Papers by Matteo Duni
CONTEMPLATA ALIIS TRADERE Lo specchio letterario dei frati Predicatori, 2020
Starting in the early fifteenth century, Dominican theologians and inquisitors created the new id... more Starting in the early fifteenth century, Dominican theologians and inquisitors created the new idea of diabolical witchcraft, conceiving it as a cooperative heresy practised by human beings who were under the direct leadership of the Devil. These theologians’ contributions to the witch-hunt included tracts describing the new heretics and handbooks for their prosecution by the inquisition, many of which were written or published in the Italian peninsula between the 1480s and the 1520s. This paper mostly concentrates on the works produced in this time period, stressing the differences between more practically-oriented books, such as Bernardo Rategno’s Tractatus de strigiis or Modesto Scrofeo’s Formularium pro exequendo inquisitionis officio, and more theoretical discussions of witchcraft, such as Bartolomeo Spina’s Quaestio de strigibus. It points out that these texts were often intended to confute and attack doubters and opponents of the witch-hunt as much as they sought to denounce witches
themselves. Finally, it argues that these works were produced most rapidly in the early 1500s, coinciding with the high point of the witch-hunts in Italy and of the debate that this provoked, while the genre later became outmoded, and was quickly abandoned in the second half of the sixteenth century as the Roman Inquisition adopted a newer, more cautious and moderately sceptical approach to the prosecution of witchcraft.
To this day, the myth of the witch has proved to be such a powerful motif, that feminist and Lgtb... more To this day, the myth of the witch has proved to be such a powerful motif, that feminist and Lgtbq movements, among others, have used it for their campaigns. However, as to the historical forms of witchcraft imaginaries, scholars have repeatedly warned against overly ideological interpretations. They have stressed, in particular, that in order to understand past imaginaries, semantic forms and intertextual connections need to be investigated in depth, and the links between bodily phenomena and socio-cultural interpretations have to be analysed in their respective historical contexts. With such caveats in mind, it is worth to take a fresh look at the gendered dimensions of historical witch imaginaries. The case-studies in this thematic issue of «Genesis» propose to re-read literary texts of the Italian Renaissance in search of traces of the witch myth, to reconsider the motif of animal-human metamorphosis and, finally, to uncover the cultural and colonial shortcomings of simplistic interpretations of witchcraft in the African context.
La fama delle donne. Pratiche femminili e società tra Medioevo ed Età moderna, a c. di Vincenzo Lagioia, Maria Pia Paoli e Rossella Rinaldi, pp. 165-190. Roma, Viella, 2020
At the beginning of the sixteenth century Lombardy was the site of some of the largest witch-hunt... more At the beginning of the sixteenth century Lombardy was the site of some of the largest witch-hunts in the history of the Italian Peninsula, mainly at the hands of the inquisitors of Como. Two of them, the Dominican friars Bernardo Rategno and Modesto Scrofeo, also wrote tracts about witches and their prosecution, drawing on Heinrich Institoris' Malleus maleficarum, rather than on contemporary tracts by Italian inquisitors, as their scope was more practical than theoretical. The two Italian Dominicans concentrated on the legal side of their task, focusing particularly on what clues would constitute a strong presumption of witchcraft. Their books included some of the first systematic attempts at sketching an identikit of the typical witch, and in this sense they went well beyond Institoris' more vague and scattered treatment of the issue. My paper argues that their emphasis on such aspects was meant to counter widespread contemporary critiques and opposition to the witch-hunt not only by demonstrating the reality of witchcraft, but especially by setting its prosecution on a legally unassailable foundation.
The Routledge History of Witchcraft, edited by Johannes Dillinger, 2020
Doubting Christianity: the Church and Doubt, ed. by Frances Andrews, Charlotte Methuen and Andrew Spicer, 2016
The theory of diabolical witchcraft attracted serious doubts from its first formulation early in ... more The theory of diabolical witchcraft attracted serious doubts from its first formulation early in the fifteenth century. This essay focuses on the writings of a few lay jurists and lawyers who rejected the witch-hunters' claim that witchcraft was made possible by the Devil's ability to operate physically in the world, and argued instead that such acts as consorting sexually with demons, or being carried through the air to the Sabbat, were visions and dreams produced by the Devil. In this heated debate, both doubters and believers frequently crossed their respective disciplinary boundaries as they sought to prove their point. The essay analyses the works of lawyers who confuted the witch-hunters' interpretation of key biblical passages, using them to demonstrate that witchcraft was physically impossible, and that believing otherwise was unsound from both a legal and a religious point of view. It argues that their specific contribution was notable both for its content, as a particularly radical attack on demonological theories, and in itself, as an explicit challenge to ecclesiastical hegemony in the discourse on metaphysics. It concludes that their doubts had a significant, if belated, impact on the Roman Inquisition's policy vis-à-vis witchcraft.
