400-Year Anniversary of the Auto-De-Fe Vs

400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in the Auto-de-Fe of 1610 -- Part I By Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. [1] [email protected]

Contents: Witch Hunts in Early Modern Europe Witch Hunts in Basque Country Narrative of Auto-de-Fe Reconstruction of Recent Events, Part I Acts of Reconciliation in Salem, USA Notes Bibliography

By the time the Spanish Inquisition had carried out its Auto-de-Fe and tour of terror in Logroño, Spain, 13 women and 6 men from the small town of Zugarramurdi [1] , Navarra, had been jailed, accused of being "witches", tortured, and finally executed. Another 32 victims, including Jews, Moslems, and Protestants, were given sentences ranging from confiscation of all their goods and property, to defamation of character, separation from family members, neighbors, and exile for life. In Part I of this article, we present the salient aspects of the legacy of that most horrific event in the lives of the peoples of a small town, recent discoveries by this author, activities planned by civil authorities in the City Halls of Zugarramurdi and Logroño for the balance of 2010, and ongoing efforts by this author and other citizens to encourage civil authorities in Logroño's City Hall and the Spanish State "to assume responsibility for the human tragedy of 1610, the loss of life, the violation of the most fundamental human rights, and to begin the long process towards the moral reconciliation that our modern society and its democratic frame demand today." In Part II of this article, we plan to present results of this community- based effort in the balance of 2010, with specific reference to a " We are sorry..." statement on the part of Logroño's civil authorities, that we hope will become a reality, as well as to be able to report on the numerous acts and events of citizen support for the people in the town of Zugarramurdi today from towns and cities in the Spain, France, and Basque Country.

Submitted to the Journal of the Society of Basque Studies in America, New York, USA, for review and publication on 1 March 2010.

1 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

1 Ambrose Goikoetxea is a Basque American, an engineer, a university professor, a writer, a historian, and founder of the Basque Institute for Strategic and International Studies (BISIS) based in Arrasate- Mondragon, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. Having lived and worked in the USA for fifty years, Dr. Goikoetxea returned to the Basque Country in 2004, this time to apply his engineering know-how, academic discipline, and his own experience in American society and culture to study and analyze the "social-political conflict" in the Basque Country, and to work with others to help rebuild the social, economic, and political fibre of its society today.

Witch Hunts in Early Modern Europe [Return] Witch hunts and persecutions in early modern Europe came and disappeared in waves. Initially the witch hunts began in the 15th century, went on throughout the 16th century, peaked in the 17th century, and disappeared shortly thereafter, a period of 250 years, approximately. Geographically speaking, the practice of witch hunting spread over Spain, Basque Country, France, England, and Germany, although predominantly over the latter. There were some 12,000 witch trials in Europe which produced executions, and the estimates of the total number of people killed as a result of those trials vary from author to author, but there is agreement in that the total number of deaths was in the range 35,000-65,000. Brian Levack (1995, 1980), author of The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe , used the number of known European witch trials and multiplied it by an average rate of conviction and execution to arrive at the figure of 60,000 deaths. Hutton (2001) arrived at a recorded number of known executions of 12,545, and extrapolated the a probable range of 35,184 - 63,850 deaths, as shown on Table 1. Barstow (1994) arrived at a number of 100,000 deaths by adjusting Levack´s estimate to account for lost records, although others have pointed out that Levack had already accounted for lost records in his estimate. Some authors have gone on to make some comparisons. If we opt for the number of 40,000 executions in Europe, for example, over that period of 250 years, and a population of 150 million, we get one execution for witchcraft per 23,000 deaths ((150,000,000/40,000)x(250/40) = 23,437), which is about 3.5 times higher than death by capital punishment in the USA in the late 20th century [8] , and roughly 5 times lower than death by capital punishment in the People's Republic of China. [9]

Table 1. Estimated Executions in Witch Hunts, 17th and 18th Centuries . (Source: Hutton, 1991) Country Recorded Estimated America (USA) 36 35-37 Austria ?? 1,500 - 3,000

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Table 1. Estimated Executions in Witch Hunts, 17th and 18th Centuries . (Source: Hutton, 1991) Country Recorded Estimated Belgium ?? 250 Bohemia ?? 1,000 - 2,000 Channel Islands 66 66 - 80 Denmark ?? 1,000 England 228 300 - 1,000 Estonia 65 100 Finland 115 115 France 775 5,000 - 6,000 Germany 8,188 17,324 - 26,000 Hungary 449 800 Island 22 22 Ireland 4 4 -10 Italy 95 800 Latvia ?? 100 Luxembourg 358 355 - 358 Netherlands 203 203 - 238 Norway 280 350 Poland ?? 1,000 - 5,000 Portugal 7 7 Russia 10 10 Scotland 599 1,100 - 5,000 Spain 6 40 - 50 [This number is much larger, as noted in this article] Sweden ?? 200 - 250 Switzerland 1,039 4,000 - 5,000 Total = 12,545 35,184 - 63,850 Note 1: As many as 80% of the victims were women .

Methods employed to identify, hunt, try, and kill people suspected of being witches or practice witchcraft varied, but generally the sequence of denunciation, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, sentencing, and resolution was carried. Convictions generally required a confession by the victim, which often made use of extreme force and violent means, including hot pincers applied to breasts, genitals, other sensitive body parts, the thumbscrew, and swimming. The rules to be used in conducting prosecutions and the methods of torture would vary from one country to another, and from one jurisdiction to another so that the number of convictions would also vary greatly. In Finland, for example, one in six people tried was put to death (conviction rate of 1/6 (100) % = 17%; In the Pays de Vaud nine in every ten people (90%); in York, England (1567-1640), "no torture was used, and the accused could clear himself by providing four to eight ´compurgators´, people

3 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. that were willing to swear that he wasn't a witch. Only 21% of the cases ended with convictions, and the Church did not impose any kind of corporal or capital punishment." [3] Gender did play an important role in the witch hunts, as it was fairly well spread the belief that "women are pure evil", as was stated in the Malleus Maleficarum. [4] Consequently, as many as 85% of the accused were women and 80% of the executed in Europe were women. [5] There were exceptions to this 80/20 rule, as was the case in Iceland where over 90% of the accused were men [6] , and the case in Estonia where 60% of the victims were men. [7] Witch Hunts in Basque Country [Return] One of the better known, and most violent " Autos-de-Fe ", was the witch hunt conducted by the Spanish Inquisition in 1610 in the Basque town of Zugarramurdi [1] in northern Navarre . By the time that hunt was over, 13 people (8 women and 5 men) accused of witchcraft had died in jail and burned in effigy ("reconciled in effigy"), 6 people (5 women and 1 man) were burned alive ("relaxed in person"), 10 people were given sentences ranging from life sentence, and exile to one year and six months in jail ("reconciled"), and 2 people were allowed to "renegate from the Devil and return to communion with Christians" (" abjuracion de Levi" ), for a total of 31 victims, as shown on Table 2.

