Popular notions of witchcraft

Abstract

In 1650 Jacobo Fracesso approached the inquisitor in Orbetello. Jacobo reported an episode that had taken place ten years earlier. Together with Guiseppe (Josephus) di Mariano, Jacobo had attempted to locate hidden treasure. Guiseppe had known of a certain magical practice, which involved the two men going out under cover of the night with a cane made of consecrated olive wood. On this cane were carved some mysterious letters, and the idea was that the cane would lead the two men to the right place to dig for treasure. Although Jacobo and Guiseppe believed that they had found the right spot and had started digging, they never located the treasure. When reporting the deeds to the inquisitor, Jacobo clearly followed the instructions of the confessors and the edict of the inquisition, and he applied the standard phrase, that he had come to ease his own conscience. In others words, like many others presenting themselves before the inquisitor with reports of magical rituals, Jacobo was fully aware that such a stick was forbidden in the eyes of the inquisitor and he now appeared before the inquisitor to come clean.