Imaginea femeii pe baza documentelor proceselor de vrăjitorie din Transilvania din secolele XVI-XVIII
The perception of women based on the witchcraft trials from Transylvania between the 16th and the 18th centuries

Summary/Abstract: The documents remaining from the witchcraft trials from 16th-18th century Transylvania record information about women. These trials were secular. The drafted documents were numerous and varied: investigations, witness statements, sentences.In these witchcraft trials some women were accused, but most often they were among the witnesses. Their statements reflect their everyday life in the way they perceived it. Most of the women were affected by the illnesses or the death of their children or spouses. Many visited witches to prevent the violence of their men and to bring harmony to the family. Other statements describe the housewives concerns about households well-being and the health of animals.A special character in the community was the quack. Most of them were women. These quacks were believed to have supernatural powers. This was an image that they constructed in order to attract those in pain, but also to impress and to intimidate. In Transylvania, unlike in the Western Europe, most of those judged for witchcraft were quackets. Under these circumstances witches were perceived with trust, but also with fear.The multitude of concerns and the states of women in a community determined the variety of relationships between them.The analysis of documents of witchcraft trias reveals, better than any other document, the complex and contradictory character of the spiritual life of women in the 16th-18th centuries.Through these historical sources, the woman's image is complemented by new aspects of her family and community life.

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