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Table 2. Burning of "Witches" at Zugarramurdi, Navarre, Basque Country (1610). (Source: Museum of Zugarramurdi; also, partial list of victims appearing in Collado Publishers, 1820) Name: Description: Sentence and Punishment: Number of Individuals: Holy Office of the Inquisition (HOI), and "Inquisidor del Reino de Navarra" (Mongaston, pg. 9); Licenciado Alonso Inquisidor, main 1 [2] Salazar y Frias (HOI) prosecutor, and "Inquisidor del Reino de Navarra" (Mongaston, pg. 9); Name Qualifier [Calificador] 1 of the Holy Office (HO), Prior from the Dominican Monastery; he gave the opening sermon at the Auto; Names [to be Consultants 2-4 (PG) identified yet] Ecclesiastics 2-4 (PG) Dignitaries of the Holy Office Name (?) Alguacil of the HO 1 Commissioners [Comisarios] Names (?) Familiares 50-75 (PG) The Accused, Sentenced, and Punished (Total of 53 people) Maria de Arburu (70 "Witch" woman, "Relaxed", burned alive at the 1 years old) "Queen of the stake Akelarre", from town of Zugarramurdi Maria Baztan de la "Witch" woman, "Relaxed", burned alive at 1 Borda (68) Zugarramurdi the stake Graciana Xarra (66) "Witch" woman, "Relaxed", burned alive at the 1 Zugarramurdi stake Maria de Echachute "Witch" woman, "Relaxed", burned alive at the 1 (54) Zugarramurdi stake Petri de Juangorena "Witch" woman, "Relaxed", burned alive at the 1 (36) Zugarramurdi stake. Domingo de "With" man, "Relaxed", burned alive at the 1 Subildegui (50) Zugarramurdi stake. Maria de Echalecu "Witch" woman, "Relaxed in effigy", died of 1 (40) Zugarramurdi malaria 1 in Logroño's jail, her bones burned at the stake. Estevania de "Witch" woman, "Relaxed in effigy", died of 1 Petisancena (37) Zugarramurdi malaria in Logroño's jail, her bones burned at the stake. Juanes de Etxegui "Witch" man, "Relaxed in effigy", died of 1 (68) Zugarramurdi malaria in Logroño's jail, his

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Table 2. Burning of "Witches" at Zugarramurdi, Navarre, Basque Country (1610). (Source: Museum of Zugarramurdi; also, partial list of victims appearing in Collado Publishers, 1820) Name: Description: Sentence and Punishment: Number of Individuals: bones burned at the stake. Juanes de Odia y "Witch" man, "Relaxed in effigy", died of 1 Berechea (60) Zugarramurdi malaria in Logroño's jail, his bones burned at the stake. Maria de Zozoya y "Witch" woman, "Relaxed in effigy", died of 1 Arramendi (80) "teacher witch of all" malaria in Logroño's jail, her and "confidente", bones burned at the stake. Zugarramurdi. Maria de Jaureteguia "Witch" young "Reconciled" and 6 moths of 1 (22) woman, found exile. "Confidente". Estevania de "Witch" old woman, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 Navarcorena (80, "second in command of malaria in Logroño's jail. possibly older) and ranking". Maria Perez de "Witch" woman, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 Barrenechea (46) "third in command of malaria in Logroño's jail. and ranking". Juana de Telechea "Witch" woman. "Reconciled", 1 year in jail. 1 (38) Graciana de "Witch" woman, also "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 Berrenechea (80, "Queen of the of malaria in Logroño's jail. possibly 90) Akelarre" Maria de Yriarte (40) "Witch" woman, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 Zugarramurdi. of malaria in Logroño's jail. Estevania de Yriarte "Witch" woman, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 (36) Zugarramurdi. of malaria in Logroño's jail. Maria Prenosa ("70 "Witch" woman, "Reconciled", and life in jail. 1 and older") Zugarramurdi. Miguel de Goiburu "Witch" man, "King "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 (66) of the Akelarre", of malaria in Logroño's jail. Zugarramurdi. Martin Vizkar ("80 "Witch" man, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 and older") "Alcalde de los niños of malaria in Logroño's jail. en el Akelarre".

Mari Juanto (60) "Witch" man, "Reconciled in effigy", died 1 Zugarramurdi. of malaria in Logroño's jail. Maria de Echegui (40) "Witch" woman, "Reconciled", and life in jail 1 Zugarramirdi. Maria Chipia de "Witch" woman, "Reconciled", and life in jail. 1 Barrenechea (52) Zugarramurdi. Beltrana de la Fargua "Witch" woman, "Reconciled", and 6 months 1 (40) Zugarramurdi. in jail. Juanes de Sansin (20) "Witch" man, "Reconciled", and life in jail. 1 "Atabalero del Akelarre". Juanes de Lambert "Witch" man, "Reconciled", and exiled for 1 (27) Zugarramurdi. life. Juanes de Goiburu "Witch" man, "Reconciled", and life in jail. 1

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Table 2. Burning of "Witches" at Zugarramurdi, Navarre, Basque Country (1610). (Source: Museum of Zugarramurdi; also, partial list of victims appearing in Collado Publishers, 1820) Name: Description: Sentence and Punishment: Number of Individuals: (37) "Drummer of the Akelarre", Zugarramurdi. Juanes de Yribarren "Witch" man, "Reconciles", 1 year in jail, 1 (40) "Verdugo (Tyrant) del and exiled for life. Akelarre", Zugarramurdi. Fray Pedro de Arburu "Witch" man, Abjuracion de Levi , and 10 1 (43) Zugarramurdi. years in jail. Juan de la Borda y "Witch" man, Abjuracion de Levi, and 10 1 Arburu (34) Zugarramurdi. years in jail. Name "Lier" man (1) Exiled for life from the entire 1 Had posed as a Inquisition jurisdiction. minister of the HOI. Name "Lier" man (1) Two hundred lashes, exiled 1 Had posed as a for life from the entire minister of the HOI. Inquisition jurisdiction, and five years to the galleys , rowing and without pay. Names (6) Six men accused of "Punished with several 6 blasphemy . sentences". Names (6) Eight men accused of Punished with " Abjuration 8 "heretical of Levi " which carried exile statements". and "other punishments." Names (6) Six Jewish men, Abjuration of Levi , which 6 "Conversos ", that carried exile and "other observed the punishments". Sabbath . Name Jewish man, Abjuration of Levi , which 1 "Converso", for carried exile and "other singing prayers, and " punishments". for making erroneous statements."

Name Jewish man, "Reconciled ", with 1 "Converso", accused "sanbenito", and sent to HOI of being a prosylitizer jail house. [Judio judaizante] during 25 years. Name Arab man ["Moor"] "Reconciled ", sentenced to 1 believed to be an jail for life. "apostata " Names (18) Accused of belonging "Reconciled ", with 18 to the sect of "sanbenitos" and sentenced to "Witches", had receive 100 lashes each. become repentant "confidents ". Publication of Narrative on Auto-de-Fe Author Unknown. All we know to date is that this author's narrative appeared in

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Ginés de Posadilla Added the seven notes (N1-N7) that appear after the Auto narrative in the book printed by Mongaston in 1820; "Bachiller Ginés de Posadilla, Natural de Tebenez (sp. ?)", as it appears on the title page of such book. Doctor Vergara de "Chantre (sp?) y Catedratico (Canonigo) de la Colegial de Nuestra Señora Porres de la Reonda de la ciudad de Logroño, Vicario por el Señor Obispo de Calahorra y la Calzada, Don Pedro Manso"; he gives license to Mongaston to publish the book a Juan de Mongaston "sin incurrir en pena de censura alguna" on January 7, 1611; he was an eyewitness at the Auto, having carried the Green Cross of the Inquisition at the Auto (Mongaston, a Note, pg. 11); Fry Gaspar de "...yo Guardian de Convento de San Francisco de la dicha ciudad de Palencia Lgroño, y Consultor del Santo Oficio, ví y examiné una Relacion de los procesos y sentencias que se relataron en el Auto..."; he is shown on Mongaston's book giving "Approval" to the narrative, signing on January 6, 1611; he says he was commissioned by Doctor Vergara de Porres to examine the narrative and give or not give his approval; he was an eyewitness at the Auto, having carried the Green Cross of the Inquisition at the Auto (Mongaston, a Note, pg. 11); Cristobal de Enciso Notary working for Fry Gaspar de Palencia; Notes: 1. Architect and archeologist Juan Manuel Tudanca , city of Logroño: "We know today that those women from Zugarramurdi, and others, died of malaria in the jails of Logroño in 1610." 2. Definitions: Reconciled in effigy : The victim had been accused of witchcraft, had died in jail, and her/his bones were then burnt in a public act ("Auto de Fe") along with her/his effigy; an "effigy" was a doll made of stone, card-board or similar materials used to represent the victim at the public act. This definition also confirmed in Monter (1990), pg. 184.

