The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries - Carlo Ginzburg

Title: The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries - Carlo Ginzburg
Author: Carlo Ginzburg
Translators: John and Anne Tedeschi
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Trade paperback
Edition: Penguin Books 1986 reprint of the 1985 edition
ISBN: 0140076883

Condition: Second-hand. Good vintage condition. The covers show rubbing, surface scuffing and moderate edge and corner wear, with creasing and lifting at the upper corners. There is light wear and scratching along the spine, with minor rubbing at the spine ends. The covers have a slight curve from storage. The photographed copyright page is clean and the binding appears intact. No inscriptions or library markings are visible in the supplied photographs. Please see photos for the exact copy available.

Description:

Based on records from the Roman Inquisition, The Night Battles examines the benandanti, a group of peasants in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Friuli who believed their spirits left their bodies during sleep to battle witches and protect the fertility of the crops.

Carlo Ginzburg reconstructs the beliefs of this unusual agrarian tradition and follows the way inquisitors gradually reinterpreted the benandanti through established ideas about witchcraft and the witches’ sabbath. The result is a landmark study of folk religion, visionary experience, persecution and the interaction between popular belief and institutional power.

An essential work for readers interested in historical witchcraft, European folklore, shamanic dream traditions and early modern occult belief.

About the Author:

Carlo Ginzburg is an Italian historian associated with the development of microhistory, an approach that uses closely studied individuals, communities and archival records to illuminate broader historical cultures. His work frequently explores popular religion, witchcraft, heresy and the interpretation of evidence.