Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania (Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic)

Description

This book provides a selection of studies on witchcraft and demonology by those involved in an interdisciplinary research group begun in Hungary thirty years ago. They examine urban and rural witchcraft conflicts from early modern times to the present, from a region hitherto rarely taken into consideration in witchcraft research. Special attention is given to healers, midwives, and cunning folk, including archaic sorcerer figures such as the táltos; whose ambivalent role is analysed in social, legal, medical and religious contexts. This volume examines how waves of persecution emerged and declined, and how witchcraft was decriminalised. Fascinating case-studies on vindictive witch-hunters, quarrelling neighbours, rivalling midwives, cunning shepherds, weather magician impostors, and exorcist Franciscan friars provide a colourful picture of Hungarian and Transylvanian folk beliefs and mythologies, as well as insights into historical and contemporary issues.  Contents Editors and Contributors List of Tables Introduction The Research Agenda Witchcraft Prosecutions and Witch-Beliefs in Hungary An Overview of the Volume The Social Background of Witchcraft Accusations in Early Modern Debrecen and Bihar County Witchcraft Charges and Their Local Social World ‘People of Ill Repute’ and ‘Honest Christians’ Healers, Midwives and Their Social Environment Problems of Neighborhood, Cohabitation and Poverty Wealthy Witches of ‘High’ Status Hajdú Gentry (Hajdúnemesek) and Serfs (Jobbágyok) Witchcraft, Greed and Revenge: The Prosecutor Activity of György Igyártó and the Witch Trials of Kolozsvár in the 1580s The Prosecutor Activities of György Igyártó The Procurator “Worthy of Skinning” Caught up in the Web of Vengeance, Fraud and Bribery Concluding Remarks Healers in Hungarian Witch Trials The Healer in Witchcraft Historiography Healers in Hungarian Witchcraft Research Midwives and Healers in Kolozsvár Healers and Midwives Around the Witch-Craze of Szeged Conclusion—Further Avenues of Research Divinatio Diabolica and Superstitious Medicine: Healers, Seers and Diviners in the Changing Discourse of Witchcraft in Early Modern Nagybánya Introduction Specialists in Popular Magic and Witchcraft Accusations Cunning Folk, Physicians and Midwives in the Witchcraft Prosecutions of Nagybánya 1660–1670 1697–1706 1753–1754 The Maze of Terminology Specialists, Clients and Scopes of Activities Diseases, Infirmities, Miseries Divination, Treasure Seeing, Bewitchment Bewitchment and Identification of Witches Thoughts About Illness Patients, Clients and the Supply Selection of Specialists Case Studies Family Dispute and Competing Healers: Mrs. Gergely Nagy and Mrs. István Nagy (1670) Mrs. Csóti, the Commuting Cunning Woman Marci Milkó, Lord of the Cats Conclusion Shamanism or Witchcraft? The Táltos Before the Tribunals Introduction: The Subject of the Investigation and Related Questions Táltos Witches and Anti-Witches Shamanism or Witchcraft? Táltos and Witch The Studies on Magical Specialists Táltos Within the System of Witchcraft—Presentation The Nature of Sources Questions ‘Real’ Táltos in Unknown Táltos-Roles Táltos as the Specialists of Divination and Magic Táltos as Healers and Wise Women Táltos as Healers and Wise Men and Women in the Role of External Witch Identifiers Táltos as Money Seers Thieves and Swindlers Who Fake Táltos Qualities Conclusion: Answers to the Questions What Did Being Táltos Mean for the Táltos and Their Communities? What Was the Main Occupation of the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Táltos? Practical Roles: Healing, Magic and Divination Bewitchment, Identifying the Witch Witches and Anti-Witches Shamanism or Witchcraft? The Decriminalization of Magic and the Fight Against Superstition in Hungary and Transylvania, 1740–1848 The Decriminalization of Magical Activities The Legal Environment and the Venues of Criminal Justice The History of the Events Surrounding Decriminalization The Diverse Forms and the Changing Nature of Judgments Why Did the Witchcraft and Sorcerer Trials Continue Even After Coming to an End? Demonology and Catholic Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century Hungary Exposition of the Problem Did Catholic Demonology Have a Hungarian ‘Version’ in the Early Modern Period? Possible Approaches to the Catholic Enlightenment Catholic Enlightenment and Popular Culture Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment as Reflected in the Conflicts of an Eighteenth Century Franciscan Friar from Zombor A German Parallel: Johann Joseph Gassner, the Exorcist Wonder Healer Parallels and Conclusions Personality Perception of Disease ‘White Magic’ Spectaculum Catholic Enlightenment Popular Religion Talking Through Witchcraft—on the Bewitchment Discourse of a Village Community Local Concepts on Witchcraft and Bewitchment Bewitchment as a Subject of Conversation When and How Do People Talk About Witchcraft? What People Do Through Talking About Bewitchment Concluding Remarks Index