Supernatural and Beliefs Flashcards
What did Casanova suffer from as a child to warrant going to see the Witch?
Persistent nosebleeds
Briefly describe the witch
Old woman, who had 6 or 7 cats.
Briefly describe the ritual that took place to relieve Casanova of his illness
- Put inside a chest.
- Singing, shouting, laughing and crying from the witch.
- wrapped in a sheet of smoke from burned spices.
What did the Witch, and his grandma, tell Casanova would happen if he told anyone of his visit with the witch?
- He would bleed out and die.
What did the Witch tell Casanova would happen in the evening? Describe the event
- A women would appear to him.
- Came down the chimney –> whispered non-sensical words –> disappeared.
Give a quote that Casanova had to say about superstition / witchcraft
- ‘There is nothing so rare as a learned man whose mind is entirely free of superstition’.
- ‘Sorcerers have never existed; but their powers have’.
- ‘Many things become real that previously existed only in the imagination’.
Who was supposedly bewitched in Casanova’s autobiography?
- Bettina.
- ‘Writhing from side to side in terrible convulsions’.
Who was Bettina supposedly bewitched by?
- The old maidservant
- Accused of going to the Sabbath, too.
How could get Bettina get away with being bewitched?
- The things she was saying were ‘attributed to the Devil’ —> not her.
(In Giovanna Fiume’s writings) What was the witch called? Describe her briefly.
- Giovanna Bonanno.
- 75-year-old; widow beggar.
- Arrested in 1788.
(In Giovanna Fiume’s writings) Why did people go to Bonanno? Why did Agata Demma go to her?
- For spells and magic potions
- Use a spell so that her son-in-law would return to his paternal duties.
(In Giovanna Fiume’s writings) Why was this trial different from previous, typical, investigations into allegations of witchcraft?
- Focussed on scientific enquiry of the poisonous vinegar, as opposed to it being a concoction made by the witch.
- Focussing on people going to the witch with the intent to kill, even if the desired effect wasn’t met.
(In Helen Parish’s writings) When was the last witch executed?
- 1782
Does a change in the law, regarding witchcraft, always reflect a change in beliefs? Explain why this is or is not the case.
- No
1) Increased judicial scepticism
2) New standards of evidence
To contextualise Casanova, was there an apparent change in witch beliefs? Give an example.
- Sceptics of witchcraft did not deny the reality of magic.
- Isaac Newton, an enlightened thinker, believed his thesis of gravity was because of malevolent forces.
- Learned witch-beliefs lasted longer in Denmark –> in 1850, T. Algreen Ulsing declared the crime of witchcraft to be impossible.
