Historical method: a recorded belief or accusation is not independent proof of the supernatural event described.
An available institutional template
As European authorities investigated witchcraft, accusations of meetings, flight and diabolical association could be arranged into a familiar pattern. That pattern might not match the local witness’s understanding.
The danger of retrospective certainty
Reading a narrative through the sabbath category and then announcing that the narrative proves the sabbath is circular reasoning. The presence of a legal category establishes an interpretive framework, not the truth of its supernatural propositions.
The broader significance
Contemporary scholarship on the imagination of the witches’ sabbath supplies comparative context. The Benandanti show why institutional interpretation must be studied as part of the historical event rather than treated as a transparent window onto it.
Source and revision record
- Imagining the Witches’ Sabbath (Cambridge University Press)Scholarly book · Modern scholarly treatment of the interpretive construction of the sabbath.
- Carlo Ginzburg, The Night Battles (updated edition, 2026)Publisher listing · Publisher bibliographic and interpretive overview; updated edition dated September 8, 2026.