Basque witch trials

The First Phase of the Basque Witch Trials (1609–1610) and the Auto-da-Fé of 1610

The first phase of the Basque witch trials culminated in 1610 with a major auto-da-fé (act of faith) in Logroño, where 31 individuals were condemned. Of these, 12 or 11 were burned at the stake, including five posthumously, as they had died before the sentencing.

Background: The Basque Witch Panic (1609–1610)

• The trials were triggered by mass hysteria and accusations of witchcraft in the Basque Country, particularly in Zugarramurdi (Navarre).
• The Inquisition of Logroño launched an investigation, arresting hundreds of suspected witches, often based on testimonies from children and neighbors.
• Torture was frequently used to extract confessions, leading to sensational claims of sabbats, flying witches, and pacts with the Devil.

The Auto-da-Fé of 1610 in Logroño

• On November 7–8, 1610, the Inquisition held a public auto-da-fé, where 31 individuals were sentenced:
  • 12 or 11 were burned alive.
  • Five were burned in effigy, having died in prison before the trial concluded.
  • The rest were forced to perform public penance and received lesser sentences.
• The event was one of the most infamous witch trials in Spanish history, reflecting the peak of the witch hysteria in the region.

The Aftermath and Decline of the Witch Trials

• Following the 1610 executions, skepticism within the Inquisition—especially from inquisitor Alonso de Salazar Frías—led to a reevaluation of witchcraft cases.
• By 1614, the Inquisition concluded that most accusations were baseless, effectively ending large-scale witch trials in Spain.
• Unlike in France or Germany, Spain rarely executed accused witches after this period, making the Logroño trials one of the last major witch persecutions in Iberian history.

Conclusion: A Turning Point in Spanish Witch-Hunting

The auto-da-fé of 1610 was the climax of the Basque witch trials, marking one of the last mass executions for witchcraft in Spain. However, the trials also triggered skepticism within the Spanish Inquisition, leading to a more cautious approach toward witchcraft accusations. By 1614, large-scale witch hunts had largely ended in Spain, setting it apart from the harsher persecutions seen elsewhere in Europe.

The belief in Basque witches is widespread among the Spanish populace, but the Spanish Inquisition of the Basque Region is more inclined to persecute Protestants, conversos (baptized descendants of Jews and Moors), and those who illegally smuggle banned books into Spain.

The Council of Inquisition had warned judges, as far back as 1538, not to believe all that they read in Malleus Maleficarum, the infamous witch-finding text.

In March 1610, Antonio Venegas de Figueroa, the Bishop of Pamplona, sends a letter to the Inquisition in which he claims that the witch hunt is based "on lies and self-delusion" and that there had been little knowledge of witchcraft in the region before the outset of the trials.

Thereafter proceedings are suspended until the inquisitors have a chance to gather further evidence, on what they believe to be a widespread witch cult in the Basque region.

Alonso de Salazar Frías and the Investigation of the Basque Witch Trials (1611–1614)

Alonso de Salazar Frías, the junior inquisitor of the Logroño tribunal, was a trained lawyer who played a crucial role in ending large-scale witch trials in Spain. In 1611, he was tasked with re-examining the evidence of the Basque witch hysteria, which had resulted in the 1610 auto-da-fé in Logroño, where 12 or 11 accused witches were burned at the stake.

The Edict of Grace and the Investigation (1611)

• Salazar Frías was given an Edict of Grace, which offered a pardon to those who voluntarily confessed to witchcraft and named their accomplices.

• He traveled extensively throughout northern Spain, particularly in the Basque countryside near Zugarramurdi, where witches were said to gather in caves and along streams, such as:

  • Olabidea (also known as Infernuko Erreka, “Hell’s Stream”), believed to be a meeting place for witches' sabbats.
  • The Zugarramurdi cave, which was linked to supernatural legends and accusations of witchcraft.

• Over the course of 1611, nearly 1,800 people came forward, either confessing under pressure or denouncing others.

Findings and the Collapse of the Witch Trials (1614)

• After a thorough review, Salazar Frías found no conclusive evidence of actual witchcraft.

• He noted that many confessions were inconsistent or had been extracted under duress.

• His final report to the Inquisition stated:

  "There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked about."

• By 1614, his arguments convinced the Inquisition to dismiss most witchcraft cases, effectively halting large-scale witch hunts in Spain.

Conclusion: Salazar Frías’ Role in Ending Witch Persecutions in Spain

Thanks to Salazar Frías’ rational legal approach, the Basque witch trials did not escalate further, and Spain never experienced mass witch hunts on the scale of France, Germany, or England. His 1614 report marked a turning point, leading to a more skeptical approach to witchcraft accusations within the Spanish Inquisition, setting it apart from the widespread hysteria that continued in other parts of Europe.

The Witch Trials of Hondarribia (1611): A Parallel to the Basque Witch Hunt

During the Basque witch hysteria (1609–1614), witch trials also began in 1611 in Hondarribia, a town ten kilometers from Zugarramurdi. These proceedings, like those in Logroño, were fueled by mass hysteria, fear, and superstition, with women accused of casting spells and participating in akelarres (sabbats or witch gatherings).

Accusations and Alleged Witchcraft in Hondarribia

• The accused were mainly women, though men and children were sometimes implicated.

• They were charged with:

  • Casting spells on people and animals, allegedly causing sickness or death.
  • Attending akelarres (witch gatherings) in the Jaizkibel mountains, a rugged coastal range near the French border.
  • Worshiping a Devil in the shape of a he-goat, believed to preside over rituals and ceremonies.

