy), SOCIAL SCIENCE, Folklore & Mythology, HISTORY / GeneralPlaces
Italy, Friuli, Friuli (Italy)Showing 2 featured editions. View all 25 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
The night battles: witchcraft & agrarian cults in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries
1985, Penguin Books
in English
0140076883 9780140076882
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2
The night battles: witchcraft & agrarian cults in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries
1983, Johns Hopkins University Press
in English
0801826055 9780801826054
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Bibliography: p. 173-203.
Translation of: I benandanti.
Includes index.
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Scriblio MARC recordUniversity of Prince Edward Island MARC record
marc_claremont_school_theology MARC record
Library of Congress MARC record
marc_claremont_school_theology MARC record
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First Sentence
"On 21 March 1575, in the monastery of San Francesco di Cividale in the Friuli, there appeared before the vicar general, Monsignor Jacopo Maracco, and Fra Giulio d'Assisi of the Order of the Minor Conventuals, inquisitor in the dioceses of Aquileia and Concordia, a witness, Don Bartolomeo Sgabarizza, who was a priest in the neighbouring village of Brazzano."
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- Created April 1, 2008
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December 10, 2022 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
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April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |