Historical Sequences of Witchcraft Accusations in Romania
by Gina S.
Over the past 500 years, judicial accusations against individuals suspected of witchcraft have been recorded in most continental European states—with German lands having the most numerous and violent cases—as well as in the United States of America, Asia, and Africa. In the latter, the subject can still be considered current in some regions, for example in countries like Saudi Arabia, where the same medieval iconography of witches flying “astride” a broomstick or causing animal diseases and male impotence is proposed (Hudson, 2014, 2), or in Cameroon, which is certainly not the only example where trials and persecutions against so-called practitioners of witchcraft have been recorded, even in the last 20 years.
The historical issues related to the condemnation of witches in the areas that make up today’s Romania are not very often brought into debate, so in everyday circumstances, many people are surprised to learn that the “witch hunt” was a phenomenon also represented in the history of this area. Between 1562 and 1870, 1111 cases of witchcraft brought to court are recorded (Idem, 41). These occurred mainly in the Transylvania region, a fact implied by its proximity to Hungary and connections with the Habsburg Empire, where mentalities condemning witchcraft were more widespread than here, following the Western cultural model. In Wallachia, at least three cases are known (1586, 1714, 1777), and in Moldavia, there is only one attested trial, in 1761. (Solcan, 2020, 71)
The Language of Justice, the Origins of Antagonisms, and Worldly Interests
The proceedings of medieval tribunals are the main archival sources for researching witchcraft, as for this historical period they are the only detailed preserved writings. These legal documents were drafted in Latin regarding their formal content, the official language of the Habsburg Empire—for example, “testis”, “incatta”, “jurata examina fatetur”—which designated the roles of persons involved in criminal investigations. The term “de eo utrum” introduced the names of nobles and other officials, as well as the questions of trial witnesses, and the names of the accused were also written in Latin form, with the first name and then the surname, even though in Hungary and the Romanian Principalities names also appeared in reverse order in the past.
The texts reproducing trial testimonies were transcribed by clerks in the language in which they were spoken by witnesses (sometimes the testimonies are bilingual or trilingual), in the original form, with insertions such as “salva venia, salvo cum honore” when witnesses used vulgar expressions. (Hauber, 2022, 116) These linguistic intersections, plus the fact that scribes corrected and modified the content of some statements countless times, have a major impact on the circulation of information in the documents and in some cases complicate the understanding and interpretation of data, which generates confusion both for those investigating these events and for those interested in reading such histories. Here is a fragment from a document drafted on the occasion of the trial of Mrs. András Hagyó in 1567, Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), with the mention that those words which appear in the Romanian language represent a translation from the original “formula” in Hungarian: „[Q]uod sunt anni octodecim in capillis existens [uxor Andreae Hagyó] una cum sorore maiore quadam Elizabet summo diluculo ante auroram in festo Georgii, antequam gregem in campum expellerent, ad fores stetissent, ac illa Elizabet voce alta acclamasset: witch in my bucket, in my milk, in my butter and my excrements in your bucket.” (Ilyefalvi, 2019, 115).
The discussion regarding the tensions unfolding between people with potential magical interests and groups that perceive possible negative consequences of these interests is based on a historical problem that has been addressed at least since the time of the great empires of the Middle East and, implicitly, since the time of the Roman Empire. Neither was Germanic imperial culture lacking such conflicts, while Christian culture gradually integrated aspects from all these traditions. Thus, we are dealing with a social antagonism with an impressive antiquity, to which legislative frameworks have responded in different ways throughout the ages. Of course, documenting the legal perspective on witchcraft cannot yield very enlightening results when we consider the periods of Antiquity, as the written sources preserved from these eras are not sufficiently comprehensive, or if they are, they are difficult to interpret given some differences between current paradigms of thought and those of approximately 2000 years ago, and other confusions arising from some uncertain translations.