Reconciled: The victime "recognized her acts of witchcraft" and, accordingly, her life was spared; these victimes were next condemned to sentences other than death, e.g., jail, confiscation of property and goods, exile, etc.

Relaxed in person ("Relajada en persona"): The victim was burned alive at the stake.

Abjuration of Levi ("Abjuracion de Levi"): The victim renegated from the devil and went on to be in communion with other Christians.

This witch hunt had been conducted by the Spanish Holy Inquisition from its headquarters in Logroño , a location selected by the Holy Office and the Crowns of Castile under king Phillip III to monitor and keep in line outbursts

8 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. of "heresy" on the part of Jews, Arabs, and Protestants, mostly, living in the historically Basque territories of Alava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Navarra. There were other Inquisition headquarters placed elsewhere in Spain, but the Logroño headquarters was special in that it was meant to monitor the Basque territories and the flux of protestants, merchants mainly, from France and England that lived or did business in cities like Bilbao and San Sebastian. Outbursts of "heresy" were not the only things that King Philip III and his financial adviser Duke of Lerma were after. They were primarily interested in keeping the Basque territories under Spanish domination, and in siphoning all the monies they could from the Jewish and Arab communities, even if it meant their annihilation as communities and subsequent expulsion, monies that the Crowns used to help finance a disastrous, corrupt, and cruel sequence of wars against other states and societies in Europe, North America, and Latin America. "We believe that Navarra, to God's glory, is free today of this [protestant] sect." Spanish Inquisitor Ybarra reporting to the Inquisicion Suprema, 1568 [ Archivo Historico Nacional (AHN) de Madrid, Inquisicion records, Book 786, Section 364].

"With regards to the true faith, the local people are good, considering that these lands are frontier with France where there is so much evil,...and that which requires mending and punishment, almost everything comes from the Ordinario, in the shape of superstitions, witchcraft, incantations, and opinions about witches without any basis." Spanish Inquisitor Morel following his visit to Gipuzkoa, 1567 (Archivo Historico Nacional (AHN) de Madrid, Inquisicion records, Book 785, Section 404v).

"May God save us from those rabid dogs, those enemies of the truth, those blind people that nail their God to a cross and they call it son, father and mother, and other thousand lies. With their cruel Inquisition they keep us bound and silent by the force of their oppression...A thousand times be blessed Alá who has delivered us from them." A refugee ("Morisco") in Tunisia, towards the end of the 17-th century (Cited in Moriscos andalous entunisie , by Epalza and Petit , p. 131)

Created in 1513 by the Spanish king Ferdinand "the Catholic ", the Holy Office of the Inquisition was to have a major role in monitoring the various territories of the Spanish Empire, and in our case the Basque kingdom of Navarra

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"reconquered" from the moors in 1512. By 1515, the Holy Office was installed in Tudela , Navarra, but by 1570 it had been moved to Logroño , a town on the Spanish side, an area called La Rioja known from Roman times for its open fields of wheat and vineyards, while jurisdictionally belonging to the local kingdom of Aragon . Its installation in Logroño, although thought to be politically sound, it was not without problems and challenges of structural and economic nature. There was a building "located next to two already existing hospitals" that was to be rehabilitated by the municipal authorities, and in which room would be made for this new entity which had the full institutional support of the Spanish crown in Madrid . Immediately nearby there was also the town's red-light district with its own building and services, all sanctioned by the Logroño municipal authorities. Prostitution was then tolerated in that monarchic society, as it is today in the nation-states of modern Europe, but anything that could be classified as being in the realm of witchcraft and heresy would not, and worst yet it had to be eradicated by force. Curiously, that building in the red-light district was considered with great interest by the Holy Office for its low rent cost compared to the high rent costs of buildings elsewhere in the town of Logroño at the time. A decision was made to place that "division" of the Holy Office in "a palace building on the southern side of the Ebro river, a humid and unhealthy place." Next, in 1572 the fiscal authority of the tribunal proposed the purchase of a fortress and jail owned by the Spanish Army at a cost of 5,000 ducados , a place less humid and in better living conditions. However, it was in 1587 that the Suprema finally agrees to the expenditure of 4,500 ducados in the reparation and rehabilitation of Logroño's own prison where already 40 prisoners had died in one year due to humid and generally unhealthy living conditions. [11] Many more people would die in that jail, including those "witches" that arrived from the Basque town of Zugarramurdi. Jailed victims and jailers alike would contract "fever" and die from malaria, a most painful death. Over one hundred years in the period 1540-1560 the Logroño "tribunal" was responsible for the death of 90 people, approximately. [12] In criminal conspiracy and total collaboration the Church and the State served each other's purposes at the expense of the masses of citizens. It was the Church authorities that pursued relentlessly its victims, jailed them, tortured them, questioned them, found the victims guilty, and finally passed those horrible sentences onto them, at which point the Church authorities passed the victims for the last time to the City Hall civil authorities who would carry out the burning (or hanging) of the victims. Still today, one side accuses the other of such savagery, and refuses to accept responsibility for their crimes against humanity. So where exactly in Logroño were located the Inquisition offices, the jail, and the grounds to carry out the Auto-de-Fe burnings? That is a question that has been asked by many historians ever since those tragic events took place in 1610. The reports prepared by the Inquisition on that event along with maps of

10 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. the city at the time had been stored in Logroño's archives all along. Unfortunately, "the building that stored those reports and maps was burned by the retreating French army during Bonaparte's invasion of Spain (1808-1814) with considerable loss of documented memory", so the story goes. On the other hand, it was customary for the Inquisition's office in Logroño to send summary reports to the Suprema in Madrid and, therefore, considerable detail on Inquisition proceedings exists today in the Archivo Historico Nacional (AHN) of Madrid, although routinely those summaries did not contain map information on the specific whereabouts of Inquisition offices throughout cities in Spain, as was the case with Logroño. Fortunately for Xabier, one of our protagonists, Logroño's City Hall has conducted a historical and archeological study of the city as recently as 2007 titled El Convento de Ebro River Valbuena that documents Small Island 3 2 (Wooded Park) findings in the northwest part 4 of Logroño where the 5

Inquisition's office and its jails 1 6 were located in 1610, as depicted in Figure 1. [15] 7 N City of Logroño W Figure 1. Map of Logroño's walled Expanded, Modern Old Wall, Develoment city circa 1610 showing exact Fortified Perimeter location of Dominican Temple and Legend: Convent in northwest part of the 1. Revellin, round, fortified tower with gate “Portal del Camino” city, as well as general area where 2. Ruins of Dominican Temple. the Inquisition's office and jail were 3. Ruins of Dominican Convent. located adjacent to the Dominican 4. Army Buidings (3), in use today. grounds ( J.M. Tudanca and Carlos 5. Unexcavated ruins of buildings where the Inquisition´s Holy Office Lopez de Calle , El Convento de and it jails were located in 1610. 6. Church Santiago “Matamoros” with plaza where the Inquisition held Valbuena, 2007). its burning of “witches” and “heretics”. 7. Church of Santa Maria la Redonda with plaza.

