INVOKING
THE AKELARRE In memory of my niece,
Emily Wilby
INVOKING
THE AKELARRE
Voices of the Accused in the
Basque Witch-Craze, 1609-1614
EMMA WILBY
Copyright Emma Wilby, 2019.
Published in the Sussex Academic e-Library, 2019.
SUSSEX ACADEMIC PRESS
PO Box 139, Eastbourne BN24 9BP, UK
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ISBN 9781845199692 (Paperback)
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ISBN 9781782846246 (Pdf)
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Contents
The Illustrations
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Text
Introduction
ONE The Basque World
TWO The Gleeful Executioners
THREE The Witchess Voice
FOUR Black Winds
FIVE The Bloodletting Bruja
SIX Powders and Poisons
SEVEN Mans Grease
EIGHT Hidden Healers
NINE Familiar Demons
TEN Milking the Toad
ELEVEN Jeannettes Imagination
TWELVE The Akelarre
THIRTEEN The Meadow of Pleasure
FOURTEEN Dark Banquets
FIFTEEN There is no sin in it
SIXTEEN Be nothing to God
SEVENTEEN Theophilus and the Stage
EIGHTEEN The First Altar of Hell
NINETEEN Mass and Misrule
TWENTY The Malevolent Mass
TWENTY ONE De Lancres Imagination
TWENTY TWO The Cultic Template
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
The Illustrations
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the following for permission to reproduce copyright material. The publishers apologize for any errors or omissions in the list below and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in the next edition or reprint of this book.
Engraving by Jan Ziarnco, published in Pierre de Lancres Tableau de linconstance des mauvais anges et dmons, Paris, 1613. University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections.
Map of the seven Basque provinces. Designed and created by Karl Triebel, Hedgerow Print Ltd, Crediton.
Explorers cutting up whales. From the LaCosmographie Universelle by Andr Thevet, Paris, 1575. Wellcome Collection.
Vizcano and vizcanas, from Civitates Orbis Terrarum, by Georg Braun (15411622). Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht, MAG: T fol 212 Lk (Rariora)
An auto de f procession in a marketplace. Etching. Wellcome Collection.
A mother tries to suckle a dead child. Heliogravure after Barthel Beham, c. 152830. Wellcome Collection.
Anatomical bloodletting figure, 16th century. Wellcome Collection.
Section of engraving by Jan Ziarnco, from Lancres Tableau de linconstance des mauvais anges et dmons, Paris, 1613. University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections.
An apothecary grinding a mixture with his pestle and mortar. Woodcut. Wellcome Collection.
A woman covers her eyes as she steals teeth from a hanged man. Aquatint with etching by F. Goya, ca. 1797. Wellcome Collection.
Cathdrale Saint-tienne de Borges, France. Photo by Mattana: Wikimedia Commons.
Demons forcing gluttons to eat toads in hell. Woodcut from Le Grant Kalendrier et Compost des Bergiers (Troyes, 1496). Bibliothque Nationale de France, RES-V-278.
Dried frog in a silk bag, South Devon, England, 19011930. Science Museum, London.
Bishop exorcising possessed men, French 15th century. Wellcome Collection.
Le Sige of Chartres, March 1568. Engraving by Jean-Jacques Perrissin, 1570. Bibliothque Nationale de France, M 087417.
Frontispiece from Septiceps Lutherus by Johannes Cochlaeus, Paris, 1564. Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.
Section of engraving by Jan Ziarnco, from de Lancres Tableau de linconstance des mauvais anges et dmons, Paris, 1613. University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections.
Frontispiece to Vida del Servio de Dios V. P. Fray Gonzalo Diaz de Amarante... Madrid, 1678. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
Garden of Eden from Biblia cu[m] concordantijs veteris & noui testamenti ex sacrorum canonum. Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.
The Land of Cockaigne, by Pieter van der Heyden, after Pieter Bruegel the Elder (after 1570). Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Lucifer devouring damned souls. Anonymous illustration to Antonio Bettinis Monte Sancto di Dio (Florence, 1477). British Museum.
Section of engraving by Jan Ziarnco, from de Lancres Tableau de linconstance des mauvais anges et dmons, Paris, 1613. University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections.
Tupinamb women. Illustration from Naaukeurige versameling der gedenk-waardigste zee en land-reysen na Oost en West-Indin... 1524 tot 1526, Leiden, 1707. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
The Triumph of the Eucharist, 15551600. Anonymous Print. Rogers Fund, 1922, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Fountain of Youth. Woodcut by H.S. Beham, ca. 1536. Wellcome Collection.
Hans Sebald Beham, Narr und Nrrin, ca. 1520/1522. Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Inv. A.B.154.
Huitzilopochtli. From the Description de lunivers, contenant les different systemes du mond... by Allain Manesson-Mallet, 1685. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
The Sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church: Confirmation. Etching. Wellcome Collection.
Stage design for Le Passion de Valenciennes, Hubert Cailleau, 1547. Bibliothque Nationale de France, Ms. Franais 12536.
Priest celebrates the Eucharist, from Naaukeurige versameling der gedenk-waardigste... 1492 tot 1499, Leiden 1707. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.
Il Mondo alla Riversa by Battista Parmensis, 1585. Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
Mocking the Lutheran Andreas Osiander at the Schembart Parade, 1539. Stadtbibliothek Nrnberg, Nor. K. 444, ca. 1550.
Miniature from the frontispiece of the 1562 statutes of the confraternity of Santa Maria della Morte, 1562. Biblioteca dellArchiginnasio, Bologna. Ms Fondo Speciali Ospedali, 42.
Mulier Piscajensis from Habitus praecipuorum populorum tam virorum quam feminarum singulari arte depicti, by Hans Weigel, 1577. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mnchen.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the University of Exeter and in particular Jonathan Barry, for continuing to support me in a journey of exploration that began, over twenty years ago, with the interest and encouragement of the much-missed Gareth Roberts. Similarly, this book would not have evolved in the way that it did without the faith and patience of my publisher, Anthony Grahame. I am also greatly indebted to Mara Tausiet, for generously commenting on an early draft of the manuscript and alerting me to some potential pitfalls.
