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The biggest witch trials in history began to take place in 1609. Known as the Basque witch trials, they were unprecedented in size.
They began against the background of similar persecutions conducted by Pierre de Lancre in the Labourd province of the Basque Country.
The trials were held in northern Spain in the city of Logroño, near Navarre. The city borders Basque territory.
The trials were held as part of the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was originally established in the 1400s by Spain's Catholic Monarchs.
King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella established the Inquisition to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, in response to the multi-religious nature of Spanish society.
The Inquisition wanted to root out 'heretics.' This included people who had converted from Islam or Judaism to Catholicism (who were considered to pose a danger to the stability of Catholic Spain).
However, heretics weren’t limited to these groups. 'Superstition' was also considered heretical, and this was the category witchcraft and witches fell into.
The meeting of the Inquisition at Logroño investigated cases in the Kingdom of Navarre, Alava, Gipuzkoa, Biscay, La Rioja, and the North of Burgos and Soria.
By the end of 1609, some 7,000 cases of alleged witchcraft had been examined by the Inquisition, with evidence covering 11,000 pages.
Most of the accused were women, however the trials also included children and men, among them priests guilty of healing with nóminas (amulets with names of saints).
The first phase ended in 1610, with a declaration of auto de fé. This was a ritual of public penance for condemned heretics and apostates.
The first phase ended in 1610, against 31 accused witches. Of these, 11 were killed. Five were burned in effigy, and six were burned alive. A previous five had already died under torture.
The proceedings were then 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.
Folk magic was practiced in the Basque region. Some people would eat, drink, converse, and dance in the forest or caves, at times consuming mind-altering herbs and ointments at events called akelarres, or Witches' Sabbath.
Zugarramurdi, near the French border, was rumored to be a witches meeting place. Witches' Sabbaths were believed to take place at a cave and stream of water known as "Hell's Stream," located outside the town.
The pre-Christian cult of Mari—a local goddess of the earth— had survived in the western part of the Zugarramurdi region, close to the Atlantic coast.
There was also another cult in the area, dedicated to Lamias, which celebrated half women, half animal-like creatures. But it was probably the festivals dedicated to Mari that attracted the initial attention of the Inquisition.
Almost 7,000 people were taken from Zugarramurdi and interrogated and tortured in the dungeons of Logroño.
The junior inquisitor of the three-man tribunal in the Basque trials, Alonso de Salazar Frías, traveled across the countryside during 1611 to investigate the cases more deeply.
Frías was armed with an “Edict of Grace,” promising pardon to all those who voluntarily reported themselves and denounced their accomplices.
In response, denunciations flowed in from the population. Frías finally returned to Logroño: with witchcraft-practicing 'confessions' from 1,802 people.
In spite of the manifold confessions, Frías questioned the whole basis of the trials—risking his own denunciation by the more senior judges.
However, the vast majority of the witnesses retracted their statements when they came before Frías, attributing their confessions to torture.
Only six out of the 1,802 maintained their confessions, and claimed to have attended Sabbaths.
Frías, the youngest judge in the Inquisition panel of three, was himself skeptical about the whole thing, saying that he had found no substantive proof of witchcraft on his travels.
The matter was referred to the Inquisitor-General in Madrid, which ruled in August 1614 that all of the trials pending at Logroño should be dismissed.
At the same time, the Inquisition issued new and more rigorous rules of evidence, bringing the witch trials to an end in Spain.
Situated close to the border with France and inhabited by just 224 people, Zugarramurdi now carries the nickname of the “Spanish Salem.”
Tourists from across the world flock to visit Zugarramurdi’s Witch Museum and the Cuevas de las Brujas ("The Witch Caves").
This piece of history aside, Spain's witch hunts actually had much less intensity to them when compared to other European countries such as Germany, Scotland, and France.
Sources: (Smithsonian) (Are We Europe)
See also: Signs you'd be considered a witch in the 17th century
Mysterious happenings were grounds for superstition in the Middle Ages. And even though the belief in witches was generally low in Spain in the 17th century, it thrived in certain places. The mountain regions of Galicia and the Basque Country were areas of lore and legend.
For instance, when the Spanish Inquisition took a closer look at Zugarramurdi, it found an town with an appetite for the supernatural. However, the skeptics in the Inquisition’s midst were less than satisfied with the evidence they discovered.
Intrigued? Then click on the following gallery to find out more about the largest witch trials in history.
What were the Basque witch trials?
The biggest witch trials in history were actually undertaken by the Spanish Inquisition
LIFESTYLE History
Mysterious happenings were grounds for superstition in the Middle Ages. And even though the belief in witches was generally low in Spain in the 17th century, it thrived in certain places. The mountain regions of Galicia and the Basque Country were areas of lore and legend.
For instance, when the Spanish Inquisition took a closer look at Zugarramurdi, it found an town with an appetite for the supernatural. However, the skeptics in the Inquisition’s midst were less than satisfied with the evidence they discovered.
Intrigued? Then click on the following gallery to find out more about the largest witch trials in history.