I.S.T.A.
Stregoneria nelle Alpi Malefici, processi, inquisitori e roghi
1 Luglio 2022
STREGONERIA NELLE ALPI Malefici, processi, inquisitori e roghi
Progetto: I.S.T.A. - Incontri per lo Studio dei Territori Alpini Società Storica e Antropologica di Valle Camonica Revisione testi e traduzioni: Tommaso Baresi, Gaia Bonomi, Valeria Gazzoli, Luca Giarelli. Comitato organizzativo: Loris Bendotti, Gaia Bonomi, Fabio Faiferri, Ivan Faiferri, Luca Giarelli, Giancarlo Taboni, Angelica Zucchi. L’edizione di questo libro è stata curata da: Luca Giarelli. Immagini: Copertina. Fronte: Il sabba delle streghe (El aquelarre), Francisco Goya (1797/98) Retro: Il sabba delle streghe, collezione Johann Jakob Wick (Zurigo, Zentralbibliothek, 1560/88) Banchetto del sabba, dal Compendium maleficarum di Francesco Mario Guazzo (1608) Stampa di un volantino di una strega che brucia a Derenburg (contea di Reinstein) (1555) Musa della notte, Luis Ricardo Falero (1880) Immagini: Appartengono ai rispettivi autori, eccetto dove indicato diversamente. L’editore rimane a disposizione per i crediti eventualmente non reperiti. Profilo montuoso: Monte Concarena, Valle Camonica. Senza il permesso scritto è vietata la riproduzione del presente lavoro sotto qualsiasi forma. Youcanprint Self-Publishing Via Roma, 73 - 73039 Tricase (LE) - Italy www.youcanprint.it | info@youcanprint.it Facebook: facebook.com/youcanprint.it Twitter: twitter.com/youcanprintit ISBN 979-12-21420-31-9 Prima edizione italiana, luglio 2022. Il progetto è stato possibile grazie a:
Società Storica e Antropologica di Valle Camonica
Comunità Montana di Valle Camonica
www.ssavalcam.it
www.cmvallecamonica.bs.it
Euro Sider Scalo
Cassa Padana Area Camuna www.cassapadana.it
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Indice
Introduzione
pag.
7
secondo
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11
Tra Roma e Venezia: casi di presunta stregoneria nella Valle Camonica del XVI secolo
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57
»
75
Streghe in Valcamonica: una ricerca etnografica
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87
Stregoneria nel Bergamasco: i casi di Vertova e Gazzaniga
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99
Stregherie e malefici nella Valsassina del Cinque e Seicento
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109
Gli «strion» della Val Poschiavo (XVII–XVIII secolo): i risultati di una prima indagine di studio
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121
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133
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145
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157
Parte I - Stregoneria nelle Alpi 1.
Stregoneria, eresia e inquisizione nel Quattrocento tra Brescia e Valcamonica Luca Giarelli
2.
Attilio Toffolo 3.
La caccia alle streghe in Valle Camonica nel primo Cinquecento: scetticismo e giurisdizione Giulia Lovison
4.
Daniele Remo Bressanelli 5.
Franco Irranca 6.
Marco Sampietro 7.
Cristina Giulia Codega 8.
Le parole delle streghe negli incartamenti di Bormio Giulia Ottonello
9.
Persistenze magico e superstiziose in Valsesia: il caso di Cervatto Roberta Fusco
10.
Lo strano suicidio di Maria Gotto «tenuta et reputata masca» Massimo Centini
3
11.
Marietta dou Biel: la confessione spontanea di un’inquisita valdostana
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169
»
179
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191
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205
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213
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227
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243
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255
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279
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291
Silvia Bertolin 12.
Un’inchiesta per la morte di neonati nelle culle nella Valle d’Aosta del Quattrocento Ezio Gerbore
13.
La «caccia» alle streghe nel Comungrande di Mesolcina tra il 1583 e il 1740 Gerry Mottis
14.
The making of a witch. The trial against Perrissona Gappit (1465) revisited Georg Modestin
15.
La stregoneria nella Val Lagarina nel XVII secolo: il processo contro Santo Peterlini Tommaso Baresi
16.
Dal Cadore a Belluno processi per stregoneria nel Cinquecento Adriana Lotto
17.
Paolo Bertignone il prete stregone? Louise Bonvalet
18.
Le Krivapete delle Valli del Natisone: convergenze folkloriche e letterarie Federico Guariglia
19.