Most often, the complaint against a person or group practicing magic was formulated by a person from the privileged class of a community, and the accused came, obviously, from the opposite pole of society. Among the most frequently accused were serfs, shepherds, soldiers, midwives, stonemasons, vagrants, beggars—many of them Roma, but just as many Romanians. (Pop-Curșeu, 2022, 70) Various harsh or extreme sentences in terms of violence were applied to alleged witches after testimony was deposed against them, often from persons much more problematic than the accused. For example, in the work “Witchcraft in Romania” by Ioan and Ștefana Pop-Curșeu, the Saxon historian Carl Göllner is cited, describing a trial in Sighișoara in 1715, to which 23 witnesses were summoned. Among them, one was “specialized” in perjury, another was the brother-in-law of the accuser, another a well-known enemy of the accused person, another was a defendant in another trial related to the acquisition of land, another was an alcoholic, another a thief—and we can already imagine how the other witnesses were selected and how factual their statements were. In the same work by Pop-Curșeu, the authors reinforce the argument that in Transylvania, witchcraft trials followed the logic of Western European elites and first appeared in urban environments to later extend, through nobles with rural properties, towards the village world. (Idem, 69) Thus, the peasants’ potential for prosperity was significantly diminished by facilitating a permanent state of conflict among community members.
Alexandru Rusu writes in an article that this movement in the 16th century, which sparked a multitude of convictions and attracted long-term legal persecution, has a role similar to Christian sermons and catechisms that sought to “induce in the collective mentality” the notion of duality or contrast between “God and Satan,” “saints and demons,” etc. (Rusu, 2016, 9) The idea is emphasized here that, although the ecclesiastical authority partially preserved beliefs and rituals from the pre-Christian world, implicitly from what is understood as witchcraft, it nevertheless retained the right to condemn such behaviors and traditions and did so only when it considered its power and resources to be threatened (Ibidem). Rusu questions here the radical level of brutality that characterized the witch trials, which often ended with the torture and/or burning at the stake of the accused. He considers as a possible answer the fact that, although the Church could very well have used exorcisms for such cases according to Christian tradition, this would not have brought the same benefits as the death of an accused. Medieval law stipulated that, under the circumstances of burning witches at the stake, the goods and wealth of the victims were divided between the judge who established the conviction and the Church. (Idem, 11)
Witchcraft in Baia Mare: Trials, Executions, and Religious Conflict
A good part of the documents from the trials conducted against healers and witches in the Romanian space come from Baia Mare (Nagybánya), where various people were burned at the stake, decapitated, or hanged. The ethnologist Pamfil Bilțiu succinctly mentions the cases of the witches Dorko and Szasari Csontine, who were executed in 1650 and 1684 (Bilțiu, 2022, 219). Researcher Judit Kis-Halas brings more information from this area by analyzing documents from an archive published by Béla Balogh, which contains data from 55 trials related to witchcraft, from the period 1636–1762. Kis-Halas draws attention to the establishment of the Calvinist college Schola Rivulina in Baia Mare in 1547, which played a decisive role in forming the intellectual class in this region, and then mentions that the rectors and professors of this institution were among the most avid Hungarian supporters of Puritanism. (Kis-Halas, 2017, 164) The conflictual atmosphere produced by the competition between the adherents of Puritanism and Catholicism is usually indicated as the primary cause of the persecutions against witches. In her study, Kis-Halas describes how in Baia Mare the same dynamic of witchcraft accusations was observed as in the 17th–18th centuries in the Kingdom of Hungary. For this period between 1636–1762, the author identifies 63 people—healers, seers, etc.—who provided magical and medical services and who were tried. On this occasion, three intervals within this period are signaled, which experienced more aggressive persecutions and involved a larger number of witnesses at trials, namely: 1660–1670, 1697–1706, and 1753–1754. (Idem, 164–165)
A letter dispatched on December 9, 1704, by István Angyalosi, a judge from Tăuții de Sus (Giródtótfalu), announced the regional council that György Szilágyi Anna was at that time in detention due to multiple accusations of witchcraft and that she was to undergo the “water ordeal.” However, those administering the locality, namely the Monastic Order of the Conventual Friars Minor, repeatedly stopped the carrying out of this test. Two weeks after receiving the letter, the council simply condemned Szilágyi to burning at the stake, without any trial or attempt. (Idem, 169)