Werewolf Histories, edited by Willem de Blécourt - Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
What about some Good Wether? Witches and Werewolves in Sixteenth-Century Italy
This paper focuse... more What about some Good Wether? Witches and Werewolves in Sixteenth-Century Italy
This paper focuses on one hitherto unknown document from the archive of the Inquisition of Modena. In 1518 the noted demonologist Bartolomeo Spina (c. 1475-1546), then at the head of the local tribunal, received testimonies concerning one, very unusual male witch. A man from a nearby village was known for falling into a trance-like state closely resembling death, and was apparently also seen turning into a wolf and attacking a flock of wethers. Skeptical about the reliability of such reports, Spina decided not to investigate further, and thus the dossier did not develop into a full-blown trial. Even in its interrupted state, however, this case stands out as a very rare indication of the existence of local traditions on werewolves, and as an even rarer, tantalizing suggestion of the possible association between ecstasies and shapeshifting. The paper aims first to explore the meaning of such beliefs in the Modenese and northern Italian context of the time by connecting them with the characteristics of the “ride”, or “game” – two local names for the witches’ Sabbath. It then seeks to determine whether this case can really contribute valuable new evidence for the analysis of the myth of the wolf-man and of its implications, such as its supposed shamanistic core.
Représentation et identité en Italie et en Europe (XVe-XIXe siècle), 2003
Cuckoldry, Impotence and Adultery in Europe (15th-17th century), edited by Sara F. Matthews-Grieco, Farnham, Surrey - Burlington, VT, Ashgate, pp. 85-101, 2014
Impotence, Witchcraft, and Politics: A Renaissance Case
The belief that sexual impotence cou... more Impotence, Witchcraft, and Politics: A Renaissance Case
The belief that sexual impotence could be provoked by sorcery was fully acknowledged by canon law, which in such cases admitted the annulment of a unconsummated marriage. As of the mid-15th century, the fear that human sexuality was under attack from witches seems to increase, reaching its apex in the Malleus maleficarum (1486). In those same years, bewitchment of the “vis coeundi” was believed to cause the failure of dynastic unions, such as the (temporary) fiasco of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza with Isabella of Aragon (1489). But such diagnoses were not accepted unanimously, as several authoritative voices rose to explain impotence in naturalistic terms. This paper shows how the interpretation of impotence as result of witchcraft could fulfill varying functions at different social levels, focusing on the debate between traditionalists, such as witch-hunter Heinrich Kramer, and skeptics, such as the jurist Ambrogio Vignati.
Per il Cinquecento religioso italiano. Clero cultura società, a cura di Maurizio Sangalli, intr. di Adriano Prosperi, vol. II, Roma, Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 2003, pp. 501-512., 2003
La centralità del dubbio. Un progetto di Antonio Rotondò, a cura di Camilla Hermanin e Luisa Simonutti, Firenze, Olschki, 2011, vol. I, pp. 3-26
Renaissance Studies in Honor of Joseph Connors, edited by Machtelt Israëls, Louis Waldman, Florence, Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, 2013, pp. 297-303
Archivio Storico Italiano, 103 (2013), pp. 339-358
Un manuale inedito per cacciatori di streghe: il Formularium pro exequendo Inquisitionis officio ... more Un manuale inedito per cacciatori di streghe: il Formularium pro exequendo Inquisitionis officio di Modesto Scrofeo (c. 1523) * La caccia alle streghe ha avuto un protagonista di primo piano oggi quasi dimenticato: il frate domenicano Modesto Scrofeo (o della Scrofa) da Vicenza, inquisitore di Como negli anni '20 del '500, ossia nel momento in cui essa toccò il suo apice in diverse parti del versante meridionale dell'arco alpino. La vasta diocesi di Como fu il cuore della persecuzione di streghe e stregoni in terra italiana anche per opera di Scrofeo, il quale, forte del sostegno che papa Adriano VI gli aveva manifestato il 20 luglio 1523 con il breve Dudum, uti nobis, processò per stregoneria nel corso di quell'anno diverse decine di persone in Valtellina, mandandone al rogo almeno sette. Tanto sapevamo di lui finora sulla base di fonti scarse, disperse e in parte contraddittorie, recentemente raccolte e ricomposte con la cura consueta da John Tedeschi in un ritratto che rimane comunque appena abbozzato. 