The Cultural Council of Les Valls d’Àneu, in the Lerida Pyrenees, the Dansàneu festival and the University of Barcelona will commemorate the sixth centenary of the oldest witchcraft text in Europe with a special program.
The commemoration of the 600 years of the oldest law against witchcraft in Europe, a text dated 1424, and original from Les Valls d’Àneu, will extend throughout this year with a series of initiatives, including an international congress, a traveling exhibition and several publications. The production of multidisciplinary shows is also planned, some of them included in the programming of the 33rd edition of Dansàneu.
With this initiative, its promoters want to recognize the historical uniqueness and legal weight of this text from the Àneu valley, as well as restore the memory of the women who were subject to repression and gender violence in the 15th century.
The Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, Natàlia Garriga, highlighted this Saturday in the presentation of the commemorative events the importance of reviewing the history of women and episodes such as the witch hunt with new perspectives. “The feminist movement and the vindication of the gender vision have done their work, and one of the objectives of this year of activities is to restore the memory of the women who were objects of repression and violence,” said the councilor.
The law on witchcraft (1424) is inserted in the Book of Customs and Ordinances (14th-15th centuries) of the Valls d’Àneu and has an important meaning because the international scientific community recognizes it as the first document preserved in Europe with a regulatory character which orders and condemns the participation in meetings of witches.
Focusing on this historical text and given its relevance, the commemoration aims to provide “a look at the ignominy of terror, of repression in general – and gender repression in particular – and of intransigence”, in the words of the president of the Consell Cultural of the Valls d’Àneu, Ferran Rella.
Organized by the University of Barcelona under the coordination of the professor of Medieval History Pau Castell, from July 4 to 6 Barcelona and Les Valls d’Àneu will host an international conference in which the world’s leading specialists in the study of the origins of the anti-witch phenomenon They will analyze the text of the Lleida valley in comparison with the rest of the territories that make up the so-called “cradle of the European witch hunt.” The various presentations will deal with aspects related to comparative history, criminal law or witch literature.
