Spain
Witchcraft. - From early times Spain was regarded as the special abode of superstition, and in the middle ages as the home of sorcery and magic, probably because of the immense notoriety given to the discoveries of the Moorish alchemists. (See Moors.) The Inquisition quickly took root in the country, and reaped a rich harvest among Jews, Moriscos, and superstitious Christians.
Alfonso de Spina, a Franciscan of Castille, where the Inquisition was not then established, wrote, about the year 1458 or 1460, a work especially directed against heretics and unbelievers, in which he gives a chapter on these articles of popular belief which were derived from the ancient heathendom of the people. Among these, witches, under the name of Xurguine (jurgina) or bruxe, held a prominent place.
He tells us that in his time these offenders abounded in Dauphiny and Gascony, where they assembled in great numbers by night on a wild table land, carrying candles with them, to worship Satan, who appeared in the form of a boar on a certain rock, popularly known by the name Elboch de Biterne, and that many of them had been taken by the inquisition of Toulouse and burnt. From that time we find, in Spanish history, the charge of witchcraft and sorcery not infrequently brought forward under different forms and circumstances, of which several remarkable examples are given by Llorente in his History of the Inquisition in Spain.
The first auto-da-fé against sorcery appears to have been that of Calahorra, in 1507, when thirty women, charged before the inquisition as witches, were burnt. In 1527, a great number of women were accused in Navarre of the practice of sorcery, through the information of two girls, one of eleven, the other only of nine years old, who confessed before the royal council of Navarre that they had been received into the sect of the jurginas, and promised on condition of being pardoned, to discover all the women who were implicated in these practices.
The moment the attention of the inquisition was thus drawn to the crime of sorcery, the prevalence of this superstition in the Basque provinces became notorious; and Charles V., rightly judging that it was to be attributed more to the ignorance of the population of those districts than to any other cause, directed that preachers should be sent to instruct them.
The first treatise in the Spanish language on the subject of sorcery, by a Franciscan monk named Martin de Castanaga, was printed under approbation of the bishop of Calahorra in 1529. About this time the zeal of the inquisitors of Saragossa was excited by the appearance of many witches who were said to have come from Navarre, and to have been sent by their sect as missionaries to make disciples of the women of Arragon. This sudden witchpersecution in Spain appears to have had an influence on the fate of the witches of Italy. Pope Adrian IV., who was raised to the papal chair in 1522, was a Spanish bishop, and had held the office of inquisitor-general in Spain. In the time of Julius II., who ruled the papal world from 1503 to 1513, a sect of witches and sorcerers had been discovered in Lombardy, who were extremely numerous, and had their Sabbaths and all the other abominations of the continental witches. The proceedings against them appear to have been hindered by a dispute between the inquisitors and the ecclesiastical judges who claimed the jurisdiction in such cases. On the 20th July, 1523, pope Adrian issued a bull against the crime of sorcery, placing it in the sole jurisdiction of the inquisitors. This bull perhaps gave the new impulse to the prosecution of the witches in Spain.
Of the cases which followed during more than a century, the most remarkable was that of the auto-da-fé at Logrono on the 7th and 8th of November, 1610, which arose in some measure from the visitation of the French Basque province in the preceding year. The valley of Bastan is situated at the foot of the Pyrenees, on the French Frontier, and at no great distance from Labourd. It was within the jurisdiction of the inquisition established at Logrono in Castille. The mass of the population of this valley appear to have been sorcerers, and they held their meetings or Sabbaths at a place called Zugarramurdi.
A woman who was condemned implicated a number of other persons. All the persons arrested on this occasion agreed in their description of the Sabbath, and of the practices of the witches, which in their general features bore a close resemblance to those of the witches of Labourd. The usual place of meeting was known here, as in Labourd, by the popular name of Aquelarre, a Gascon word, signifying the meadow of the goat. Their ordinary meetings were held on the nights of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, every week, but they had grand feasts on the principal holidays of the church, such as Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, etc., All these feasts appear to have been fixed by the Christian teachers at the period of older pagan festivals. The accounts of their Sabbaths are entirely similar to those given of such meetings elsewhere. They danced, sang took part in the most horrible orgies, and came into personal contact with Satan.