The ordeal at Zugarramurdi was triggered by 20-year old Maria de Ximildegui who betrayed and denounced scores of the town's people as witches and sorcerers. She was a native of Zugarramurdi, had spent her last 3-4 years in Labourd (Lapurdi in Euskera ), a Basque territory on "the French side", where she had become acquainted with witchcraft practices, and had returned to Zugarramurdi in 1608. While still in Labourd she is said to have repented from her flirting with witchcraft practices, had communicated her misgivings to the local priest, and this one had given her his support. It is significant to realize that the year before, 1609, coincided with the witch hunting proceedings and burnings that Pierre de Lancre [18] , a French judge, was conducting under the request and auspices of the French Crown. There was also fray Leon de

11 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Aranibar , the ambitious abbot in nearby Udax that aspired to the title commissary of the inquisition, who informed the inquisition's tribunal in Logroño. By then Maria de Ximildegui had been attending some of the local akelarre events in the fields and caves of Zugarramurdi and had recognized a number of neighbors and friends. Still today the caves of Zugarramurdi [13] are impressive because of their large size, archaeological, and historical content. The Holy Office in Logroño directed four of the people in Zugarramurdi who had admitted to be familiar with witchcraft practices to come down to Logroño to testify, which they did. Shortly thereafter another six people, by their own initiative, traveled to Logroño (by foot and mule, most likely) and testified, including Graciana de Berrenechea , an old woman, 80 and possibly 90 years old, that was considered to be the "queen of the akelarre" and Miguel de Goiburu , a 66-year old shepherd, considered to be the "king of the akelarre." Upon listening to their testimony the officers of the Holy Office determined to put these six poor souls in jail. By middle of July of 1609 these ten people had "confessed", one of the inquisitors had left Logroño for Zugarramurdi, all ten had picked up the "fevers" and three had died in that fetid, humid, and unhealthy prison environment. Once in Zugarramurdi, the inquisitor ordered 15 more people Auto de Fe , painting by Francisco Ricci (1683), in detained, people that had Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Courtesy: been denounced by the other http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_de_fe 10 people that had traveled to Logroño, including a monk from Urdax, 43-year old Fray Pedro de Arburu , and a cousin of his from the nearby town of Fuenterrabia. Four months later, by November of 1609, another three of the original 10 people picked up the fevers and died in that Logroño jail. Those that had died "died repented and had not changed their confessions, although some suffered of ear aches and may have showed signs of dementia." The second group of 15 people jailed subsequently turned out to be less cooperative, of which only four eventually

12 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. confessed. The Urdax abbot and his cousin suffered much torture but would not confess. According to the final report written by the inquisitors, a total of 17 people had been denounced and detained in January 1609, and about 12 people died of fever and other health disorders in jail. Six of the jailed that would not confess were burned alive ("relaxed in person"), namely 70-year old Maria de Arburu , 68-year old Maria Baztan de la Borda , 66-year old Graciana Xarra , 54-year old Maria de Echachute , 50-year old Domingo de Subildegui , and 36-year old Petri de Juangorena . Seven of the accused people were related to 80-year old Thousands participated in the "Akelarre" Graciana de Berrenechea. celebrated in the Basque town of According to that final report by the Zugarramurdi in 1998 to remember the victims, 31 "witches" taken and killed by the Spanish Inquisition of March 1611, there Inquisition in an Auto-de-Fe carried out in were 3 dozens of peoples that Logroño in 1610. Photo courtesy of National "acknowledged to have practiced Geographic. witchcraft" among Zugarramurdi's and Urdax combined population of 400, approximately, and 40% had been denounced as practicing witchcraft (Henningsen 1980 ; also see Note 14 ). Among participants in an Auto-de-Fe ("Act of Faith") there were familiares , that roughly translate into "family people", and that were men and women that lived in the various neighborhoods of a city and that worked for a town's local Inquisition office. As such, they would report on any suspicious activity, particularly anyone suspected of being related to witchcraft and heresy. Accordingly, these familiares could spy, report, and denounce to the Inquisition on any citizen, such that the names of these familiares would remain secret and unknown to the accused citizen. Generally, an Auto-de-Fe would take place in the largest public space in a town or city, such as a town's plaza, on a day of special religious significance. The ritual would begin the night before with a procession called "the procession of the Green Cross --the Inquisition's symbol-- and would last one or two days. Depending on their prestige and standing within the Church and the local civil authorities, the main figures would wear clothing, gold and silver jewelry attesting to their rankings. The entourage or procession leading to the actual plaza where the Auto-de-Fe would be held followed a established order, with the prosecutor for the Inquisition appearing first, on horseback and carrying the Green Cross. Behind, on foot, followed the accused carrying long lighted candles. Next, the Dominican, Franciscan , and Jesuit monks that generally were the main Inquisitors and as such represented the Inquisition Office. Next, followed the so-called familiares , soldiers on horseback with

13 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. lances and, finally, representatives of other local religious organizations. The description available today of the Auto-de-Fe conducted in the city of Logroño in 1610 is as follows:

Narrative of Auto-de-Fe [Return] AUTO DE FE (City of Logroño 1610, as narrated in the book edited by Juan de Mongaston published in 1820)

This Auto-de-Fe is among the most notable things that have been seen in many years, because in it participate great many people N1 [See this note, N1 , and others below; this detail added] from several parts of Spain and from other Kingdoms. On a Saturday of November began the Auto with a very colorful and devout procession in which appeared first a rich banner of the Holy Office [of the Inquisition], followed by as many as one- thousand familiares , Commissioners and Notaries [of that Office], all well dressed and very colorful, with their golden earrings and crosses on their chests. Behind followed a great crowd of the Religious Orders of the Dominicans, Franciscans, the "Mercedarios" [Orden de la Merced], the "Trinitarios" [Orden de la Santisima Trinidad], and the Jesuits, all of which have convents in this city. And to see this Auto a large crowd of Religious people N2 showed up from all the monasteries in the region, to see such a famous procession never seen before. Last in that procession was the green Holy Cross, symbol of the Inquisition, carried on the shoulders of the Guardian of San Francisco, who is the Qualifier ["Calificador"] of the Holy Office, and ahead went the musicians and "ministriles", and also part of the procession were Dignitaries of the Colegial Church and the Alguacil N3 of the Holy Office with his stick, other Commissioners, important people, ministers of the Holy Office seated at the highest point in a great scaffold eighty-four feet long and as many feet wide that had been built for this Auto, with well-lighted street lamps, Familiares on guard all night, the night before. There were fifty- three accused people that were take to the Auto in this order. Twenty-one men and women followed one-behind-the-other with their penitent badges, with their heads covered, without belts, and hand-holding a candle each, of which six carried a rope around their necks, which meant they were going to be lashed. Next followed another twenty-one accused with their sanbenitos [a plain-cloth, "sarape"-like vestment with a large red cross in front and back] on, and large breastplates [shields] with blades of reconciliados [reconciled ones] that also hand-carried candles and ropes around their necks. Next followed five statues of deceased people, representing the relaxados , and five coffins with the bones belonging to those deceased people. At the end of the procession there

14 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

were another six people with sanbenitos and breastplates of relaxados, and all of the said fifty-three persons walked between the two Inquisition Alguaciles, with such good order and lucid vestments, such as those belonging to the penitents, something worth watching. Behind them walked four Secretaries of the Inquisition mounted on beautiful horses, a mule carrying a velvet box with the sentences within. And, at the very last end of the procession, rode on horseback the Lord Inquisitors: Doctor Alonso Becerra Holguin , Licenciado Juan del Valle Alvarado , y Licenciado Alonso Salazar y Frias [2] , the oldest walking in the middle, all accompanied by the Ecclesiastic authorities on their right flank, the regiment of the Justice on the left, while a few steps ahead was Doctor Isidoro de San Vicente with the banner of the Faith, in the middle of the procession, placed in good fashion, all representing the great authority and significance of the moment. As soon as they arrived at the scaffold, the penitents [accused] were placed on the highest stands, under the Holy Cross: the eleven people that had been relaxadas , that were five men and six women, next below the reconciliados [reconciled], and the ones to be sentenced in a lower stand. And on the other side of the scaffold, in front, one would go up a staircase with eleven steps up to the stands where the Inquisitor Lords would sit, having the Church Authorities on the right, and the State and City authorities on the left, and then on the highest stand would sit the Holy Office Prosecutor with the banner. And the Consultants [Consultores] and the Advisors [Eclesiasticos] would sit on those stands that would comfortably sit up to one-thousand people. The rest of the scaffold was full of gentlemen and important people, and then in the middle of it all stood a square pulpit which was occupied by the accused when their Sentences were read, that to be read [the authorities] would sit in two other pulpits that were in comfortable places in the scaffold. Finally the Auto began with a sermon by the Prior from the Dominican monastery, who is the Holy Office Qualifier [ Calificador ], and on that first day they read the sentences given to the eleven people that would be relajadas [ relaxed = burned at the stake] by the Civil Justice, that being so long and full of so many extraordinary things took all day long until late in the evening, so that those eleven people were finally taken to be burned, six in person and the five statues with their bones having been found to be negatives [negativas], convinced they were witches and had committed much and great evil. Except one, by the name of Maria de Zozoya , that became confident [ confidente ] and her sentence was among the most notable and horrifying of all read that day, as she had been the teacher and had turned great many people into witches, men, women, boys, and girls, and although she had become confident she was still sent to be burned having been such a well known

