Historical method: a recorded belief or accusation is not independent proof of the supernatural event described.
Avoid the courtroom’s inherited verdict
A historical accusation should not be repeated as an objective label for the accused. The official record’s categories reflect an institution with its own interests and authority.
Respect the people in fragments
Named individuals should not acquire fabricated biographies. The archive preserves what is documented and explicitly identifies interpretive uncertainty. This is especially important where records were collected under unequal power or coercive conditions.
Rights and reuse
Public accessibility is not the same as public-domain status. Original historical events are facts; modern photographs, critical editions and translations may remain protected. Every reused image or substantial text excerpt requires a rights check.
Source and revision record
- Trial transcripts: Paolo Gasparutto and Battista Moduco, 1575–1581 (translated excerpt via University of Washington)Edited translation of primary record · A modern publication of translated trial testimony, not a facsimile of the original manuscript. Copyright may apply.
- Franco Nardon (ed.), Benandanti e inquisitori nel Friuli del Seicento (1999)University repository · University of Trieste volume focused on seventeenth-century healing and counter-witchcraft.