1 È ora possibile ricostruire più com-M. Duni è Professor of History and Coordinator presso il Dipartimento di Humanities, Social Sciences, and business della Syracuse University in Florence [email protected] * Ringrazio le d.sse Isabella Ceccopieri e Laura Giallombardo e tutto il personale della biblioteca Casanatense di Roma; la d.ssa Maddalena Piotti della biblioteca Queriniana di brescia; il dott. Martino Marangon, Direttore dell'Archivio di Stato di Sondrio; la d.ssa Augusta Corbellini, Presidente della Società Storica Valtellinese. 1 J. TeDeschi, Scrofeo, Modesto, in Dizionario storico dell'Inquisizione (d'ora in avanti DSI), a cura di A. ProsPeri con V. LAVeniA e J. TeDeschi, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2010, s.v. Vedi anche M. TAVuzzi, Renaissance Inquisitors. Dominican Inquisitors and Inquisitorial Districts in Northern Italy, 1474-1527, Leiden-boston, brill, 2007. Nel Formularium fra Modesto si presenta così: «[…] reverendus pater frater Modestus Scropheus de Vincentia ordinis Praedicatorum vitae regularis, divini
I vincoli della natura. Magia naturale e stregoneria nel Rinascimento, a cura di Germana Ernst e Guido Giglioni, Roma, Carocci, 2012, pp. 203-221
Utrum asserere maleficos esse sit adeo catholicum, quod eius oppositum pertinaciter defendere omn... more Utrum asserere maleficos esse sit adeo catholicum, quod eius oppositum pertinaciter defendere omnino sit hereticum («Si dimostra che affermare che gli stregoni esistono è una proposizione così cattolica, che sostenere ostinatamente il contrario è del tutto eretico»).
News by Matteo Duni
Modena, 27 October 2023 and online
This international conference, organized by Matteo Duni (Syrac... more Modena, 27 October 2023 and online
This international conference, organized by Matteo Duni (Syracuse University Florence), Matteo Al Kalak (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia) and Renata Bertoli (Centro internazionale di cultura Giovanni Pico della Mirandola), seeks to address both the unique character of the witch-hunt at Mirandola (1522-23), and the peculiar role of the local lord, Giovan Francesco Pico, in it. While witch-hunting in Italy was mostly confined to the Alpine regions, this particular mass persecution was the only one to take place south of the Po river, and was fully endorsed by Pico. He, besides supporting the local inquisitor, wrote a learned dialogue, Strix, arguing for the necessity to exterminate the witches. His text was eventually translated into Italian (1524), the first book to be published on witchcraft in the vernacular. For more information and remote participation please write to [email protected]
Questo convegno è promosso nell'ambito dei progetti FAR "Le origini dell'Inquisizione romana" e PRIN "Digital Inquisition".
Conference Presentations by Matteo Duni
by Luciano L C Cinelli, Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli, Memorie Domenicane, Christian Grasso, Guy LOBRICHON, Annarita De Prosperis, Cornelia Linde, Laura Gaffuri, Matteo Duni, Julien Théry, Marco Rainini, Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, Tamar Herzig, Klaniczay Gabor, Isabelle Draelants, Enrico Artifoni, Giuseppe Cremascoli, Haude Morvan, and José María SALVADOR-GONZALEZ Contemplata aliis tradere. Lo specchio letterario dei frati Predicatori
Roma, 23-27 gennaio 2017
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Papers by Matteo Duni
themselves. Finally, it argues that these works were produced most rapidly in the early 1500s, coinciding with the high point of the witch-hunts in Italy and of the debate that this provoked, while the genre later became outmoded, and was quickly abandoned in the second half of the sixteenth century as the Roman Inquisition adopted a newer, more cautious and moderately sceptical approach to the prosecution of witchcraft.
This paper focuses on one hitherto unknown document from the archive of the Inquisition of Modena. In 1518 the noted demonologist Bartolomeo Spina (c. 1475-1546), then at the head of the local tribunal, received testimonies concerning one, very unusual male witch. A man from a nearby village was known for falling into a trance-like state closely resembling death, and was apparently also seen turning into a wolf and attacking a flock of wethers. Skeptical about the reliability of such reports, Spina decided not to investigate further, and thus the dossier did not develop into a full-blown trial. Even in its interrupted state, however, this case stands out as a very rare indication of the existence of local traditions on werewolves, and as an even rarer, tantalizing suggestion of the possible association between ecstasies and shapeshifting. The paper aims first to explore the meaning of such beliefs in the Modenese and northern Italian context of the time by connecting them with the characteristics of the “ride”, or “game” – two local names for the witches’ Sabbath. It then seeks to determine whether this case can really contribute valuable new evidence for the analysis of the myth of the wolf-man and of its implications, such as its supposed shamanistic core.