The auto-da-fé of Logrono, as far as it related to the sect of the sorcerers of Zugarramurdi, caused a great sensation, and brought the subject of witchcraft under the consideration of the Spanish theologians. These were so far more enlightened than the body of their contemporaries in other countries, that they generally leant to the opinion that witchcraft was a mere delusion, and that the details of Spain the confessions of the miserable creatures who were its victims were all creations of the imagination. They were punished because their belief was a heresy, contrary to the doctrines of the church. Llorente gives the abstract of a treatise on this subject by a Spanish ecclesiastic named Pedro de Valentia, addressed to the grand inquisitor in consequence of the trial at Logrono in 1610, and which remained in manuscript among the archives of the inquisition.
This writer adopts entirely the opinion that the acts confessed by the witches were imaginary; he attributed them partly to the methods in which the examinations were carried on, and to the desire of the ignorant people examined to escape by saying what seemed to please their persecutors, and partly to the effects of the ointments and draughts which they had been taught to use, and which were composed of ingredients that produced sleep , and acted upon the imagination and the mental faculties. Spiritualism.-A writer in the Religious Philosophical Journal says:-" The language that furnishes the largest number of periodicals devoted to the dissemination of the doctrine and philosophy of modern Spiritualism, is the Spanish. This statement will be somewhat surprising to many of our readers, for we have been accustomed to look upon the Spaniards as non-progressive and conservative in the extreme. Spain, until a few years, has always been intolerant of any religions except the Roman Catholic, and was the latest of European nations to yield to the spirit . of religious progress. Protestantism has with the greatest difficulty obtained a foothold in that country within the last few years, but it has been attended with annoying restrictions and persecutions, while its progress has been exceedingly slow and discouraging.
Spiritualism in Spain commenced, as in many other lands, with a series of disturbances, which took place in a family residing in the outskirts of Cadiz. Stonethrowing, bellringing, and other preternatural annoyances were the first means of awakening attention to the subject, and as they occurred at the house of a Spanish gentleman who had just returned from the United States, full of the marvels of "the Rochester knockings," circles were at once formed, intelligent responses by rappings obtained, and a foot -hold gained, upon which the edifice of Spiritual progress was upreared. So rapidly did the interest thus awakened spread, that the first promulgators were soon lost sight of, and as early as 1854, a society was formed at Cadiz , which was organised for the sole purpose of publishing the comthe communications received from the Spirits during two " during two preceding years. From 1854 to 1860, Spiritualism spread through the principal towns and villages of Spain in the usual fashion. Circles were held in private families, and an endless number of societies' were formed and diswere formed and dissolved, according to the exigencies of the time. One of the first public events of note in connection with Spanish Spiritualism, was of so remarkable a character, that it , that it deserves special mention. This was no other than an Auto-da-fé, the only difference between the occasion under consideration and the fiery executions of olden times being, times being, that the victims were formerly human beings, whereas in the present instance, they were all the books, pamphlets, and works of a Spiritualistic character that could be procured at that period of the movement. Amongst the . Amongst the pile thus offered up on the altar of religious enlightenment , were the writings of Kardec, Dufau, Grand, and Guldenand Guldenstubbé; some copies of English and American Spiritual papers, and a large collection of tracts issued by the Spiritby the Spiritualists of Spain. This memorable scene occurred on the morning of the 9th of October, 1861, at the Esplanade Barcelona.
