Publisher's Synopsis
Why did Italy escape the witch crazes which engulfed so much else of early modern Europe? While in Switzerland, France and Germany those accused of witchcraft were subject to terrible ordeals of innocence, and if convicted, burnt alive, the severest treatment meted out to Venetian witches was a whipping. The explanation of this paradox is one of the central themes of Ruth Martin's book.;Who were the Venetian witches? Were they predominantly men or women? How and why did they perform witchcraft? How effective was the Venetian Inquisition in eradicating the practice? Why unlike other European inquisitions, did it fail to instigate vindictive witchhunts, seeking to eliminate witchcraft rather than witches? These and many other questions are addressed in this documented study.;A picture of both popular and official beliefs in counter-Reformation Italy emerges. The author shows how witchcraft was treated as a manifestation of heretical belief rather than as a diabolically inspired conspiracy. The purging of Catholic society was to be achieved not by elimination but by individual repentance, correction and salvation.
