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The Witchcraft
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Showcase 2

THE WITCHCRAFT. Moving from the general theme of magic, the second showcase hosts interesting illustrations on witchcraft. The so-called “sabbaths” were meetings of witches and demons devoted to orgiastic rituals, blasphemous acts, spells and sacrifices, depicted in a well detailed panel within the Tableau de l’inconstance des mauvais anges et démons […] . However, the witch was not the only woman to be known in history for her supernatural powers: the sibyls – such as the Cumaean Sibyl portraied in De divinatione et magicis praestigiis – could easily predict the future and give responses under divine inspiration, falling into a deep trance. The volume Histoire critique des pratiques superstitieuses […] finally shows the “cold water test”, a peculiar activity practiced since the Early Middle Ages and seen as indispensable to unmask witches and wizards.

PIERRE DE LANCRE

Tableau de l‘inconstance of evil angels and demons, which is the implementation of sorciers and sorceries …

Paris, 1613

Ius.2.7

Pierre de Lancre (1553-1631) was a French magistrate and theologian. In 1609 he was sent on a mission to the Basque Country on behalf of the French king Henry IV with the aim of eradicating witchcraft present in those places. The interrogated were about 400 and the executions about 80. Strengthened by the experience gained, de Lancre published a few years later the book shown here, probably born to be a sort of inquisitor’s manual.

The image Here exhibited is one of the most detailed representations of the Witches’ Sabbath; different scenes can be seen: from the witch who brings a child as a sacrificial victim to the presence of the goat demon sitting on her throne, to the banquet in the company of devils; from the band of musicians top left, the circles of naked dancers; in the center you can see the cauldron where the witches prepare the potions.

JANI JACOBI BOISSARDI

De divinatione et magicis praestigiis

Oppenheim, ca. 1615

 Ius 2.1

 It contains engravings of soothsayers and sibyls, including Cassandra, the Delphic Sibyl and the Cumaean Sibyl, a priestess who presided over the oracle of Apollo in the city of Cumae (now Pozzuoli). Legend has it that Apollo, in love with her, wanted to make her his priestess, giving her immortality but not eternal youth, and she aged more and more until her body became small and worn out like that of a cicada. She was put in a cage in the temple of Apollo until her body disappeared and only her voice remained. Apollo promised her that if she became completely his he would offer her eternal youth, but in order not to give up her chastity the priestess decided to refuse.

PIERRE LE BRUN

 Critical history of superstitious practices that seduced people and embarrassed the sick …

Rouen, 1702

 Ius.2.35

 The text explains among other things the method and principles for discerning natural effects from those that are not, such as the cold water test to unmask sorcerers. The alleged culprits are led before a large barrel filled with water – or a river, or a lake – and stripped of their clothes; after kissing the Gospel and the Cross of Christ, they are sprinkled with holy water. The right hand is then tied to the left ankle, while the left hand is tied to the right ankle in order to prevent any kind of movement. Girded with a rope, one at a time they are finally thrown into the water: if those who sink are quickly saved from death and declared innocent, those who return to the surface are instead accused of witchcraft since they are the perpetrators of an act that is certainly magical, as well as repelled by the purity and sacredness attributed to water.