Jasmin's Witch
Jasmin's Witch is the English title of a socio-historical study with micro- historical methodology on cases of witchcraft in Gascony during the Ancien Régime by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie . The French original edition was published in 1983 under the title La sorcière de Jasmin .
Content and synopsis
The book is divided into three chapters and an afterword.
Chapter 1 Three Gascon Witches: Françouneto, Gérarde Mimalé, Marie de Sansarric
In the first chapter Ladurie offers the reader a brief introduction to the phenomenon of witchcraft and its position in society inside and outside Europe. To this end, Ladurie creates two models: The first model describes an archaic, age-old image of witchcraft, combined with peasant shamanism or ancient fertility cults, which originated in pre-Christian times. The second model is more modern and contains a social or political dimension. This modern model relativizes the practice of accusation of witchcraft to a scheme for conflict between certain parties who struggle with strategic allegations for local authority. In addition, a picture of the witch making a pact with the devil fits into this second model, which is largely influenced by the Catholic Church . Ladurie describes this model as modern because a de-paganised and demystified witchcraft has taken place, and is from now on defined, criminalized and persecuted by the church and its followers. The reader also gets to know the heroine of the orally handed down myth Françouneto, whose story turned into a poem serves as the basis of this case study. The young Françouneto, who lives with her grandmother in the small village of Estanquet, is accused of witchcraft by the villagers. Envy of the fertility of her fields and gardens and a series of unfortunate coincidences lead Françouneto to give in to social pressure and allow himself to be ostracized as a witch. Despite the stigma , the heroine survives in the story. In comparison, Ladurie describes the case of the Mimalé family from a century later. They, too, are accused of witchcraft by the villagers and, in this case too, the reasons for this are fertile fields, resentment and adverse coincidences. However, the Mimalé family successfully defended themselves against the allegations before the court, which was purified by the Enlightenment . Ladurie provides another comparison using the example of Marie de Sansarric, a woman whose witchcraft is said to have consisted of being able to transform herself into a goat. When her husband was attacked by a goat one evening, he stabbed it down. In the place of the slaughtered goat, however, lay his wife the next morning and since the villagers saw her as a witch, the murdering husband got away with the mild sentence of exile.
2nd chapter Françouneto
In the second chapter, the reader is presented with a French translation of the poem by Jacques "Jasmin" Boé, published in Occitan in 1842 . This is divided into four sections and was written by Ladurie in prose style. The English version is a translation by Brian Pearce.
Chapter 3 Restored To Her Century
In the third chapter, Ladurie deals with the problem of the chronological classification of the Françouneto story. The story does not act as Jasmin claims in the 1560s, but a century later, in the period between 1660 and 1700. Ladurie creates a number of criteria for the temporal probabilities, as well as criteria for the facticity for the events mentioned in the story . In doing so, he creates a "chronological bracket", which helps him to narrow down a probable period for the origin.
Postscript
The English translation of Jasmin's Witch also contains an afterword . Ladurie wrote this in response to a review by Pierre Eickell of the French first edition. According to Ladurie's remarks, he was able to use family genealogies and a marriage certificate not only to determine the chain of tradition and the immediate environment of Françouneto, but even to find a certain Marie Sordès as the most likely prototype for the figure of Françouneto.
Research interest and approach
At the beginning of his case study, Ladurie announces his interest in knowledge based on three goals. The three chapters of the book therefore each have a task:
- An investigation into the social position of the witch in Gascony, based on the poem Françouneto by Jacques Jasmin.
- The publication of a prose translation of the poem Françouneto.
- The dating of the origins of Françouneto with the help of archival evidence.
The historian Ladurie, who is assigned to the Annales School , is interested in this partly anthropological, partly socio-historical case study in the social image of witchcraft at a certain time (17th / 18th century) in a certain region (Gascony). The Ladurie, who is interested in the history of mentality, makes use of a myth that has been passed down orally over several decades and which was ultimately written down by a poet. In this way, he consciously avoids any distortions caused by relevant court files. In the poet Jasmin he sees a reliable informant who admittedly embellished the story, but did not falsify the basic ideas about folklore and superstitions of his time period. The parallels which Ladurie draws between the events he investigates reveal a superstitious view of the local peasantry. Ladurie conveys to the reader that behind alleged witches and their branding, in the vast majority of incidents, there was rural competition or other episodes of fear or resentment. In addition, he shows on the basis of the events presented in the book that not all witches were convicted and executed, but that some of them were able to successfully defend themselves against their accused in the course of the investigation. In addition to the Francouneto poem, Ladurie also counts among his sources a large number of documents (family trees, court records, land survey plans, marriage certificates) from the departmental archives of Lot-et-Garonne and the respective municipal archives. He completes his research with the help of interviews that he carried out with the oldest residents in the village of Estanquet. Finally, Ladurie's meticulous handling of sources and the close-knit optics, which are paired with the narrative style of the book, could well be compared with the micro-historical methodology.
reception
According to Jeremy Black, with this precise and extensive study, Ladurie reinforces his already high reputation as an expert on Occitan folklore and literature. The book is highly stimulating and reveals an enviable understanding of the concepts that are essential to the study of the history of mentalities.
Michael Broers also describes Ladurie's study as meticulous and well thought-out, at times playful and yet profound. The book lacks a general introduction and background information, which is necessary to appeal to a broad Anglophone readership. However, Ladurie compensates for this with his profound knowledge of Gascony and the period of the 17th and 18th centuries. In the first part of the book, Ladurie draws a lively and astute portrait of society in Gascony, and also shows the effects of the Enlightenment on the rural south of France. Above all, the report about a family that successfully defended itself in court against its accusers in the middle of the 18th century, and the comparison with two earlier witchcraft cases, illustrate how certain public attitudes changed in the course of the 18th century and to what extent they changed could affect the life of ordinary people. Although a primary source is made easily accessible to the readership in the second part of the book, with the translation of the Françouneto poem, Ladurie missed the opportunity to properly highlight the historical milieu of the poet Jasmin. In particular, Broers criticizes the lack of background information regarding Jasmin's historical positioning.
The cleric and religious historian John McManners particularly criticizes Ladurie's claim that the original, pagan witchcraft has been replaced by a new image of witchcraft, which was shaped by the church and its peasantry.
expenditure
- French original edition: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie: La sorcière de Jasmin. Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1983, ISBN 978-2020064873
- English translation: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (Translated by Brian Pearce): Jasmin's Witch. Scolar Press, Aldershot 1987, ISBN 0-85967-706-0
Individual evidence
- ^ La sorcière de Jasmin , in the Stanford Libraries catalog.
- ↑ Jeremy Black: Review of Jasmin's Witch . In: Teaching History . No. 56 , 1989, pp. 43-44 , JSTOR : 43259568 .
- ↑ Michael Broers: Review of Jasmin's Witch . In: History . tape 74 , no. 241 , 1989, pp. 317-318 , JSTOR : 24414577 .
- ↑ Jack McManners: Review of La sorcière de Jasmin . In: The English Historical Review . tape 101 , no. 398 , 1986, pp. 242-243 , JSTOR : 71387 .