A Witches' Sabbath is a purported gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft and other rituals. The phrase became especially popular in the 20th century.
Origin of the phrase
The most infamous and influential work of witch-hunting lore, (1486), does not contain the word sabbath ().
The first recorded English use of sabbath referring to sorcery was in 1660, in Francis Brooke's translation of Vincent Le Blanc's book The World Surveyed: "Divers Sorcerers [...] have confessed that in their Sabbaths [...] they feed on such fare."Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "sabbath, n.", July 2023. The phrase "Witches' Sabbath" appeared in a 1613 translation by "W.B." of Sébastien Michaëlis's Admirable History of Possession and Conversion of a Penitent Woman: "He also said to Magdalene, Art not thou an accursed woman, that the Witches Sabbath is kept here?""witches' Sabbath, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, July 2023.
The phrase is used by Henry Charles Lea in his History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (1888).American historian G. L. Burr does not seem to use the term in his essay "The Literature of Witchcraft" presented to the American Historical Association in 1890. Writing in 1900, German historian Joseph Hansen, who was a correspondent and a German translator of Lea's work, frequently uses the shorthand phrase to interpret medieval trial records, though any consistently recurring term is noticeably rare in the copious Latin sources Hansen also provides (see more on various Latin synonyms, below).Joseph Hansen (1900), Zauberwahn; also see companion volume of sources Quellen (1901).
Lea and Hansen's influence may have led to a much broader use of the shorthand phrase, including in English. Prior to Hansen, use of the term by German historians also seems to have been relatively rare. Two compilations of German folklore by Jakob Grimm in the 1800s (, ) seem to contain no mention of or any other form of the term relative to fairies or magical acts. The contemporary of Grimm and early historian of witchcraft, W. G. Soldan, also does not seem to use the term in his history (1843).
A French connection In contrast to German and English counterparts, French writers (including Francophone authors writing in Latin) used the term more frequently, albeit still relatively rarely. There seems to be deep roots to inquisitorial persecution of the Waldensians. In 1124, the term is used to describe the Waldensians in Northern Spain.Phillipus van Limborch, History of Inquisition (1692); English translation (1816) p. 88 In 1438 and 1460, seemingly related terms and synagogue of Sathan are used to describe Waldensians by inquisitors in France. These terms could be a reference to Revelation 2:9 ("I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan").Hansen, Quellen (1901) p.186The verse in Revelation is pointed to by Wolfgang Behringer, Witches and Witch-Hunts (2004) p.60. Writing in Latin in 1458, Francophone author Nicolas Jacquier applies to what he considers a gathering of witches.Nicolaus Jacquier, Flagellum (printed 1581), p. 40]
About 150 years later, near the peak of the witch-phobia and the persecutions which led to the execution of an estimated 40,000–100,000 persons,Alison Rowlands (2003), Witchcraft Narratives in Germany, Rothenburg, 1561–1652, Manchester, 10."... the fear of a monstrous conspiracy of Devil-worshipping witches was fairly recent, and indeed modern scholarship has confirmed that massive witch hunts occurred almost exclusively in the early modern period, reaching their peak intensity during the century 1570-1670." Benjamin G. Kohl and H.C. Erik Midelfort, eds., On Witchcraft: An Abridged Translation of Johann Weyer's De praestigiis daemonun. Translation by John Shea (North Carolina, 1998) xvi. with roughly 80% being women,Per Scarre & Callow (2001), "Records suggest that in Europe, as a whole, about 80 per cent of trial defendants were women, though the ratio of women to men charged with the offence varied from place to place, and often, too, in one place over time.""Menopausal and post-menopausal women were disproportionally represented amongst the victims of the witch craze—and their over-representation is the more striking when we recall how rare women over fifty must have been in the population as a whole." Lyndal Roper (2004), Witch Craze, p. 160 the Francophone writers still seem to be the main ones using these related terms, although still infrequently and sporadically in most cases. Lambert Daneau uses one time (1581) as .Daneau's work is included with Jacquier in 1581 printing, link above. See p. 242. Nicholas Remi uses the term occasionally as well as (1588). Jean Bodin uses the term three times (1580) and, across the channel, the Englishman Reginald Scot (1585) writing a book in opposition to witch-phobia, uses the term but only once in quoting Bodin.The Puritan Richard Baxter, writing much later (1691), also uses the term only once, in the exact same way – quoting Bodin. Other witch-phobic English Puritans who were Baxter's contemporaries, like Increase and Cotton Mather (1684, 1689, 1692), did not use the term, perhaps because they were Sabbatarians.
In 1611, Jacques Fontaine uses five times writing in French and in a way that would seem to correspond with modern usage. The following year (1612), Pierre de Lancre seems to use the term more frequently than anyone before.Pierre de Lancre p. 74
In 1668, a late date relative to the major European witch trials, German writer Johannes Praetorius published , with the subtitle ("Or, Comprehensive Geographical Report of the high, excellent, old and famous Blockula [lit. Block mountains], likewise on the witches' rides and magic Sabbaths that the evil spirits from all Germany are said to hold on those mountains annually on 1 May on Saint Walpurgis' Night").Johannes Praetorius (1900),
Writing more than two hundred years after Pierre de Lancre, another French writer, Lamothe-Langon (whose character and scholarship was questioned in the 1970s), uses the term in (presumably) translating into French a handful of documents from the inquisition in Southern France. Joseph Hansen cited Lamothe-Langon as one of many sources.