15 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

teacher of witches. The following Monday, when the new day broke, there were already installed in the scaffold the remaining accused, the Church and City Authorities under their canopy, and everything ready as was the day before to continue with the Auto with a sermon by the Provincial [Father] from the Franciscan Order N4 who is also a Holy Office Qualifier [ Calificador ]. Next, the sentences of two famous liars who had pretended to be Ministers of the Holy Office were read, who had committed great evils. N5 One of the them was exiled out of the entire jurisdiction of the Inquisition, and the other was sentenced to pay and reinstate great sums of money that earlier he had swindled with lies and wicked things that he had committed: two hundred lashes, exiled for life from the entire Inquisition jurisdiction, and five years to the galleys rowing and without pay. Another six were punished for blasphemy with several sentences. Another eight, who were accused of various heretical postures, were punished with Abjuracion de Levi , exile and other punishments, according to the seriousness of their crimes. Another six, Jewish new Christians [Conversos], four of which observed the Sabbath wearing clean shirts and neckpieces, their best vestments, and who carried various ceremonies according to Moses' law, punished with Abjuracion de Levi that carried exile and other punishments. Still another one for singing on several occasions:

He has come, he has not come, The promised Messiah That has not come.

and for making other erroneous statements was punished with the same sentence. Still another one, for having been a Jewish prosylitizer [ Judio judaizante ] for twenty-five years, and having asked for forgiveness with tears and great signs of remorse was then admitted to enter reconciliation [reconcializacion ] with " sanbenito" and Holy Office's jail house. An Arab man [ Moro ] that confessed to have been an apostata [had converted to Christianity but was still a practicing member of Islam] was reconciled and sentenced to jail for life. Another [man] was a Lutheran , believing and having a position in Lutero's sect , was also reconciled with sanbenito, life in jail, and received one-hundred slashes. The remaining eighteen persons were all reconciled with "sanbenitos", one-hundred slashes having been members of the sect of witches, good confidentes , and with tears in their eyes wanting to come back to the faith of the Christians. Horrific things were committed, as read in their sentences, as have never been seen, taking such lecture most of the day, from morning until dark. Much mercy was used with all these people, N6 considering more their repentance than the seriousness of their crimes, punishing

16 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

more those that had waited until the last moment to repent and according to the rebellious attitude they exhibited during their confessions. As the Auto run its course and the day was coming to an end, the twenty-one persons that were to be reconciled were taken to the stands by the canopy of the Tribunal of the Holy Office and there, kneeled in the highest stand, a very solemn act took place to receive them into reconciliation and to absolve them of excommunication by Doctor Alonso Becerra y Holguin , the oldest Inquisidor , and this was done with such great authority and pomp that all the people there felt at owe with great devotion. And as soon as such act conclude said Señor Inquisidor removed the sanbenito from a witch by the name of Maria de Yurreteguia , saying that he was removing it as a measure of mercy because of the pain she had suffered as the other [men] witches [bruxos] had tried repeatedly to get her back to their sect and banner, something that caused such great devotion and piety on the part of all the people there present, and such that they gave one-thousand thanks N7 to God and the Holy Office and thus completing such act. Next, the Chantre of the Colegial Church carried in his shoulders the Holy Cross to the Church with much company and music, singing the Te Deum Laudamus , as all the accused were being escorted by the Familiares and delivered to the Inquisition so that the Church and City authorities also escorted the Inquisition authorities to complete the act well into the night. [Unknown author, as it appears in a 123-page book published by Collado Press, Madrid, 1820]

Although this narrative of the Auto-de-Fe appears in a book edited and printed by Collado Press, Madrid, in 1820 , it was first written in 1611. In such book there is a statement by Fry Gaspar de Palencia that gives credibility to the narrative "as faithful in content to the actual developments" as an eyewitness that he was at the Auto, a statement that he signed on January 6, 1611. In the same book there is a statement by Vergara de Porres , a principal at the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Redonda in the city of Logroño, giving license to Juan de Mongaston to print such narrative "without risk of censorship", signed the following day, on January 7, 1611. We do not know if the narrative was published or where shortly thereafter in 1611, but it was two-hundred years later that a book was published by Collado Press, Madrid, 1820 with the entire narrative, the two statements above, and a list of "notes" by a Ginés de Posadilla that are critical and sarcastic, possibly funny as well, but that may be curiously significant because they give us insight into a person's reaction to the Auto events two-hundred years earlier, a person that by then belonged to a different city of Logroño, a city and citizenship distanced from the outrages of the Inquisition and venturing into a modern European community. Those notes are as follows:

17 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

N1 . And for other reasons too [no other detail given]. N2 . Time off and looseness for three weeks, to eat and drink without limits. And in Logroño! N3 . We have already seen in Madrid the grandsons of the Infantes de la Cerda boast of participating in such an act, to assault at night groups of people singing, monks, and old ladies, and take them to the Inquisition jails. Incredible demotion and becoming of the most illustrious nobility in Europe! Shameful use of their legacy as descendants of Alfonso el Sabio! N4 . Such great pieces of eloquence, the sermon by Father Provincial and Father Prior! And how well shines in each one the spirit of tolerance, humility, and gospel charity! [Sarcasm] N5 . They must have tried hard to appear believing that farce. N6 . Of course! What tribunal had ever been so merciful! All he could do was to apprehend, torture, exile, confiscate, to challenge, excommunicate, to lash, to hang, and to burn those poor people. If those poor people died in jail, he would condemn "in statue" and would later burn their bones. Later, he would post their names, last names, and places of origin in big bold letters on the main door and entrance to Churches, so that everyone would know, for centuries to come, so that the impact would stay with their families for centuries, the impact and effect of his Church clemency. They should not have been called tribunals, but philanthropic congregations. N7 . It is a general belief that one must be thankful to God for everything. And sure enough, we should be grateful to God for not having lived in those days, with the likes of Doctor Vergara de Porres and Doctor Alonso Becerra y Holguin. Reconstruction of Recent Events [Return] This author had visited the "Caves of Zugarramurdi" on numerous occasions in the past thirty years, that coincided with vacations from the USA to the "old country" to visit with family members and friends. The scale of the human tragedy and the size of the caves carved an unforgettable memory in the mind of any visitor. Again in 2007 the author and his wife visited the town and caves of Zugarramurdi, that time gathering additional detail about the names of those women and men that perished so painfully in 1610. Still, the stream of historical information on what actually happened in that town of Zugarramurdi and the Auto-de-Fe of Logroño in 1610 was recorded in the archives of the Inquisition in Madrid, and then vanished shortly thereafter. Numerous writers like Monter (1990), Mereu (1995), Levack (1995), Hutton (1991), Henningsen (1980), and many others, had reported on that Auto-de-Fe, on the social,

