Alonso de Salazar y Frías: Lawyer for the Witches
In the events of Zugarramurdi, one figure stands out as vital in preventing the spread of accusations and convictions for witchcraft: Alonso de Salazar y Frías, nicknamed "the good inquisitor" and "the lawyer for the witches." In the article about the witches of Zugarramurdi, we already saw that the French border with Spain was a hotbed of witch persecution, especially because Pierre de Lancre, a French official, had sparked panic, as his convictions numbered in the hundreds. It is no coincidence that Spain was affected by these events precisely in the bordering areas.
Alonso de Salazar y Frías was born in Burgos around 1564 and earned a degree in canon law in Salamanca. Shortly afterward, he was ordained a priest and worked for the bishoprics of Toledo and Jaén. He joined the Inquisition tribunals in 1609, and the following year he participated in the Logroño tribunal that tried the witches of Zugarramurdi. Although his opinion was disregarded, his testimonies and writings led the Spanish Inquisition to subsequently dismiss most accusations of witchcraft as superstitions and unfounded fears. This skepticism characterized the Spanish Inquisition, which was far more focused on matters of religion and heresy than on witchcraft; however, the Black Legend against Spain never takes this reality into account.
Salazar had already criticized the Zugarramurdi condemnation for lack of evidence, first regarding María de Araburu, and then the other condemned individuals. Based on his testimony in the case, the Supreme Council of the Inquisition sent them throughout Navarre and the Basque Country to investigate the region and determine how widespread witchcraft, or at least the belief in it, truly was. He would carry with him an Edict of Grace, by which the sincere repentance of the alleged witches and warlocks was sufficient to obtain pardon, without any further consequences.
The inquisitor traveled and collected testimonies from all the towns for eight long months. The inconsistencies in the accounts, the lack of evidence, and the fact that even the testimonies of very young children were considered were more than enough to convince him that the witchcraft so widely discussed was nothing more than a product of imagination, fear, and gossip. So much so that it was at this point that he wrote the formal apology for the Auto de Logroño, acknowledging that the method used to extract testimonies from the condemned and also to accept evidence from supposed witnesses had been entirely inappropriate and un-Christian.
She strongly criticized the Logroño Tribunal even in retrospect, recounting the suicide of one of the accused who had "reconciled" with the Church, but who confessed and repented of having falsely accused her neighbors. The Holy Office of Logroño did not accept her repentance and refused to change her testimony; that is, they preferred that the woman be considered an accomplice in the condemnation rather than admit their mistake. She says, in fact, that she was even called a liar—how sarcastic!—and threatened with being burned at the stake. This caused the woman such anguish of conscience that she threw herself into the river to die. She also accused some clergymen before the Inquisition who, in Larrea, had threatened and tortured two girls with ropes around their necks to force confessions, instilling fear in them of being brought before the Tribunal.
In his investigations, Salazar conducted exhaustive studies and tests that, while empiricist, could be considered scientific: he would anoint animals with supposedly magical oils and ointments, awaiting results, and he would ask doctors and herbalists to examine the ingredients found in jars and cauldrons. Similarly, to disprove rumors of covens of young women having sex with the Devil, Salazar had matrons verify that these young women remained virgins, which was irrefutable proof for all those who had accused them, demonstrating that it was all a fabrication or figment of their imagination.
But the witch-hunt craze continued in the mountains. In Arteaga, several women went to the civil courts and churches, "incriminating themselves" as witches, preferring to confess and accept fines rather than risk more serious consequences based on rumors and reports from children or travelers. In Biscay, it was the Inquisition itself, with Salazar present, that had to halt a witchcraft trial initiated in the courts, thus preventing the condemnation of several women. Elsewhere, there was not such luck: in Santesteban, for example, a woman died after being publicly humiliated for being a witch, tied to a post.
Salazar then focused on the origin of the witchcraft reports: stories of witchcraft were fiction until rumors and accusations arose in situations where an accusation suited someone. Thus, he had been able to verify that someone was accused because of a debt or family feuds, and that the rumor mill grew larger or smaller depending on the connections each faction within the town had.
Added to this were stories, books, and above all, sermons by priests who implored holiness in the face of witchcraft and Satanism with such fervor that they achieved the opposite: any suspicious act could be considered anti-Christian. In a confession, a woman from Lesaca told Salazar a multitude of reasons why she "was a witch," yet everything she confessed was a carbon copy of what the Vicar had said. Thus arose Salazar's most memorable phrase: "There were no witches or bewitched people in the area until they began to be discussed and written about."
In 1613, Salazar had acquitted more than 1,300 people—men, women, and children—as a precautionary measure. Otherwise, they would have fallen into the trap of witchcraft accusations and could have ended up at the stake, under torture, or in prison. It is estimated that he prevented more than 10,000 cases of witchcraft in total. The Supreme Court of the Spanish Inquisition, following Salazar's lead, discredited and abandoned the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches), a witchcraft manual followed throughout Europe, deeming its methods fanciful and exaggerated. The supposed covens were analyzed as extravagant gatherings or meetings of the mentally disturbed, and there was greater tolerance regarding agricultural festivals and customs. In 1617, Salazar could openly declare that peace had returned to the northern lands.
Pietro V. Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com
Bibliography:
-Amorós, P. Guía de la España Encantada.
-Azurmendi, M. Las brujas de Zugarramurdi. Editorial Almuzara, 2014.
-Henningsen, G. En busca de la verdad sobre la brujería: las memoriales del inquisidor Salazar y otros documentos relevantes sobre el auto de fe de 1610. Universidad pública de navarra, 2021.
Related posts:
> The Salem Witch Trials of 1692
> Modern Age and Pagan Cults: Witchcraft in Western society
> Magicology (II). The Distorted picture