Among the well-know residents of Barcelona, was a Señor Navarez, whose daughter, Rosa, had for many years been the subject of spasmodic attacks, called by the Catholic clergy the obsession of demons "-by the medical faculty, an aggravated condition of epilepsy. Within two years after the Auto-da-fé, Rosa was pronounced entirely cured, by the magnetic passes of a gentleman who was the medium of the private circle held in the city. Shortly after this, Barcelona could boast of its wellapproved Spiritual organs, numerous societies for investi-- gation, and several mediums, who from their exclusive positions in private life, would object to their names being mentioned. The journal whs published by Señor Alcantara, and was warmly supported by the Viscount de Torres Solanot, and numbers of other leaders of science and literature in Spain. By this publication the opponents of Spiritualism were amazed to learn of the immense progress the cause was making, and the number of distinguished persons who assembled nightly in circles to promote investigation. A circular calling the attention of the Spanish public to the phenomena of Spiritualism was published in 1875 by Viscount Solanot. The authors of this circular, met with no response worthy of their fraternal intentions. It might have been difficult to define exactly what the Spanish brethren proposed to do or wished others to unite with them in doing; certain it is, that no tangible results could be expected to follow from a very transcendental address to the scattered ranks of a movement, whose motto might well be Liberty, Inequality, and Disintegration: "Our Spanish friends mean well, but is it possible there can be unity enough amongst them to send a delegation to America ? asked one of the shrewdest on perusing this grandiloquent circular. Nothing daunted by the impossibility of getting an international representation worthy of the cause at Philadelphia, the energetic Viscount Solanot again agitated the subject previous to the Paris Exposition of 1878. In the articles written for El Criterio on this proposition, the Viscount names amongst those societies of Spiritualists prepared to promote an International representation, "La Federation Espirita," of Belgium; "The British National Association of Spiritualists," England; "La Sociedad Central Espirita," of the Republic of Mexico; and "El Central General del Espiritismo." Notice is also taken, and with a hope of its ultimate success, of the attempt to form a national association and unite all the discordant elements under the one broad banner of simple Spiritualism. دو
Magnetism and Mediumistic Science. -In Spain as in Italy, a considerable amount of attention has been directed towards the unfoldment of Mediumistic power by means of Magnetism. Magnetic Societies abounded in Spain up to within the last few years, when many elements of internal discord prevailed in the ranks, and succeeded in dissolving the bonds which had united flourishing associations. Amongst the amateur mesmerists of Spain may be mentioned Don Juan Escudero, of Madrid, a gentleman who having witnessed some experiments in "animal magnetism" in California, tried its effect in his own family with success.. 66
Among the numerous circles or groups" formed in the different parts of Spain for the study of Spiritualism and its phenomena, was one of long standing at Tarragona called The Christian Circle," Quite recently the President of this circle sent the following communication to the Revue Spirite of Paris:-"The convict prison here in Tarragona has 800 inmates sentenced to forced labour By some means, Spiritualistic books have been introduced among the prisoners. The circulation of these books among them has been the means of bringing seventy or eighty of them to be believers in our doctrine. These converts have ceased to regard their miserable position Spain "Not from their old point of view; they no longer entertain schemes of revolt against the authorities. They endure their lot with resignation under the influence of the teaching that this world is but a preliminary stage to another, where, if repentant of the ill they have done, and seeking the good of others, they will be better off than here. long since one of these men died; at his death he declined. the established offices of the prison priest, on the ground that he was a Spiritualist and did not need them. The priest then discovered that Spiritualism was a subject of discussion with many of the prisoners. He made a representation of the matter to his bishop, who made formal complaint of it to the commandant of the prison, and the commandant made an investigation. In the end a particular prisoner was selected for punishment in the form of an additional weight of fetters. This coming to the knowledge of the Spiritualists of Tarragona, Barcelona, and Lerida, they had a meeting upon the subject and delegated one of their number, a man of position, to interview the commandant. The representations which he made, led the commandant to cancel his order as to the additional fetters. The bishop's censure against spiritualist books placed them under prohibition, which was maintained. It is known, however, that although never found by gaolers, the books are still there."
