Unveiling non-elite female knowledge: accusations of witchcraft and social networks in seventeenth-century Lisbon.
In this article, aims to examined the acquisition and dissemination of magical knowledge among non-elite women in urban Lisbon through the analysis of denunciations, testimonies, and statements from the 1637 trial of Maria de Ortega by the court of the Inquisition. I argue that this knowledge was pr...
| Publicado en: | Women's History Review Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 824 - 840 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=196440545&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 196440545 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09612025 GP6 jtl: Women's History Review issn: 09612025 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2026 vid: 35 iid: 5 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 196440545 10.1080/09612025.2025.2535054 ppf: 824 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 619KB tig: atl: Unveiling non-elite female knowledge: accusations of witchcraft and social networks in seventeenth-century Lisbon. aug: au: Muñoz, Mariana Meneses affil: Centre for the Humanities/School of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA, University Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal su: Witchcraft Social networks Public spaces Social dynamics Lisbon (Portugal) sug: subj: Lisbon (Portugal) Witchcraft Social networks Public spaces Social dynamics keyword: female knowledge female networks inquisition public space Seventeenth-century Lisbon women's labor ab: In this article, aims to examined the acquisition and dissemination of magical knowledge among non-elite women in urban Lisbon through the analysis of denunciations, testimonies, and statements from the 1637 trial of Maria de Ortega by the court of the Inquisition. I argue that this knowledge was produced and spread collectively within semi-intimate circles and that local social networks, resulting from their presence in public spaces, were crucial for the commercialization of magical practices, serving as a means of economic survival for these women. Their life stories and oral strategies before the Holy Office reflect the accumulated experiences and social dynamics of urban spaces, highlighting how diverse forms of knowledge were acquired and utilized to their advantage. For these women, witchcraft and sorcery functioned as a form of labor. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Women's History Review is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Women's History Review holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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