Even if the water ordeal had taken place, no one had any guarantee that the sentence would have been different. Water testing to “see” if a person was guilty of a crime or another sin became an attested practice in the 9th century when it was included in Carolingian laws and decrees. According to Péter Tóth, the ritual, described by the bishop and jurist Hincmar of Reims, was a liturgical ceremony with strong religious symbolism, which associated sinking with innocence (the baptismal water “received” the accused) and floating with guilt. The procedure, similar everywhere, involved fasting, confession, consecration of the water (from a church or a river symbolizing the Jordan), and communion before performing the test. The origins of this ordeal are found among the legal customs of Mesopotamian populations, spread throughout the Middle East, and further with the expansion of Semitic populations. The pre-ancient version of this custom functioned in reverse: if the accused went to the bottom of the water, it meant they were guilty, and if they floated, they were innocent. Regardless of the era, this type of test was chosen for cases considered difficult, especially those related to magical practices and adultery, since the absurdity presumed by this test did not leave too many possibilities, especially since the condemned were often tied with a rope before being thrown into the water. (Tóth, 2008, 133)
In the 17th century, the integrity of the city of Baia Mare was threatened by both imperial centralization and re-Catholicization. Supported by the state, the Jesuits attempted to establish a presence in the city and temporarily expelled the Protestant pastors, closed the churches, and reclaimed properties that had belonged to the Church before the Reformation, such as the Omechin Hospital. (Kis-Halas, 2017, 168). Judit Kis-Halas exemplifies how religious tensions in Baia Mare penetrated deeply into community life, and confessional conflicts developed into witchcraft accusations. At a trial in 1704–1705, a witness stated that a healer asked him to become a “papist” to treat his sick wife, and the accused, under torture, confessed that she went to church with the intention of “putting the Christians to sleep.” In this climate, the Calvinist community attributed the images of the healers to the threats that were reverberating against this Protestant cult. (Idem, 169)
A series of trials began in 1697 and was triggered by Marci Milkó, a potter’s apprentice from Baia Sprie (Felsőbánya). He was notable for identifying his witches with the help of his cats and simultaneously acted as a “money seeker.” Although initially accused, he was pardoned due to his cooperation with the investigators. After a long interrogation, he began to name no less than 60 people from the surroundings, whom he denounced as witches. These accusations had direct and fatal consequences, such as the arrest and execution by hanging of Mrs. Judit Beregi (known as Mrs. Bódi) in 1698, who sold stolen goods and was suspected of witchcraft. Thus, Milkó’s denunciations not only opened the wave of persecutions but also directed the authorities’ attention towards magic specialists who carried out their activity in the community. (Idem, 171) Milkó’s case is typical of an opportunist who carved out a place for himself in the community by promoting supposed magical abilities after failing professionally. Leaving Baia Sprie in the same year a shocking witchcraft condemnation trial took place there, Marci faced unemployment and financial instability and worked occasionally in the vineyards. This precarious status determined him to begin boasting of clairvoyant powers and claiming he could find hidden money and treasures. When this field proved uncertain and dangerous, he quickly changed his profile and promoted himself as a good detector of witches who could not be deceived. He built his authority by offering sensational details about the witchcraft trials in his hometown and made his cats central instruments of his “expertise,” which he claimed he could ride at night and that they “helped” him discover witches. His reputation grew, but he quickly entered a dangerous conflict with his former patrons, the Némethi family, who accused him in turn of practicing black magic. Confident, Marci tried to position himself as a defender of the entire town, but the conflict with this influential family led to his arrest in 1697. The tribunal, however, apparently paradoxically, recognized him as a credible expert, and thus he was pardoned on the condition that he denounce the witches in the town. Through these denunciations, Marci considered his self-promotion efforts a success, though his ultimate fate is unknown. (Idem, 202–203)