In April, 1881, the editor of the Madrid El Criterio says:- "that great progress has been made in the cause of Spiritualism; that the hall of meeting of the Spiritual Society is completely full every Thursday evening,' and is not now large enough to hold the public who come to the sessions,' that Dr. Merschejewski has called the attention of the University of St. Petersburg to a psychometric phenomena of much importance; to wit: A young man. deemed from childhood to be an idiot, who will in some seconds solve any mathematical problem, while if a poem be read to him, even of many hundred verses, he will repeat the whole of it without failing in a single word." Señor Manuel Lopez in the same issue of El Criterio says, speaking of the progress of a society of Spiritualists in Madrid: "We have received a mediumistic work of extraordinary merit, executed by a medium of the Society of Spiritualists' of Zaragoza. It consists of a portrait of Isabel the Catholic, made with a pencil, and is a work truly admirable. It is said by intelligent persons who have examined it to be an exact copy of one preserved in the Royal Museum of Painters of this court. Many thanks are tendered to the Zaragozan Society for this highly appreciated present. It was about the end of the year 1880, that the Spiritualists of Spain sustained another series of attacks from the Church. The first of these was the refusal of the clergy to accord the customary rites of interment to the remains of two ladies, both of irreproachable character, and good standing in society, but both guilty" of having believed in Spiritual manifestations. The second raid which the Church in Spain perpetrated about this time to the prejudice of the Spiritualists, was the suppression of a well-written Spiritual paper published at Lerida, entitled El Buen Sentido. The Bishop of Lerida had long threatened this step, and warned the editor to beware how he presumed to allow any writings reflecting upon clerical doings to appear in his columns. As some of the principal. contributors were Madame Soler, Mdlle. Sans, Don Murillo, and others equally capable of arraigning the intolerant acts which Church policy seemed determined to push against the Spiritualists, it was scarcely likely that the Bishop's threats would produce much effect. The last article which seemed to inflame the clergy to retaliate was an indignant protest which appeared in the columns of this paper on the condemnation of a working man to three years' imprisonment, leaving a family of children destitute and all for 66 "The speaking in public against the intolerance of the Church. In a number of El Criterio, dated 1881, is a letter from Don Migueles, in which he gives a somewhat discouraging account of "the cause" as it recently existed in Spain. The editor says:-" Don Migueles visited many cities to examine into the state of affairs of a spiritual nature, but found many who were only to be enticed by physical phenomena, caring nothing for the esoteric beauties of our faith; many who were convinced that they knew all there was to be known concerning it, and others who were timid fearing the disapproval of neighbours. In some places, however, excellent mediums were discovered. In Santiago, in Oviedo, in Corunna and Valladolid, an exceptional interest was manifest. Near Santiago, there was a young girl possessed of wonderful faculties. Two bars of magnetized iron held over her horizontally, half a metre distant, were sufficient to suspend her body in the air. proceedings of the Spanish Society, under the name of the Sesiones de Controversio, in the month of April last, are spoken of in the Critic as markedly impressive on account of the lofty sentiments maintained throughout the discussions, by the various speakers. 'In the past month were given also very interesting conferencias by our illustrious brothers, the Sres. Rebolledo and Huelbes.' The able engineer and inventor, belonging to the Society of Santiago de Chili and founder of that of Lima, D. R. Caruana y Berard, has just arrived in Madrid. The Revista Espiritista of Barcelona mentions the visit which its editor has made to the central societies of Spiritualists of Sabodell and Tarrasa, where a great number of brethren were assembled on the occasion, and which will result in great good to the doctrine." The Barcelona Lux, of date 1881, gives encouraging accounts of séances held at Cordova, Tarragona, Seville, and many other places. The editor, Madame Soler, also refers to the prohibition to Catholics, by an archbishop to have or to read the Spiritualistic work of Niram Aliv: of the "Society of Spiritualists" of Tarrasa; of the circle of Santa Cruz of Tenerif; of that of Faith, Hope, and Charity," of Andujar, and of St. Vincent de Bogota. 66 Speal Bone, Divination by: A form of divination used in Scotland. A speal bone, or blade bone of a shoulder of mutton is used, but details of the method are wanting. A common soldier, accompanying Lord Loudon on his retreat to Skye, told the issue of the battle of Culloden at the very moment it was decided, pretending to have seen the event by looking through the bone.
Speers, Dr.: (See Moses, William Stainton.)