ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: WITCHCRAFT THE NIGHT BATTLES THE NIGHT BATTLES Witchcraft & Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries CARLO GINZBURG Translated by JOHN & ANNE TEDESCHI Volume 4 FirstpublishedinEnglishin1983 Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2011 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©1983EnglishTranslationRoutledge&KeganPaulplc Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe publishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent toinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN13:978-0-415-61927-1(Set) eISBN13:978-0-203-81784-1(Set) ISBN13:978-0-415-61926-4(Volume4) eISBN13:978-0-203-81900-5(Volume4) Publisher’sNote Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprintbut pointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybeapparent. Disclaimer Thepublisherhasmadeeveryefforttotracecopyrightholdersandwould welcomecorrespondencefromthosetheyhavebeenunabletotrace. attles Witchcrdfi 6A grdridn Calts in the Sixteenth &- Seventeenth Centtlries Carlo Ginzburg Tnrnrlatrd byJ ohn GA nne Zdeschi ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL London, Melbourne and Henley Originally published in Italy as I Benandanti: Stregoneria e culti agrari tra Cinquecento e Seicento, copyright 0 1966 Giulio Einaudi editore First published in English in 1983 by Routledge 6 Kegan Paul plc 464 St Kilah Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 I EN Set in 10 on 13 pt Palatino by Inforum Ltd, Portsmouth and printed in Great Britain by Hartnoll Print, Bodmin, Cornwall This English translation copyright O Routledge 6 Kegan Paul plc, 1983 Foreword 6 E.J. Hobsbawm, 1983 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in m'ticisrn. British Libmry Cataloguing in Publication Data Ginzburg, Carlo The night battles: witchcraft and agrarian cults in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 1. Witchcraft-Europe-History I. Title 11. I Bmndanti. English 133.4'094 BF.1565 ISBN 0-7100-95074 C'est l'auberge fameuse inscrite sur le livre, Ou I'on pourra manger, et dormir, et s'asseoir. BAUDELAIRE, L11 mort des pauvres CONTENTS Foreword by Eric Hobsbawm ix Translators' note xi Preface to the English edition xiii Preface to the Italian edition xvii I The night battles 1 I1 The processions of the dead 53 I11 The benandanti between inquisitors and witches 69 IV The benandanti at the sabbat 99 Appendix 147 Notes 173 Index of names 205