Abstract

ZAMORA CALVO, María Jesús. «... using spells and deceit, they killed a child with witchcraft»: The Inquisitorial Trial of María González, María Bautista, and María de Cárdenas, Toledo (1645-1647). memorias [online]. 2022, n.47, pp.42-63.  Epub Aug 03, 2022. ISSN 1794-8886.  https://doi.org/10.14482/memor.47.133.4.

The subject of this study is the trial of three women-María González, María Bautista, and María de Cárdenas-before the judges of the Toledo Inquisition from 1645 to 1647. The lawsuit is hundreds of pages long. Focusing on the tragic death of a child, I examine the articulation of social mechanisms through which women who managed to live beyond the structures of masculine authority were effectively targeted and blamed, an illustration of the discrimination, rejection, and prejudice to which such women in mid-seventeenth-century Castile were subjected. Basing my work on this rich Inquisitorial record, I draw my own conclusions and hope that readers will do the same.

Keywords : Inquisition; Witchcraft; Sorcery; Madrid; Seventeeth Century.

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