The Witches Sabbath, and The Secret History of the Basque Witch-Hunt

In June 1609, two judges departed Bordeaux for the French-Spanish border to investigate a growing witchcraft panic. In the French Basque Country, witches were said to abduct children, whisking them away to nocturnal gatherings where they worshipped the devil. Frightening tales of cannibalism, vampirism, and demonic sex terrified their parents. Within four months, the witchcraft commission had executed perhaps as many as 80 women men, and the growing panic spread into Spain. In 1612, one of the judges, Pierre de Lancre, published a sensationalist account of this diabolical underworld, shaping how the sabbat—the black, beating heart of Europe’s witch-hunt—has been imagined ever since. But what really happened at these supposed gatherings of witches? This talk uncovers the hidden truths behind these lurid legends.