La magia nelle Alpi centro-orientali attraverso una ricerca etnografica Alessandro Norsa
20.
Segale Cornuta nei Cereali Alpini: un tuffo nella storia, un rischio alimentare attuale Valeria Leoni - Germano Melotti - Simone Signaroli - Marco Saracchi - Marco Zuccolo Luca Giupponi - Giulia Ceciliani - Guido Calvi - Stefano Sala - Annamaria Giorgi
4
Parte II - 1518. Inquisitori e streghe nelle Alpi lombarde Giornata di studio in ricordo di Massimo Prevideprato Edolo, Università della Montagna, 24 novembre 2018
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305
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323
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333
- Decretum di Graziano, Causa XXVI, Questio V (Canon Episcopi)
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351
- Ad abolendam, Lucio III (1184)
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356
- Vergentis in senium, Innocenzo III (1199)
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358
- Vox in Rama, Gregorio IX (1233)
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360
- Ad extirpanda, Innocenzo IV (1252)
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362
- Super illius specula Giovanni XXII (1326/27)
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368
- Summis desiderantes affectibus, Innocenzo VIII (1484)
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369
Bibliografia
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371
Abstracts
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393
21.
La ricerca di Massimo Prevideprato sulla caccia alle streghe nelle Prealpi lombarde. Un contributo agli studi sulla genesi della stregofobia in Italia Paolo Portone
22.
Il Malleus maleficarum e le streghe di Bormio Ilario Silvestri
23.
Gian Pietro Stoppani cacciatore di streghe: la croce in cielo e i roghi in terra Valerio Giorgetta
Parte III - Appendice Documenti e bolle papali
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Abstracts 1. Witchcraft, heresy and inquisition in the second half of the 15th century between Brescia and Valcamonica Between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, different trials against diabolical witchcraft took place in the Brescia area, in particular in Valcamonica. The present article intends to focus on the end of 15th century, examinating the argument under three aspects: the evolution of the concept of witchcraft and its connection with the heresy, the inquisitorial activity in Lombardy in the 15th century, the illustration of the accusations in relation to the cases in Brescia areas. The conclusion aims to provide a summary of the events in the context of recent studies on the subject, presenting in the appendix the re-edition of some texts that update previously published documents. 2. Between Rome and Venice: cases of alleged witchcraft in the 16th century Valcamonica This article aims at dealing with the institutional and political conflict which occurred between Venice and the Papal State and which was related to the cases of supposed witchcraft and to the consequent trials which occurred between 1518 and 1521 in Valcamonica. This article is dealing with the backstage of the political and religious intrigues of the inquisitorial trials paying attention to the local reality of the territory of Valcamonica. These intrigues are being analysed in the broader framework of the diplomatic relations which existed between the Holy See and the Republic of Venice. This article eventually shows that this trial was not only the result of religious reasons, but also of venal and conflicting matters between the aristocracy of Valcamonica and the Dominican Order, who were both interested in controlling the territory and monopolizing its sources. 3. The witch hunt of Valcamonica in the 16th century: skepticism and jurisdiction The contribution reconstructs the witch hunt in Valcamonica during the 15181521. The event, which is one of the cases of the different persecutions of witches that took place in Northern Italy during that particular period, is exemplary because it elucidates the effects of skepticism towards the reality of witchcraft, showing the encounter/clash between the secular courts of Venice and the Inquisition. Initially, the Italian witchcraft context is presented, defining the sabbatical paradigm supported by witch hunters and the ways in which demonological theories are disseminated to promote witchcraft processes. Subsequently, the main topic of the work is developed: the description of the hunting promoted in Valcamonica. From its historiography, the Diarii of Marin Sanudo and the documents kept at the State Archives of Venezia, the reasons for the hunt, the contrast between the Inquisition and the Venetian courts, and the results of the persecution are presented. Finally, skepticism about the witchcraft reality is dispelled, given the influence it had in the particular case studied.