A term favored by recent translators Despite the infrequency of the use of the word sabbath to denote any such gatherings in the historical record, it became increasingly popular during the 20th century.
Cautio Criminalis In a 2003 translation of Friedrich Spee's Cautio Criminalis (1631) the word sabbaths is listed in the index with a large number of entries.Translation by Marcus Hellyer,(UVA Press, 2003)p.232. However, unlike some of Spee's contemporaries in France (mentioned above), who occasionally, if rarely, use the term sabbatha, Friedrich Spee does not ever use words derived from sabbatha or synagoga. Spee was German-speaking, and like his contemporaries, wrote in Latin. Conventibus is the word Spee uses most frequently to denote a gathering of witches, whether supposed or real, physical or spectral, as seen in the first paragraph of question one of his book.Available here and also see p.398. This is the same word from which English words convention, convent, and coven are derived. Cautio Criminalis (1631) was written as a passionate innocence project. As a Jesuit, Spee was often in a position of witnessing the torture of those accused of witchcraft.
Malleus Maleficarum In a 2009 translation of Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer's Malleus Maleficarum (1486), the word sabbath does not occur. There is a line describing a supposed gathering that uses the word concionem; it is accurately translated as an assembly. However in the accompanying footnote, the translator seems to apologize for the lack of both the term sabbath and a general scarcity of other gatherings that would seem to fit the bill for what he refers to as a "black sabbath"."It is sometimes argued that the Malleus was of minor influence in the spread of the conception of sorcery as a satanic cult because the black sabbath, which formed a major element in later notions of sorcery, receives little emphasis. Yet, here the black sabbath clearly is mentioned..." --footnote 74, Christopher S. Mackay, The Hammer of Witches, A Complete Translation of Malleus Maleficarum p. 283 fn. 74. The original work with the line Mackay refers to is page 208 as found here.
Fine art
The phrase is also popular in recent translations of the titles of artworks, including: The Witches' Sabbath by Hans Baldung (1510) Witches' Sabbath by Frans Francken (1606) Witches' Sabbath in Roman Ruins by Jacob van Swanenburgh (1608) As a recent translation from the original Spanish El aquelarre to the English title Witches' Sabbath (1798) and Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (1823) both works by Francisco Goya Muse of the Night (Witches' Sabbath) by Luis Ricardo Falero (1880)
Music In Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, the fifth and final movement of the composition is titled "Hexensabbath" in German and "Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat" in French, strangely having two different meanings. In the popular English editions of the symphony, the title of the movement is "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath", a mixture of the two translations. The setting of the movement is in a satanic dream depicting the protagonist's own funeral. Crowds of sorcerers and monsters stand around him, laughing, shouting, and screeching. The protagonist's beloved appears as a witch, distorted from her previous beauty.
Disputed accuracy of the accounts of gatherings Modern researchers have been unable to find any corroboration with the notion that physical gatherings of practitioners of witchcraft occurred. In his study "The Pursuit of Witches and the Sexual Discourse of the Sabbat", the historian Scott E. Hendrix presents a two-fold explanation for why these stories were so commonly told in spite of the fact that sabbats likely never actually occurred. First, belief in the real power of witchcraft grew during the late medieval and early-modern Europe as a doctrinal view in opposition to the canon Episcopi gained ground in certain communities. This fueled a paranoia among certain religious authorities that there was a vast underground conspiracy of witches determined to overthrow Christianity. Women beyond child-bearing years provided an easy target and were scapegoated and blamed for famines, plague, warfare, and other problems. Having prurient and orgiastic elements helped ensure that these stories would be relayed to others.
Ritual elements Bristol University's Ronald Hutton has encapsulated the Witches' Sabbath as an essentially modern construction, saying:
The book Compendium Maleficarum (1608), by Francesco Maria Guazzo, illustrates a typical view of gathering of witches as "the attendants riding flying goats, trampling the cross, and being re-baptised in the name of the Devil while giving their clothes to him, kissing his behind, and dancing back to back forming a round."
In effect, the sabbat acted as an effective 'advertising' gimmick, causing knowledge of what these authorities believed to be the very real threat of witchcraft to be spread more rapidly across the continent. That also meant that stories of the sabbat promoted the hunting, prosecution, and execution of supposed witches.
The descriptions of Sabbats were made or published by priests, jurists and judges who never took part in these gatherings, or were transcribed during the process of the witchcraft trials. That these testimonies reflect actual events is for most of the accounts considered doubtful. Norman Cohn argued that they were determined largely by the expectations of the interrogators and free association on the part of the accused, and reflect only popular imagination of the times, influenced by ignorance, fear and religious intolerance towards minority groups.