Witchcraft and Inquisition in early modern Venice / Jonathan Seitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Seitz, Jonathan, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials (Witchcraft)--Italy--Venice--History--16th century.

Inquisition--Italy--Venice--History--16th century.

Trials (Witchcraft)--Italy--Venice--History--17th century.

Inquisition--Italy--Venice--History--17th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 286 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Witchcraft & Inquisition in Early Modern Venice

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In early modern Europe, ideas about nature, God, demons and occult forces were inextricably connected and much ink and blood was spilled in arguments over the characteristics and boundaries of nature and the supernatural. Seitz uses records of Inquisition witchcraft trials in Venice to uncover how individuals across society, from servants to aristocrats, understood these two fundamental categories. Others have examined this issue from the points of view of religious history, the history of science and medicine, or the history of witchcraft alone, but this work brings these sub-fields together to illuminate comprehensively the complex forces shaping early modern beliefs.

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; Reform and Questions of Nature and Supernature; Witchcraft and Magic, Natural and Supernatural; Understanding Nature in Vernacular Culture; The Knowledge of the Practitioner; A "Disenchantment" of the Early Modern World?; A Proliferation of Views; 1 Witchcraft and Inquisition in the Most Serene Republic; The Structure of the Inquisition in Venice; Witchcraft and Witch "Crazes"; Inquisition Trials and Their Documents; Denunciations; Witness Testimony and the Constitutus; The Defensive Phase; Trial Outcomes

Unearthing the True in the False2 Blackened Fingernails and Bones in the Bedclothes; Evidence in Maleficio Denunciations; Signs of the Supernatural; 3 Appeals to Experts; Healers as Experts; Choosing Healers; Religious Pressures; Learned Philosophy and Vernacular Approaches; 4 "Spiritual Remedies" for Possession and Witchcraft; Exorcism in Early Modern Europe; Consultations of Healing Clerics; The Social Geography of Exorcist Consultations; Exorcist Qualifications and Training; Diagnostic Practices of Venetian Clerics; Treating Supernatural Illness: Segnar, Benedir, and Scongiurar

Material Elements in Spiritual RemediesThe Diminishment of the Demonic; 5 The Exorcist's Library; Diagnosing Supernatural Illness; Distinguishing Possession from Witchcraft; Manuals and Material Cures; Exorcist Theory and Practice; 6 "Not My Profession": Physicians' Naturalism; Training and Regulation of Venetian Physicians; Treatment by Physicians in Early Modern Venice; Physicians in Maleficio Trials; 7 Physicians as Believers; Physicians and the Miraculous; Physicians as "Ordinary" Witnesses; Sources of Medical Naturalism; The Limits of Naturalism; Professional Dimensions

Clarity and Ambiguity8 The Inquisitor's Library; Sources of Inquisitorial Policy and Procedure; The Watchful Eye of Rome; An Instruction on Witchcraft; Advice and the Venetians; Conclusion; 9 "Nothing Proven":; Medical Expertise; Exorcists; Wise Women; Physicians; Reputations and Witchcraft Materials; Trial Outcomes: The Dog that Did Not Bark; Theory versus Practice; Inquisitorial and Vernacular Views of the Supernatural; Conclusion; Changes in Conceptions of Nature and the Supernatural; Cultural Continuities; Theory and Practice in the Pursuit of Maleficio; The Idea of Disenchantment

Looking ForwardAppendix I; Appendix II; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-281) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-22880-8

1-139-12518-4

1-283-29639-X

1-139-12377-7

9786613296399

1-139-11802-1

1-139-12868-X

1-139-11366-6

0-511-89488-0

1-139-11585-5

OCLC:

769341834