393
Abstracts
4. Witches in Valcamonica: an ethnographic research The article deals with an ethnographic research that was carried out in 2019 in the middle Valcamonica, concerning witches’ tales in the previous century. Specifically, I’ve done nineteen unstructured interviews with aged people, living in seven different villages. From the conversations three main themes emerged: the «bait de la pora» (the fear’s cabin), «the witches’ locations» and «the witches in the village», to which I dedicate one brief paragraph each one. Furthermore, I wonder why Valcamonica inhabitants don’t have neither collective memory nor historic consciousness about the witches’ processes that took place at the beginning of the 16th century. 5. Witchcraft in Bergamo area: the cases of Vertova and Gazzaniga Looking through the documents conserved in the see’s archives of Bergamo is possible to meet testimonies of events and personages, who lived in Valle Seriana, in particular in the villages of Vertova and Cazzaniga, situated at roughly twenty kilometers from the chief town Bergamo, and concerning a particular period: the 16th century. In the documents, referred to Vertova, is mentioned a woman, called Nesina, nicknamed Uliera, who «follows the profession di segnar fevers and other illnesses», who was able of doing the «bewitchments» and is possessed by the devil; referred to Gazzaniga a certain Lucrezia is cited, nicknamed «La Polina», who had been married with a certain Cornagia, accused of putting an a hex on children and adults. 6. Witchery and spells in the Valsassina of the 16th and 17th centuries Valsassina, like other alpine and pre-Alpine valleys, was affected by the phenomenon of «witch hunting». The first witch burned alive in Valsassina was Ricadona uxor Sebastiani, who in 1515 was condamnata ad mortem et pro stria et heretica... et combusta. Other femine (women) accused of being strie (witches), especially in Premana and Pagnona (where there were as many as fifty witches) were captured. There were other cases in around 1566-1569 when was reported the presence in the prison of Introbio of Santino Ambrosoni, suspicted of heresy. In the Parish Archive of Pasturo where is transcribed an interesting handbook - for the use of the parish priest - to recognize the signa, that is «the clues, the signs, the signals», of those who were possessed by the devil or of those who were victims of an evil spell. 7. The strion of Val Poschiavo (17th –18th century). The results of a first study survey The attention is focused on Val Poschiavo, an alpine area in Graubünden. With the Protestant Reformation, Val Poschiavo became bi-confessional. From the beginning of the XVI century the Raetic government abolished the spiritual power of the Bishop of Como in this land: everything that belonged to him passed over to the local secular court who had to deal with the problem of witchcraft. Out of 130 trials certainly established and today conserved, 21 are against men, a rather high number. Anyone in Poschiavo could have been implicated in witchcraft. In this paper the 21 cases mentioned above will be examined in order to outline the most interesting aspects. 394
Abstracts
8. The words of the witches in the ancient files of Bormio This contribution is dedicated to witchcraft in the county of Bormio, between 1630 and 1631, and examines the situation of this border territory, whose harsh nature was the scene of a violent persecution against the alleged «pestiferous sect of witches». Ample space was devoted to the analysis of a selection of particularly significant terms taken from the processual files, and the comparison with the corresponding entries in a selection of Italian dictionaries and dialectal dictionaries. I gave particular attention to the comparison of these transcriptions with the documentation preserved in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Bormio. 9. Magical and superstitious persistence in Valsesia: the case of Cervatto During ethnographic research, conducted in the municipality of Cervatto in the summer 2010, it emerged that among the inhabitants of the small town persisted some superstitious magical beliefs linked to the existence of the witches. The strie, so defined by the witnesses, were witches belonging to the peasant imaginary and were an important element in the framework of the traditional conceptions and beliefs of Piedmont’s valleys. Witches played an important role in the tales told during the winter watches. Witches were figures of the imagination and of fear who, at the same time, were experienced as real presences in the community and sometimes in the family. Superstition played an important role among the inhabitants of Cervatto and the magical element coexisted alongside religious tradition. 