Lu Ann Homza's Village Infernos and Witches’ Advocates: Witch-Hunting in Navarre, 1608–1614 transports readers to the early seventeenth century into the midst of one of the largest European witch hunts. Homza examines the extensive legal records left by the Spanish Inquisitors to provide a multifaceted and multicausal portrait of the accusations that gripped this region of Basque-speaking Spain. Her work brings updated methodologies and perspectives to bear on this important history, acknowledging that any complete picture must take seriously the dynamics of religious beliefs as well as the shifting power dynamics between institutional authorities and actors on the ground. Homza is well suited to explore these factors based on her expertise in the study of the Spanish Inquisition and its cultural development.
Homza divides her study into five chapters. Each one highlights different elements that defined the Navarre witch hunts. Sometimes these elements mirror similar trends in other parts of Europe, but often they defy conventional wisdom about witch trials. Her first chapter, “Trauma,” relates the suffering of accused and accusers alike as revealed in the legal documents spawned by the trials. Homza traces skillfully the disconnect that often developed between the central offices of the Spanish Inquisition and their operatives on the ground. Miscommunication and hysteria at the ground level produced tragic consequences for those accused of witchcraft.
Chapter 2, “Spiritual and Social Combat,” highlights the religious beliefs and social fears that drove witchcraft accusations. Homza maintains an openness to taking religious and intellectual motivations at face value while still adopting a skeptical stance toward the idea that any of the alleged diabolical manifestations were real. Many people really believed that diabolism was tearing their world apart and acted accordingly. Homza relates chilling anecdotes that show how much the trials were driven by the active participation of children. Children were encouraged by adults and their own existential fears to accuse people of witchcraft in startling numbers.
Chapter 3, “Legal Decisions, Legal Errors,” and chapter 4, “Collaborations, Obedience, Resistance,” delve into the developing legal process with a particular focus on the work of Alonso de Salazar Frías to influence the other two judges to adopt a more critical view of the accusations. Homza weaves a deft tale of the legal drama dividing the three-judge panel with Salazar, the youngest of the three, working to show the contradictions in the accusations and insisting on higher standards of evidence. Even as the judges disputed, adults acted on the allegations brought forward by children to produce violence and intimidation.
Chapter 5 highlights the “Transgressions and Solutions” revealed as the judges went public with their disagreements. Salazar began to carry the debate as he issued dispensations of grace for some of the accused and authored a 1613 report exposing the errors of the investigations. His suggestions for reform were adopted by the Supreme in 1614, leading to higher standards of evidence for witchcraft accusations. Salazar's work led to a major decline in witchcraft executions and prosecutions in Spain. Homza emphasizes Salazar's contribution and places it in the larger context of the developing reaction against witch-hunt excesses in the seventeenth century. She also notes his contradictions and inconsistencies. Salazar emerges in Homza's account as a man of his times, who could rise impressively above superstition and incompetence on the one hand, while still sometimes proving “ultimately incapable of reimagining his office or abandoning the presuppositions he inherited” (190).
Lu Ann Homza tells a gripping story in Village Infernos and Witches’ Advocates. She reinterprets this crucial event for new generations of scholars. Her research applies innovative areas of inquiry that bring new voices to the fore. Homza's willingness to take religious beliefs seriously frees scholars to hear the historical actors on their own terms. The study benefits from her deep understanding of early modern legal processes and the inner workings of the Spanish Inquisition. The interplay of official and popular forces comes through in vivid clarity throughout the text. Anyone interested in witch trials, the Spanish Inquisition, and the development of religious toleration in early modern Europe should read Homza's excellent contribution.