Not all trials judging witchcraft ended with the killing or torture of the accused. For example, Mrs. Horsa, a healer and fortune-teller who came from the area of Muntenia or Oltenia, frequented by the inhabitants of Baia Mare, was investigated, exiled, and then, in 1757, allowed to return. A midwife who had previously accused Horsa of witchcraft and a seer from Lacfalu named Popa Nyikorásza are also mentioned, who were not convicted. Another seer, Istók Balázs, was publicly whipped for fraud and magic in 1753 and then released due to physical and mental disabilities. As Kis-Halas shows and as can be seen in these lines, historical sources, limited to accusations and verdicts, only partially reveal the real activities of these healing specialists. (Idem, 172)
With the intention of manipulating the tribunal, some people popularized magical practices specially dedicated to this aspect. The court considered that these generated a serious interference in its “divine” authority and paid particular attention to these cases. Witnesses were thus meticulously interrogated about details, which led to the identification of nine such cases in Baia Mare, where cemetery earth was used each time. Here is a fragment from the statement of a witness:
“I heard it clearly from the mouth of Mrs. Szakács, who said: ‘If someone is judged, they should take some earth from the grave of a dead man and scatter it where the council members pass, so that they step on it, and they should say: «May the judges be as mute as the dead man in the grave from which I took this earth, and may they judge me, and I will be free».’ She also said that, when she freed her son, she poured the earth into the judges’ beds and mixed it with their food.” (Idem, 185)
In the case of Márton Szappanos, another emblematic figure for the history of magic accusations in Baia Mare, Kis-Halas highlights a character with a complex role, more of a “learned magician” than an ordinary practitioner of white magic. He was a local politician who, in 1696, was indirectly involved in the witchcraft condemnation trial in Baia Sprie. Although his name does not appear in the original trial documents, the relatives of Mrs. Stenczel, who died following a conviction, mentioned Szappanos’s guilt. However, an earlier testimony shows him helping a witch, suggesting a certain reputation and a diverse entourage. In an investigation in Baia Mare, a witness said that Szappanos was part of a judging committee. However, the investigators explored the idea that he was the instigator or even the leader of a whole “army of witches,” whom he would coordinate or put in a good mood through music. The author emphasizes that the accusation was politically motivated, as he was a diplomat already fallen from grace, and his rivals used his reputation and rumors to destroy him. Szappanos had once played a crucial role in the struggle for the autonomy of Baia Sprie, protecting it both from the centralizing Habsburg administration and from the influence of the neighboring city, Baia Mare. Together with the magistrate Mihály Fónyi and other senators, he prepared a contract (signed at Misztótfalu in 1689) that restored the old privileges and autonomy of the town, entering into force on January 1, 1690. However, a group of dissatisfied senators, from within the Protestant Church (in contrast with Fónyi’s Catholicism), planned to overthrow the regime. They easily transformed this political conflict into a religious confrontation. Although he was not sentenced to death, his punishment was shameful: he was driven out of the town accompanied by the executioner, a sentence later eased after petitions, so that he was finally escorted by an ordinary official. (Kis-Halas, 2008, 218–229)
Trials in Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș, and Oradea
Witchcraft trials took place in Cluj-Napoca between the 16th and 18th centuries—peaking at the end of the 16th century—and were closely linked to the activity of lawyer György Igyártó. Igyártó first appeared in documents in 1574 when he was accused of a minor infringement: he was alleged to have given the vine he owned to be cultivated by someone else. The first mention of his activity as a lawyer can be dated four years later, in 1578, when he defended several people in various trials. The following year, he was accused of having poisoned his first wife to marry another woman, as well as infanticide. Subsequently, several people who testified against him in this trial were accused of various deeds, including witchcraft, by Igyártó. All persons he accused of illicit practices were burned at the stake. There was one exception: the accusations against one woman were withdrawn following a bribe offered by her husband. (Pall-Szabó, Szabó, 2021, 58)