18 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. economic, and political circumstances surrounding that event, and the statistics on the scores of victims, but nobody seemed to know about the specifics of the proceedings of the Auto-de-Fe itself, who was there beyond the main inquisidores, where the offices of the Inquisition had been located in the city map of Logroño in 1610, where the Inquisition jails had been located, whether next door to the offices or on another part of town, and where the actual burning of those five women and one man had taken place. Then on 20 August 2008, it all began to come up to the surface. Several days earlier this author and his wife had been visiting the City of Logroño, "looking for a metal plaque, a small stone monument, anything that might remind the visitor that the Offices of the Inquisition had been there, on that spot." Nothing to be found. Then, on that day, while walking through the narrow streets of the "old part of town", among old and empty buildings, we looked through a half-open wooden door and we saw three men with pick and shovel digging and clearing a small area in the shape of a room, four feet deep, with a fourth man standing nearby and carrying a roll of papers. "Please do not come in,...we are about to close this area, it's lunch time" said the fourth man. When we explained that we were looking for any signs of the old offices of the Inquisition in that part of town, he said: "You are very lucky, indeed, my team just completed a three-year archaeological study of this part of old Logroño where we report on the location of the old offices and jails of the Inquisition of 1610." That was Juan Manuel Tudanca , main archaeologist for the City of Logroño, who along with Carlos Lopez Calle , also an archaeologist, and their team had just published El Convento de Valbuena, Archaeological diggings in Logroño, Part I (Tudanca 2007). "It was malaria that killed the women and men in the jails of the Inquisition, now we finally know", contributed Tudanca during the course of the conversation. As the map in Figure 1 shows, the jails were located underground, between the old city walls and the Ebro River. Humidity and the malaria-infected mosquito population that permeated the jails did their deadly job on the women and men kept in those jails over the following eight months. Those jail sites are now once again filled up with dirt, and a auto parking area is on top of it all, "waiting for additional funding and study." Tudanca's Part II report of the study, however, is still waiting for City Hall approval and at the mercy of local politics. Additional funding is supposed to come from Madrid's complex of government agencies. Meantime, Logroño's City Hall is being run by elected officials from a coalition of 12 council members from Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and 2 council members from Partido Riojano (PR), giving them a majority over 13 council members from Partido Popular (PP). So, Logroño's mayor is from the PSOE party, but PP officials in Madrid have managed to block additional funding of both, a continuation of the archaeological work, and funding to publish Tudanca's Part II of the findings.

19 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Incredibly but truly, a second discovery awaited on that same day of 20 August 2008. Later that afternoon this author and his wife, Aloña, walked into Biblioteca de la Rioja in Logroño to do "a bit of research" and soon they came across a book titled Auto de Fe celebrado en la ciudad de Logroño, 7 y 8 de Noviembre del Año 1610 and published in 1820 (Mongaston 1820). We could not believe our eyes. This book contained a 123-page narrative of the actual Auto-de-Fe of 1610, by someone that had been a witness of that Auto-de-Fe, with the approval and full license of Inquisition officials at the time. Thanks to that document we were able to obtain outstanding detail on the names of the Inquisidores and the prosecutors at their service, the sentences given to all the fifty-three victims (as shown on Table 2 in this article), the make up of the parade of "Church dignitaries", and even a list of comments made by "clerk" in the City of Logroño in 1820 appalled at what he was reading in that narrative. It was "an accident" that such a valuable little book was waiting all along in that library, this author believes. As it turns out, it was in 1836 that the Spanish State passed a law to expropriate the vast land holdings and many of the goods of the Catholic Church via the Mendizabal's Expropriation Decree of 1836 ( La Desamortizacion de Godoy y Mendizabal ). Spain was finding itself, again, in an economically and financially disastrous situation, and government officials decided it was time to "regain its national legacy" by confiscating property and goods from huge wealth that the Church had accumulated over hundreds of years. Hundreds of land holdings, buildings, and goods, including entire libraries and documents being held by the Franciscan Order, the Carmelite Order, the Dominican Order, and the Trinitarian Order were confiscated and later sold out "to be best-bidder." Sure enough, many of those books and documents ended up in the Biblioteca de la Rioja, just waiting for someone to "discover" them. Over the next few months this author visited again Zugarramurdi and initiated contacts with key personnel, such as Ainhoa Agirre , director of the town's museum, Gonzalo Garmendia , a member of the town's City Hall and head of the Department of Culture, and Koro Irazoki , a school administrator, all members of Akelarre Taldea , the town's influential cultural group. Up until then folks in Zugarramurdi had been remembering every two years the human tragedy of that Auto-de-Fe that took place in Logroño on November 7 and 8 of 1610, on their own, with people coming to visit the caves from towns and cities nearby, but had never made any contact with people in Logroño's City Hall or local groups. I suggested to them that it might be time for Logroño to make a move towards reconciliation, and that I would like to try and visit with Logroño City Hall officials. "It would not work,...four-hundred years have gone by and neither Logroño in particular nor the Spanish State in general have ever contacted us folks, here in Zugarramurdi", they replied. Still, "I would like to try" replied this author. Accordingly, on 29 July 2009 I contacted the Office of Equality ( Concejalia de Igualdad ) in Logroño's City Hall and

20 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. arranged to meet with council member Concha Arribas and her co-worker and office manager, Maite Sanchez . It was then on 11 September 2009 that this author first met with Concha Arribas and Maite Sanchez in their City Hall office in Logroño. They had never heard of Zugarramurdi before or of the Inquisition's Auto-de-Fe of 1610, for that matter. Still, they liked they idea, they would consider it, they said. On 23 October 2009, we met again and this time Concha Arribas said that the idea that this author had proposed had been approved, that a "metal plaque" or a similar physical object was being considered, and that May 2010 had also been approved tentatively as the date to carry out an act of solidarity in Logroño to remember the women and men of Zugarramurdi. By January 2010, however, it was becoming apparent that something might not be going well. There were no calls returned or e-mails arriving from Logroño City Hall. Accordingly, this author requested a meeting with Rafael Caballero, the Mayor's office manager ( Jefe de Gabinete ), where the latter explained that a decision had been made to transfer the leadership of the "Zagarramurdi-Logroño" project to the Department of Culture in Logroño's City Hall. This author explained that he had made possible the first contact between the women in Logroño's Department of Equality and the women and men in Zugarramurdi, and that it corresponded to the women in that Department to carry the event forward. To no avail. This author explained that in that Auto-de-Fe of 1610 the most fundamental human rights of the women and men of Zugarramurdi had been violated, that the proposed events of solidarity ought to be carried forward by the Department of Equality, and that officials in Logroño's City Hall ought to initiate a process of moral reconciliation by saying "I am sorry", by saying "We are sorry for the loss of life." To no avail. It was to be "a cultural event between the two City Halls, only, without participation from any individuals, groups of civic organizations, and that the Office of Tourism of Madrid and the Office of Tourism of Navarra were already allocating a budget to strengthen tourism activity between Zugarramurdi and Logroño", communicated Sr. Rafael Caballero to this author at that meeting. Following that incredibly short-sighted and unilateral decision by officials at City Hall, Logroño, this author has contacted several community-based organizations in the towns of Laguardia (Alava), Arrasate, Bergara (Gipuzkoa), Sempere (Iparralde), and Zugarramurdi (Navarra) to organize marches, give presentations, and to contact the news media in the weeks and months ahead, in the balance of 2010, in an effort to lend solidarity for the women and men of Zugarramurdi, both, for those that died in the Auto-de-Fe of 1610, and for its citizens today, in Zugarramurdi and Logroño. That is where Part I of this story is today.