The belief that sexual impotence could be provoked by sorcery was fully acknowledged by canon law, which in such cases admitted the annulment of a unconsummated marriage. As of the mid-15th century, the fear that human sexuality was under attack from witches seems to increase, reaching its apex in the Malleus maleficarum (1486). In those same years, bewitchment of the “vis coeundi” was believed to cause the failure of dynastic unions, such as the (temporary) fiasco of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza with Isabella of Aragon (1489). But such diagnoses were not accepted unanimously, as several authoritative voices rose to explain impotence in naturalistic terms. This paper shows how the interpretation of impotence as result of witchcraft could fulfill varying functions at different social levels, focusing on the debate between traditionalists, such as witch-hunter Heinrich Kramer, and skeptics, such as the jurist Ambrogio Vignati.
News by Matteo Duni
This international conference, organized by Matteo Duni (Syracuse University Florence), Matteo Al Kalak (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia) and Renata Bertoli (Centro internazionale di cultura Giovanni Pico della Mirandola), seeks to address both the unique character of the witch-hunt at Mirandola (1522-23), and the peculiar role of the local lord, Giovan Francesco Pico, in it. While witch-hunting in Italy was mostly confined to the Alpine regions, this particular mass persecution was the only one to take place south of the Po river, and was fully endorsed by Pico. He, besides supporting the local inquisitor, wrote a learned dialogue, Strix, arguing for the necessity to exterminate the witches. His text was eventually translated into Italian (1524), the first book to be published on witchcraft in the vernacular. For more information and remote participation please write to [email protected]
Questo convegno è promosso nell'ambito dei progetti FAR "Le origini dell'Inquisizione romana" e PRIN "Digital Inquisition".
Conference Presentations by Matteo Duni
themselves. Finally, it argues that these works were produced most rapidly in the early 1500s, coinciding with the high point of the witch-hunts in Italy and of the debate that this provoked, while the genre later became outmoded, and was quickly abandoned in the second half of the sixteenth century as the Roman Inquisition adopted a newer, more cautious and moderately sceptical approach to the prosecution of witchcraft.
This paper focuses on one hitherto unknown document from the archive of the Inquisition of Modena. In 1518 the noted demonologist Bartolomeo Spina (c. 1475-1546), then at the head of the local tribunal, received testimonies concerning one, very unusual male witch. A man from a nearby village was known for falling into a trance-like state closely resembling death, and was apparently also seen turning into a wolf and attacking a flock of wethers. Skeptical about the reliability of such reports, Spina decided not to investigate further, and thus the dossier did not develop into a full-blown trial. Even in its interrupted state, however, this case stands out as a very rare indication of the existence of local traditions on werewolves, and as an even rarer, tantalizing suggestion of the possible association between ecstasies and shapeshifting. The paper aims first to explore the meaning of such beliefs in the Modenese and northern Italian context of the time by connecting them with the characteristics of the “ride”, or “game” – two local names for the witches’ Sabbath. It then seeks to determine whether this case can really contribute valuable new evidence for the analysis of the myth of the wolf-man and of its implications, such as its supposed shamanistic core.
The belief that sexual impotence could be provoked by sorcery was fully acknowledged by canon law, which in such cases admitted the annulment of a unconsummated marriage. As of the mid-15th century, the fear that human sexuality was under attack from witches seems to increase, reaching its apex in the Malleus maleficarum (1486). In those same years, bewitchment of the “vis coeundi” was believed to cause the failure of dynastic unions, such as the (temporary) fiasco of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza with Isabella of Aragon (1489). But such diagnoses were not accepted unanimously, as several authoritative voices rose to explain impotence in naturalistic terms. This paper shows how the interpretation of impotence as result of witchcraft could fulfill varying functions at different social levels, focusing on the debate between traditionalists, such as witch-hunter Heinrich Kramer, and skeptics, such as the jurist Ambrogio Vignati.
This international conference, organized by Matteo Duni (Syracuse University Florence), Matteo Al Kalak (Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia) and Renata Bertoli (Centro internazionale di cultura Giovanni Pico della Mirandola), seeks to address both the unique character of the witch-hunt at Mirandola (1522-23), and the peculiar role of the local lord, Giovan Francesco Pico, in it. While witch-hunting in Italy was mostly confined to the Alpine regions, this particular mass persecution was the only one to take place south of the Po river, and was fully endorsed by Pico. He, besides supporting the local inquisitor, wrote a learned dialogue, Strix, arguing for the necessity to exterminate the witches. His text was eventually translated into Italian (1524), the first book to be published on witchcraft in the vernacular. For more information and remote participation please write to [email protected]
Questo convegno è promosso nell'ambito dei progetti FAR "Le origini dell'Inquisizione romana" e PRIN "Digital Inquisition".