An edition of Benandanti (1966)

The night battles

witchcraft & agrarian cults in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries

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The night battles
Carlo Ginzburg, John Tedeschi, ...
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  • 3.0 (1 rating) ·
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Last edited by MARC Bot
December 10, 2022 | History
An edition of Benandanti (1966)

The night battles

witchcraft & agrarian cults in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries

  • 3.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 13 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

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.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
209

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The night battles
Cover of: The night battles
The night battles: witchcraft & agrarian cults in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries
1983, Johns Hopkins University Press
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Bibliography: p. 173-203.
Translation of: I benandanti.
Includes index.

Published in
Baltimore, Md

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
398/.41/094539
Library of Congress
BL980.I8 G5613 1983, BL980.I8G5613 1983

The Physical Object

Pagination
xxii, 209 p. ;
Number of pages
209

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL3186949M
ISBN 10
0801826055
LCCN
83048061
OCLC/WorldCat
238247141
Library Thing
28978
Goodreads
3987124

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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History

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December 10, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
June 17, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
March 3, 2021 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
October 28, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from Scriblio MARC record