21 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Acts of Reconciliation in Salem, Massachusetts, USA [Return] If officials in Logroño's City Hall refuse still today to assume responsibility for the human tragedy of the Auto-de-Fe that took place in its city in 1610, other officials have taken a different path. Family feuding, mass hysteria, religious extremism, bigotry, property confiscation, and government intrusion on individual liberties, all played a role in the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 conducted in Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover, and Salem Town, in the state of Massachusetts, USA. Over 150 were arrested and imprisoned, of which 5 persons died while in prison, 14 women The Salem Witch Trials Memorial , dedicated and men were hanged, and one man in Salem, Massachusetts, USA, with a stone who refused to enter a plea (guilty, or bench for each woman and man executed in 1692. Courtesy: not guilty) was crushed to death by http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/memorial.s heavy stones placed on top of his chest html . in an attempt to force him to do so. In May of 1709 a total of 35 "petitions for restitution" and six "memorial to clear reputation of accused" were filed with the Massachusetts government (Massachusetts Archives, Volume 135: Witchcraft Papers, http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/archives/MA135/ ). Two years later, on October 17, 1711, the General Court passed a bill reversing the judgment against 22 people cited in the 1709 petition, with governor Joseph Dudley authorizing monetary compensation in the amount of 578 pounds and 12 shillings "to be divided among the survivors and relatives of those accused." An obelisk-shaped granite memorial was erected by Rebecca Nurse's in Danvers. As recently as 1957 descendants of six of the Salem victims presented a demand to the General Court, which subsequently issued an act to pronounce the innocence of the accused. Most significantly, in 1992, the 300- th anniversary of the Salem trials, a number of events took place to remember and show solidarity for the Salem victims, including a stone bench for each of those women and men executed in 1692.

In 1692, 14 women and 6 men were accused of being witches, were tried, convicted, and executed. Executions took place on June 10, July 19, August 19, September 19 and September 22, 1692. To this day, the events of 1692 are used as a yardstick to measure the depth of civility and due process in our society. The Witch Trials Memorial was dedicated by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel in August 1992 as part of the Salem Witch Trials Third Centenary. The design was selected in a international competition that received 246 entries. The winning design by Maggie

22 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Smith and James Cutler was inspired by the Vietnam Memorial . The Memorial consists of 20 granite benches cantilevered from a low stone wall surrounding an area adjoining the Old Burying Point. The benches are inscribed with the name of the accused and the means and date of execution. [http://www.salemweb.com/memorial/memorial.shtml ]

Also, and very significantly, in that same year of 1992 the Massachusetts House of Representatives issued a resolution honoring those who had died, in response to a proposal by Paula Keene , a Salem school teacher, and House Representatives ("Diputados") J. Michael Ruane, Paul Tirone , and others. This same resolution was subsequently signed into law by governor Jane Swift , on October 31, 2001.

Notes [Return] 1. [1] Town of Zugarramurdi : A small Basque town of some 450 inhabitants (census 2008) in northern Navarra. The inhabitants suffered the coming of the Spanish Inquisition in 1610 resulting in the torture and death of the town's nineteen women accused of being "witches". http://www.zugarramurdi.es 2. [2] Alonso Salazar y Frias, Inquisitor (1564-1635): A member of the Spanish Inquisition that played a major role as a prosecutor in the Auto-de-Fe carried out in the city of Logroño, Spain, in 1610. Born in Burgos in 1564, graduated in law from the University of Salamanca, became Procurador (attorney and legal counselor) of the Spanish Church in Rome, and was elected Inquisidor. On his first assignment as Inquisidor he partcipated in the Logroño Auto-de-Fe, and sent to the Suprema court in the Basque territories of Alava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Navarra (1610-1614). Significantly, it was his critique of the Inquisition's conduct that ultimately got the Church to suspend almost totally the burning of "witches" and "heretics" in Spain and its colonies. Ainhoa AROZAMENA AYALA. http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/120441 . The merit of Salazar's subsequent activity and his critical view of the Church's role is significant, indeed, but it does not erase the memory of his participation as prosecutor and in the taking of human lifes in the Auto-de-Fe of 1610, in this author's opinion. 3. [3] Conviction rates at Witch trials : In The Witch-hunt in early Modern Europe , by Brian Levack, 2nd edition, 1995. 4. [4] Malleus Maleficarum : 29 editions between 1487 and 1669. This book was condemned by the Catholic Church in 1490 but continued to be used widely in secular witch-hunting courts in Europe. See also: "Latin for "The Hammer Against Witches", or "Der Hexenhammer" in German) is a famous

23 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer (Dominican Order) and Jacob Sprenger (Dominican Order) , two Inquisitors of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487. The main purpose of the Malleus was systematically to refute arguments claiming that witchcraft does not exist, refute those who expressed skepticism about its reality, to prove that witches were more often women than men, and to educate magistrates on the procedures that could find them out and convict them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum 5. [5] Witchcraft directed against women, mostly : Gender did play an important role in the witch hunts, as it was fairly well spread the belief that "women are pure evil", as was stated in the Malleus Maleficarum. Consequently, as many as 85% of the accused were women and 80% of the executed in Europe were women. Barstow, Anne Llenwellyn (1994), Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts , San Francisco, Pandora, p. 23; also Jenny Gibbons (1998), "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt", in http//:web.archive.org/web/20070203210023/cha in the Pomegranate #5, Lammas 1998 [check this internet reference!]. 6. [6] Witchcraft in Iceland : 90% of the victims accused of witchcraft were men. Jenny Gibbons (1998), "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt", in http//:web.archive.org/web/20070203210023/cha in the Pomegranate #5, Lammas 1998 [check this internet reference!]. 7. [7] Witchcraft in Estonia : 60% of the victims accused of witchcraft were men. Maia Madar, Estonia I: Werewolves and Poisoners, pp. 257-272. 8. [8] Number of capital punishment executions in the USA : ..."1057 executions over 30 years, compared to some 90 million deaths over the same period". Also, "The methods of execution and the crimes subject to the penalty vary by jurisdiction and have varied widely throughout time. Some jurisdictions have banned it, others have suspended its use, but others are trying to expand its applicability. There were 37 executions in 2008. That is the lowest number since 1994 (largely due to lethal injection litigation). There were 52 executions in the United States in 2009, 51 by lethal injection and 1 by electric chair (Virginia). Texas executed the largest number, 24, followed by Alabama with 6; Ohio 5; Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia 3; Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee 2; and Missouri and Indiana (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States ). 9. [9] Number of capital punishement executions in China : ..."an estimated 4,000 executions per year, with a population of 1.2 billion and a life expectancy of 73 years..." [Internet, verify this].

24 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

10. [10] An early definition of Bruxa (Witch): It was in 1611 that an early definition of "witch" appears in the Tesoro de la Real Lengua Castellana : "Bruxa, a certain type of lost and devilish people, that having lost their fear of God, offer their bodies...", and in Spanish: "BRUXA o bruxo, cierto genero de gente perdida y endiablada, que perdido el temor de Dios, ofrecen sus cuerpos y sus almas al Diablo a trueco de una libertad viciosa y libidinosa, y unas veces causando en ellos un profundisimo sueño, les representa en la imaginacion, ir a partes ciertas y hacer cosas particulares que despues de despertar nos se pueden persuadir, sino que realmente se hallaron en aquellos lugares e hicieron lo que el Demonio pudo hacer sin tomarles a ellos por instrumento. Otras veces realmente y con efecto les lleva a parte , donde hacen sus juntas, y el Demonio les aparece en diversas figuras, a quien dan la Obediencia, renegando de la SANTA FE que recibieron en el bautismo y haciendo cosas abominables y sacrilegas." Source: Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesoro_de_la_lengua_castellana_o_espa%C3%B1 ola 11. [11] Logroño´s prison used by the Spanish Inquisition : In 1587 the Inquisition Suprema agrees to spend 4,500 ducados to rehabilitate and use Logroño´s own municipal prison, a place where already some 40 prisoners had died in one year due to unhealthy conditions, and not so much due to torture practices. ( Archivos Historico Nacional de Madrid (AHN), Inquisition records, Book 787, Sections ("folios") 182-184v; Book 328, Sections 340v-341, 16 May 1587). 12. [12] The Logroño Tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition (1540-1640): As related by W. Monter, Frontiers of Heresy , 1990, pgs. 175-177. 13. [13] Caves of Zugarramurdi : See photos in: http://www.definde.com/Web/Navarra/Est_Turismo/NavarraNaturalCuevas.as px 14. [14] Zugarramurdi Witchcraft and the Inquisitiont : Gustav Henningsen is the author of The Witches´ Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition , Reno, 1980, Chapters 2, 4, and 8; also its Spanish translation El Abogado de las Brujas: Brujeria Vasca e Inquisicion, Alianza, Madrid, 1983; this same author has published a more detailed version of Chapter 2 titled "The victims of Zugarramurdi: the Origen of a process of Witchcraft" in Saioak, Revista de Estudios Vascos , 2 (1978), pp. 182-195. 15. [15] Archeological studies of El Convento de Valbuena : As recently as 2007 Logroño´s City Hall has completed two historical and archeological studies: (1) a study of the Dominican Convent and its adjacent Temple documented in its report titled El Convento de Valbuena , ISBN 978-84-

