Divinatio Diabolica and Superstitious Medicine: Healers, Seers and Diviners in the Changing Discourse of Witchcraft in Early Modern Nagybánya

Abstract

The study describes the magical and medical market of early modern Nagybánya (Baia Mare), a miners’ town in North-East Hungary , present-day Romania, as it appears in the narrative context of witchcraft accusations. It concentrates on the cunning folk operating in the city and its surroundings, and their relations with each other and their clientele. It discusses some of the interactions between the witchcraft accusations and the magical and medical market in Nagybánya. Namely, it investigates how the accusations formed this milieu, and, the other way round, how the transformation of the market manifested in the documents of witch-hunts. Finally, with the help of three case studies, it offers an insight into the processes that led to the witchcraft accusations related to certain magical specialists.