The secular protocols of the Court in the city of Cluj-Napoca were largely lost, as were various decisions and other documents from the first part of the 18th century. Unlike previous periods, the preserved documents contain only judicial decisions and do not include testimonies or statements of the accused. Therefore, access to the direct words of the involved parties is limited. However, the records offer a valuable perspective and an incursion into the mentality of the judges and scribes. (Fehér, 2015, 34). The only complete procedural document, partially preserved in Budapest and Cluj-Napoca, is that of the Katar Kádár case. The accounting records show the costs of such a trial and an execution at the stake. The documents reveal that in her case, both men and women were interviewed as witnesses who stated that the accused caused illnesses, turned into a wasp, and stole milk. Many of those interrogated reported dream experiences with her, after which they woke up with physical signs, such as bruises. Most accusations of witchcraft appeared after the accused, often poor and marginalized like Kádár, made threats after not receiving help. Although beneficial healing magic was recognized at that time, Kádár was incriminated and feared. The inhabitants appealed to her for healings but threatened her with death at the stake if she failed. Kádár was not a passive victim; she defended her cause by citing the law and demanded the annulment of biased testimonies. However, the tribunal, convinced she had made a pact with the devil, sentenced her to burning at the stake and torture, stating she could escape if she healed those she had affected. (Idem, 40)
In 17th-century Târgu Mureș, accusations of witchcraft appeared especially in defamation trials. The accused had to pay a fine or demonstrate, through witnesses, that the insulted person was indeed a witch. In the first decades, these cases were rare and targeted especially women. An early case from 1625 involved the wife of György Lázár, who accused the wife of Péter Csetne of spreading the rumor that her servant was a witch and had made her child disappear. Both women were fined for not reporting the case to the authorities. A more complex case in 1633 involved Anna Falábú and her daughter, Kata. The latter led a libertine life and used charms, such as a green frog, to attract men and prevent pregnancies. Despite testimonies that she could not become pregnant, she was found guilty of debauchery and spontaneous abortion. The punishment consisted of the pillory and expulsion from the city, and the accusation of witchcraft was not mentioned in the verdict as the judges suggested possible mental problems. (Idem, 33–37)
In another case tried in Târgu Mureș in 1683, a man accused a certain Zsuzsa Nyerges of having killed his daughter in Sighișoara in 1676. The accusations could not be proven, but because the woman led a “debauched” life, terminated her pregnancies, and possibly performed abortions, she was nevertheless expelled from the city. Cases like those mentioned came to the attention of the authorities if a cure with plants or other treatment had dangerous results for someone’s life. The accused women seem to have carried out their activities without needing to hide, for years, until they came before the authorities. (Idem, 40–41)
Before the peak of trials in the 16th–18th centuries, the Register of the Oradea Chapter mentions 14 people (13 women and girls and one man) tried for witchcraft between 1208–1235. (Solcan, 2020, 63) In Hungary and Transylvania, witchcraft trials resumed in the 16th century. Most of the accused were healers. Unlike Western states, the trials were civil, with judges being the magistrates of cities, fortresses, and counties. In the 17th century, the witch hunt was intensified on the orders of Princes Gabriel Bethlen (1613–29), Acațiu Barcsai (1658–1660), Mihai Apafi I (1661–1690) and continued until the beginning of the 19th century, when sanctions had by then come to be in the form of fines or corporal punishments. (Solcan, 2020, 64)
Accusations against men followed the same lines as those against women: causing illness in people or animals, destruction of goods, etc. A series of archival documents from 1711 mention a group of eight men from among the minor nobles and free men of the Székely Seat of Arieș, investigated on the orders of the authorities for injuries, insults, robbery, throwing letters at the magistrates, and witchcraft. The trial took place under the conditions of the conclusion and defeat of the Kuruc Rebellion (Rákóczi’s War of Independence), and the accusations reflected the disobedience of the inhabitants of the Seat of Arieș towards the Austrian authorities. The largest witchcraft trial in Transylvania began on May 7, 1743, and was directed against 30 men, most of whom were Romanians from the Inner Solnoc county. (Solcan, 2020, 66)
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