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The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

A remarkable tale of witchcraft, folk culture, and persuasion in early modern Europe.

Based on research in the Inquisitorial archives of Northern Italy, The Night Battles recounts the story of a peasant fertility cult centered on the benandanti, literally, "good walkers." These men and women described fighting extraordinary ritual battles against witches and wizards in order to protect their harvests. While their bodies slept, the souls of the benandanti were able to fly into the night sky to engage in epic spiritual combat for the good of the village. Carlo Ginzburg looks at how the Inquisition's officers interpreted these tales to support their world view that the peasants were in fact practicing sorcery. The result of this cultural clash, which lasted for more than a century, was the slow metamorphosis of the benandanti into the Inquisition's mortal enemies—witches.

Relying upon this exceptionally well-documented case study, Ginzburg argues that a similar transformation of attitudes—perceiving folk beliefs as diabolical witchcraft—took place all over Europe and spread to the New World. In his new preface, Ginzburg reflects on the interplay of chance and discovery, as well as on the relationship between anomalous cases and historical generalizations.

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The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

A remarkable tale of witchcraft, folk culture, and persuasion in early modern Europe.

Based on research in the Inquisitorial archives of Northern Italy, The Night Battles recounts the story of a peasant fertility cult centered on the benandanti, literally, "good walkers." These men and women described fighting extraordinary ritual battles against witches and wizards in order to protect their harvests. While their bodies slept, the souls of the benandanti were able to fly into the night sky to engage in epic spiritual combat for the good of the village. Carlo Ginzburg looks at how the Inquisition's officers interpreted these tales to support their world view that the peasants were in fact practicing sorcery. The result of this cultural clash, which lasted for more than a century, was the slow metamorphosis of the benandanti into the Inquisition's mortal enemies—witches.

Relying upon this exceptionally well-documented case study, Ginzburg argues that a similar transformation of attitudes—perceiving folk beliefs as diabolical witchcraft—took place all over Europe and spread to the New World. In his new preface, Ginzburg reflects on the interplay of chance and discovery, as well as on the relationship between anomalous cases and historical generalizations.

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The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
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The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Overview

A remarkable tale of witchcraft, folk culture, and persuasion in early modern Europe.

Based on research in the Inquisitorial archives of Northern Italy, The Night Battles recounts the story of a peasant fertility cult centered on the benandanti, literally, "good walkers." These men and women described fighting extraordinary ritual battles against witches and wizards in order to protect their harvests. While their bodies slept, the souls of the benandanti were able to fly into the night sky to engage in epic spiritual combat for the good of the village. Carlo Ginzburg looks at how the Inquisition's officers interpreted these tales to support their world view that the peasants were in fact practicing sorcery. The result of this cultural clash, which lasted for more than a century, was the slow metamorphosis of the benandanti into the Inquisition's mortal enemies—witches.

Relying upon this exceptionally well-documented case study, Ginzburg argues that a similar transformation of attitudes—perceiving folk beliefs as diabolical witchcraft—took place all over Europe and spread to the New World. In his new preface, Ginzburg reflects on the interplay of chance and discovery, as well as on the relationship between anomalous cases and historical generalizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781421409931
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 10/15/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
File size: 4 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Carlo Ginzburg has taught at the University of Bologna, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. The recipent of the 2010 International Balzan Prize, he is author of The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller and Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method, also published by Johns Hopkins.


Carlo Ginzburg has taught at the University of Bologna, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. The recipient of the 2010 International Balzan Prize, he is author of The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller and Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2013 Edition
Foreword by Eric J. Hobsbawm
Translators' Note
Preface to the English Edition
Preface to the Italian Edition
I. The Night Battles
II. The Processions of the Dead
III. The Benandanti between Inquisitors and Witches
IV. The Benandanti at the Sabbat
Appendix
Notes
Index of Names

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Related Subjects

History
European History
General & Miscellaneous European History
History
European History
General & Miscellaneous European History

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