10. The strange suicide of Maria Gotto «tenuta et reputata masca» The proceedings of the trial for witchcraft against Maria Gotto resemble closely those of a large number of coeval trials taking place in a wide area of Piedmont. The religious wars that ravaged Piedmont ended up fighting popular religiosity and long-standing traditions as if they were witchcraft. The list of charges brought against Maria Gotto follows a recurrent pattern: inclusive of taking part in witches’ Sabbaths, preparation of magic potions and above all the ability, both satanic and magical, to cause diseases leading to death the chosen victims. The events and the testimonies which link together, make the trial of Maria Gotto a representative example of the beliefs that have been for a long time the basis of witch-hunt. 11. Marietta dou Biel: the spontaneous confession of an Aosta Valley suspect In the first half of the 15th century, the heretice pravitatis inquisitor and the vicar of the Aosta’s bishop have subjected to trial some people charged by the fellow countrymen for having committed acts contrary to the Catholic faith. Whereas, the case of Marietta dou Biel, illustrated in detail, is an example of spontaneous self-denunciation. The woman presents herself to the judges admitting that she has used some prayers for healing from certain illnesses and, during the process, she also confessed that she took part in some meetings with the devil and his followers. The procedure and the parties involved are similar to those of the other contemporary processes found (about a dozen). Comparing to the other cases, it is remarkable that Marietta has voluntarily showed up, the only known example among the forty cases of which so far we have news. 395
Abstracts
12. A study about the deaths of babies in cribs in the 15th century Aosta Valley The study that is presented is part of the phenomenon of persecution against witchcraft that begins in the Aosta Valley in 1419. On various occasions, different kinds of investigations are launched against women suspected of casting evil or trading with the devil, but in 1446 a specific complaint claims that there are people who kill babies in cribs. Among the various suspects, the most serious charges are against Agnexona, widow of Petrus Grappes. The story of the woman is the subject of the article because of the relevance it has in the landscape of the persecution against witchcraft in Valle d’Aosta and for the complexity of the figure of Agnexona that emerges from the testimonies who support the charges against her. 13. The witch hunt in the Comungrande di Mesolcina between 1583 and 1740 The Mesolcina Valley (situated in Canton Grigioni in Switzerland) experienced an intense period of witch-hunts which began in 1583 with the visit of Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan. He wanted to stop the advance of Protestantism that was coming from the north and to restore moral order in the region. In one month, Borromeo took to trial 110 people for witchcraft, 11 of whom were sentenced to be burned at the stake. Persecutions increased after his visit, especially in the 17th century, and lasted until the middle of the 18th century. 14. The making of a witch. The revised trial against Perrissona Gappit (1465) The West-alpine arch belongs to the heartlands of 15th century witch-hunting. In particular the regions that form today’s Western Switzerland are singled out by an outstanding corpus of late-medieval trial records documenting the persecution of female and male witches. Within this corpus, the trial of Perrissona Gappit of Châtel-St-Denis, a small market place located in the foothills of the Alps, is one of the best preserved 15th-century cases, as not only the actual trial records survive, but also the most often lost records of the pre-trial examination, in the course of which three witnesses for the accusation testified against the defendant. Thanks to these depositions, one can follow the «making of a witch» in detail, from the accusers’ depositions and the pre-trial examination of Perrissona herself to the actual trial during which the defendant was pressured into admitting having taken part at the so-called witches’ Sabbath. 15. Witchcraft in Val Lagarina in the 17th century: the trial against Santo Peterlini The essay analyzes the events of Santo Peterlini, a blacksmith who lived in the first half of 17th century in Villa Lagarina, in southern Trentino, and who was accused of witchcraft in 1647. The essay mainly follows the attempts of his son Graziadio and advocate Giovanni Passerini to obtain Santo’s liberation from prison. Despite Graziadio’s repeated requests of reviewing the trials acts and Passerini’s deep knowledge of legislation and eloquence, Santo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1649. His death occurred eighteen months later.