• Like in Zugarramurdi, the accusations were often based on rumors, forced confessions, and testimonies from children or neighbors.

The Role of the Inquisition and the Escalation of the Trials

• The Inquisition’s tribunal in Logroño, responsible for Navarre, Álava, Gipuzkoa, Biscay, and La Rioja, took special interest in these cases.
• By 1611, hundreds of people were accused across the Basque region, including Hondarribia, Zugarramurdi, and other villages.
• The Inquisition used torture and intimidation to extract confessions, leading to false claims of supernatural practices and demonic pacts.

Decline of the Hondarribia Trials and the Skepticism of Alonso de Salazar Frías (1611–1614)

• The witch trials of Hondarribia, like those in Zugarramurdi, began to lose credibility after Alonso de Salazar Frías’ investigation.
• By 1614, Salazar Frías reported that there was no reliable evidence of actual witchcraft, concluding:
  • “There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked about.”
• His findings led the Spanish Inquisition to abandon large-scale witch hunts, effectively ending the trials in Hondarribia and elsewhere in Spain.

Conclusion: Hondarribia’s Forgotten Witch Trials

Although less famous than the Zugarramurdi trials, the witch hunts in Hondarribia reflected the same climate of fear and superstition. These cases, driven by accusations of spell-casting, Devil worship, and akelarres, highlight the Basque region’s role in one of Spain’s largest witch panics. However, skepticism within the Inquisition—particularly from Salazar Frías—helped Spain avoid the scale of executions seen in France and Germany, bringing the witch hysteria to an end by 1614.

The Basque Witch Trials: Mass Denunciations and the Investigation of Alonso de Salazar Frías (1611–1614)

During the Basque witch trials (1609–1614), accusations of witchcraft and demonic activity spiraled out of control, leading to mass denunciations and forced confessions. Alonso de Salazar Frías, the junior inquisitor of the Logroño tribunal, conducted a thorough investigation, ultimately exposing the baseless nature of the hysteria.

Wave of Accusations and Confessions

• Denunciations poured in, as was common in mass witch hunts, with neighbors, children, and even family members accusing one another.
• Frías collected confessions from nearly 2,000 individuals, including:
  • 1,384 children between the ages of 7 and 14, many of whom named others under pressure.
  • A total of 5,000 additional names implicated as supposed witches or sabbath attendees.
• The massive volume of evidence collected amounted to 11,000 pages of documentation, making it one of the largest witch trials in Spanish history.

Widespread Retractions and the Role of Torture

• 1,802 witnesses later retracted their statements, claiming that their confessions had been made under torture or duress.
• Only six individuals refused to retract their confessions, insisting that they had indeed returned to sabbaths (akelarres).

The Turning Point: Salazar Frías’ Skeptical Conclusion

• After reviewing the testimonies, Salazar Frías concluded that most accusations were fabricated, influenced by fear, coercion, and mass hysteria.

• His final report famously stated:

  “There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked about.”

• His findings led the Spanish Inquisition to abandon large-scale witch hunts.

• Unlike France and Germany, where thousands of witches were executed, Spain largely stopped executing witches after 1614.

Conclusion: The Collapse of the Basque Witch Trials

The massive scale of the accusations, combined with Salazar Frías’ critical examination, led to a reevaluation of witch trials in Spain. By 1614, the Inquisition had largely abandoned further persecutions, marking the end of widespread witch hysteria in Spain and ensuring that witch trials would never again reach the scale of those in other European countries.

Contrary to the usual picture of the Inquisition, ready to believe all and every confession of wrongdoing, Frías, the youngest judge in a panel of three assigned to the Basque witch trials at Logroño, is also skeptical about the whole thing, saying that he had found no substantive proof of witchcraft on his travels, in spite of the manifold confessions.

More than that, he questions the whole basis of the Basque witch trials.

Because of this disagreement on how to proceed, the matter has to be referred to the Inquisitor-General in Madrid.

The senior judges, Alonso Becerra y Holquin and Juan del Valle Alvarado, even go so far as to accuse their colleague of being "in league with the Devil".

Some of Frías' objections are remarkable, considering the atmosphere of the times, and are therefore worth quoting: The real question is: are we to believe that witchcraft occurred in a given situation simply because of what the witches claim?

No: it is clear that the witches are not to be believed, and the judges should not pass sentence on anyone, unless the case can be proven with external and objective evidence sufficient to convince everyone who hears it.

And who can accept the following: that a person can frequently fly through the air and travel a hundred leagues in an hour; that a woman can get through a space not big enough for a fly; that a person can make himself invisible; that he can be in a river or the open sea and not get wet; or that he can be in bed at the sabbath at the same time... and that a witch can turn herself into any shape she fancies, be it housefly or raven?

Indeed, these claims go beyond all human reason and may even pass the limits permitted by the Devil.

The Inquisitor-General appears to share his view that confession and accusation on their own are not enough.

For some time the central office of the Inquisition has been skeptical about claims of magic and witchcraft, and had only sanctioned the earlier burnings with considerable reluctance, and only because of the reported mood of panic from Logroño.

It rules in August 1614 that all of the trials pending at Logroño should be dismissed.

At the same time it issues new and more rigorous rules of evidence, that bring witch-burning in Spain to an end, long before the Protestant North.