25 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

934402-0-6, and (2) a study of the site adjacent to the convent that contains archeological remains of the Inquisition´s offices and its jail to be titled Informe Arqueologico de la Inquisicion and to be published "sometime in 2008-2010." "We know now that the Inquisition´s offices were located in a building and area that existed between the Dominican Convent of Valbuena and the Rebellin tower ("cubo de Rebellin"), on the northwest side of Logroño´s old wall perimeter,...and that it was malaria that the Zugarramurdi victims and other contracted and died of as a result of the humid and insect-infested jails of the Inquisition,...our historical and archeological work has been completed and it is now up to City Hall to publish the second study, hopefully within the next year or two." (personal interview of the main archaeologist Juan Manuel Tudanca by A. Goikoetxea and Aloña Altuna in Logroño on 26 August 2008). 16. [18] Pierre de Lancre (1553-1631): Was the French judge of Bordeaux who conducted a massive witch-hunt in Labourd, and was directly responsible as main prosecutor for the death of 200 women and men in the Basque town of Donibane (Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in French) in 1609. "His grandfather, Bernard de Rostegui, a native Basque of Lower Navarre, had changed his Basque surname for the French one of de Lancre upon migrating to Bordeaux. This familial denial seems to have influenced him into a deep hate against everything Basque. He considered Basques to be ignorant, superstitious, proud and irreligious. Basque women were in his eyes libertines and Basque priests were for him just womanizers with no religious zeal. He believed that the root of Basque natural tendency towards evil was love of dance. All these prejudices are reflected in his work Tableau de l'Inconstance des Mauvais Anges et Demons , published in 1613, not long after the process. On reconsidering de Lancre and his works, Professor Jonathan Pearl says the following in his Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France 1560- 1620 :

As already indicated, many historians have described de Lancre as a ridiculous obsessed fanatic. Terms like "gleeful," "gloating," "infantile," "sadistic" and "bigoted" have all been applied to him. But in his writing, de Lancre constantly emphasized the distastefulness of the task in which he was engaged. Certainly, he believed totally the testimony that he heard, sentenced people to death based on that testimony, and worked to convince his colleagues to follow his lead.

In his Portrait of the Inconstancy of Witches , de Lancre sums up his rationale as follows:

To dance indecently; eat excessively; make love diabolically; commit atrocious acts of sodomy; blaspheme scandalously; avenge themselves insidiously; run

26 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D. after all horrible, dirty, and crudely unnatural desires; keep toads, vipers, lizards, and all sorts of poison as precious things; love passionately a stinking goat; caress him lovingly; associate with and mate with him in a disgusting and scabrous fashion--are these not the uncontrolled characteristics of an unparalleled lightness of being and of an execrable inconstancy that can be expiated only through the divine fire that justice placed in Hell? [ Tableau , page 5, Scholz Williams translation]

In 1622, he published a second book: L'incredulité et mescreance du sortilège , that is an extension of his first one. Thanks to these books we know something of what happened in the process that de Lancre directed against the people of Labourd, because the judicial records vanished during the French Revolution." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Lancre

Bibliography [Return] Archivo Historico Nacional (AHN), Inquisition Records , Book 786, Section 364, Madrid, year 1568. Briggs, Robin, "Many reasons why, Witchcraft and the problem of multiple explanation", in Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe, Studies in Culture and Belief , ed. Jonathan Barry, Marianne Hester, and Gareth Roberts, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Barstow, Anne Llenwellyn (1994), Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts , San Francisco, Pandora, p. 23; Behringer, Wolfgang, Witches and Witch-Hunts , 2004. Binsfeld, Peter, Commentarius de Maleficius , Germany, 1622. See Bishop Binsfeld's "proofs" of a person being a witch in: http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Witch_trials/ Burr, George Lincoln, The Fate of Dietrich Flade (1891), Kessinger Publishing, 2008, ISBN0548888469, 60 pages. Calef, Robert, More Wonders of the Invisible World , pages 3-4, 1693. De Lancre, Pierre, Description of the Inconstance of the Bad Engels or Devils, 1612 ; translation into Spanish by Elena Barbarena, Txalaparta edition, Navarre, 2004. Epalza and Petit (Editors), Moriscos andalous entunisie , p. 131, Direccion General de Relaciones Culturales, Madrid, 1973. Gardner, Gerald, Witchcraft Today , 1954.

27 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Gardner, Gerald, The Meaning of Witchcraft , 1959. Henningsen, Gustav, The Witches´ Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition , Reno, USA, 1980. Hutton, Ronald (1954-), Counting the Witch Hunt , essay, professor at the University of Bristol, England, 1991. Also, see: http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/remembrance/current.htm Kitteredge, G. L. Witchcraft in Old and New England , 1951. Levack, Brian P., "The Great SCottish Witch Hunt of 1661-1662", The Journal of British Studies , Vol. 20, No. 1, pp 90-108, 1980. Levack, Brian P., The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe , 2nd, edition, London and New York, Longman, 1995. Mereu, Italo, Storia dell´Intolleranza in Europa, Bompiani Press, Milan, Italy, 1995; translated into Spanish as Historia de la Intolerancia en Europa , Ediciones Paidós Ibérica, Mariano Cubí, Barcelona 08021, ISBN 84 493 1369 4, 2003. Midelfort, H.C. Erik, Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562-1684 , 1972. Monter, William, Frontiers of Heresy: The Spanish Inquisition from the Basque Lands to Sicily, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1990; translated into Spanish as La otre Inquisicion , Editorial Critica, Aragó 385, Barcelona 08013, ISBN 84 7423 549 9, Spain 1992. Mongaston, Juan de, Editor and Printer, Auto de Fe celebrado en la ciudad de Logroño, 7 y 8 de Noviembre del Año 1610 , 123 pages, Collado Press (Imprenta de Collado), Madrid, 1820; Notes taken by Ginés de Posadilla; Murray, Margaret, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe , 1921. Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563, http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199- 3896767/The-Scottish-Witchcraft-Act.html

Sibai, Tanya, "Witch Trials in Germany: Politics or Hysteria?", The Concord Review, Inc., 730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24, Sudbury, MA 01776, Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize 2002; see also http://www.tcr.org/tcr/essays/EPrize_Witch_T.pdf Thurston, Robert, The Witch Hunts: A History of the Witch Persecutions in Europe and North America , Pearson/Longman, 2007.

28 400-Year Anniversary of the Burning of Basque Women and Men by the Spanish Inquisition in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in 1610, Part I by Ambrose Goikoetxea, Ph.D.

Tudanca, Juan Manuel, and Carlos Lopez de Calle, El Convento de Valbuena , Arqueological diggings in Logroño, Parte I , 307 pages, ISBN 978-84- 934402-0-6, Logroño City Hall, Julio Soto Publishers, 2007. Valiente, Doreen, The Rebirth of Witchcraft . London: Robert Hale Publishing. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0709037155 . OCLC 59694320 , 1989. Internet citacions: Witch trials in Early Modern Europe, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_trials_in_Early_Modern_Europe

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