396
Abstracts
16. From Cadore to Belluno: trials for witchcraft in the 16th century The witchcraft trials, of which traces remain in the archives and that mainly concern women, show that in Cadore and Belluno the cases treated were considered the result of popular superstition, that used the word witch in a abusive and libelous way, and therefore they ended with the release of the accused woman either with fines or with the obligation to celebrate masses. Specifically, the trial for maleficio against Susanna De Rova in 1581 is examined. 17. Paolo Bertignone the sorcerer priest? In 1632 Paolo Bertignone, a priest from Bassano del Grappa, is tried by the Venetian Holy Office, a peripheral court of the Roman Inquisition created in 1547. His trial is kept in the archives of the Savi all’eresia in Venice. He is accused of making heretical speeches, but especially of having made magical spells. The court’s sentence is quite severe: he must go to jail for two years and is compelled to do penance. This chapter focuses on these witchcraft’s accusations.This study offers to look first at the Early Modern literature about witchcraft to try to understand the men’s place in the persecution. After looking at what «male witchcraft» means, the focus will be on the female side of the love magic used by the priest. 18. The Krivapete of the Natisone valleys: folkloric and literary convergences The article aims to analyse the Krivapete, nymphs or wild women who inhabit the legends of the Natisone valleys. For the analysis, the interference with other magical creatures of the Alpine, Italian and European folkloric panorama will be taken into account. On the one hand, we are going to highlight the contacts with other folklore figures, whilst on the other hand the descriptions of mythical beings in the pages of medieval literature will be used to draw a picture of semantic convergences. 19. Magic in the central-eastern Alps through ethnographic research This work is a synthesis of the complex system of beliefs that gravitate around the word witch. The word in common use and with a powerful evocative imagery is a condensation of ideas matured over time and grown up by the passage of a polytheistic religious culture (characterized by an animist thought) to a monotheist who forcefully imposed a new religious orientation. The work examines the apotropaic magical rites of open spaces and the aggressive or protective ones hidden from the public with particular attention to the references of research campaigns conducted in Valcamonica. 20. Horned rye in Alpine cereals: a dip in history, a current food risk The sclerotia (called ergot or in Valcamonica term dentalone, the dormant stage of the fungus, consisting of a dark mass of mycelium, which replaces the seed after infection) contains alkaloids that determine the symptoms of ergotism. In addition to this, it should be remembered that alkaloids are also hallucinogenic drugs, therefore traditions and rituals of Valcamonica could be linked to the ingestion of these toxic substances present in flours and their derivatives contaminated by ergot.
397
Abstracts
21. The research of Massimo Prevideprato on witch hunt in the Lombard Pre-alps. A contribution to the studies on the genesis of strigafobia in Italy On the basis of the precious information provided through the Cahiers lausannois d’histoire médiévale, by the group of Franco-Swiss scholars coordinated by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, we will try to illustrate the simultaneity of that vast and profound process of incubation of the imagination of the modern diabolical witch, which was developing beyond the Alps (Dauphiné, Savoy, Simmenthal, Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel), on the other side, in Italian territory, in the foothills of Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy. An incipient spread of the legend of belief in diabolical witches is attested and where the first Italian trials against alleged followers of the diabolic cult are documented. 22. Malleus maleficarum and the witches of Bormio The phenomenon of witchcraft manifested itself in the Bormio district from the end of the 15th to the first half of the 18th. The article examines some cases relating to the area dating back to the end of the 15th century-beginning of the 16th, also with references to the well-known book Malleus maleficarum, published in 1486. 23. Gian Pietro Stoppani witch hunter: the cross in heaven and the bonfires on the ground Giovanni Pietro Stoppani from Mazzo was theologian, author of historical-canonical treatises, preacher in the Grisons territories, oblate and first rector of the Helvetic college of Milan, admirer and companion of San Carlo Borromeo, prominent figure of the Lombard Counter-Reformation and also a convinced persecutor of the evil witchcraft and exorcist. News of his action aimed at eradicating the «diabolical sect of the Witches» emerged in the 80s and 90s of the 16th century. It had a leading role in countering witches, «who came in sheep’s clothing but intrinsically were rapacious wolves», in 1583 and 1589 in Mesolcina and in the years between 1595-1597 in Valtellina. We intend to return the salient features of this singular and significant figure starting from his action, at times eccentric and exceptional, full of useful ideas to grasp the junctions, contradictions and transformations of the phenomenon of witch hunts in the last decades of the 16th century. A complex portrait marked by conflicts of power with the Congregation of the Holy Office, ambiguous proximity to the secular courts of the Grisons and by an iron conviction in its own mission.
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Collana I.S.T.A. Incontri per lo Studio dei Territori Alpini
1. Carnevali e folclore delle Alpi. Riti, suoni e tradizioni popolari delle vallate europee, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2012. 2. Naturalmente divisi. Storia e autonomia delle antiche comunità alpine, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2013. 3. I Signori delle Alpi. Famiglie e poteri tra le montagne d’Europa, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2015. 4. Napoleone nelle Alpi. Le montagne d’Europa tra Rivoluzione e Restaurazione, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2015. 5. Banditi e fuorilegge nelle Alpi tra Medioevo e primo Ottocento, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2017. 6. Memento mori. Ritualità, immagine e immaginario della morte nelle Alpi, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2018. 7. Disastri e comunità alpine. Storia e antropologia della catastrofe, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2019. 8. Costruire confini nelle Alpi. Disegnare, cancellare, riprovare, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2020. 9. Stregoneria nelle Alpi. Malefici, processi, inquisitori e roghi, a cura di L. Giarelli, 2022.