Desperate Magic

A. Kivelson Valerie

Description

In the courtrooms of seventeenth-century Russia, the great majority of those accused of witchcraft were male, in sharp contrast to the profile of accused witches across Catholic and Protestant Europe in the same period. While European courts targeted and executed overwhelmingly female suspects, often on charges of compacting with the devil, the tsars' courts vigorously pursued men and some women accused of practicing more down-to-earth magic, using poetic spells and home-grown potions. Instead of Satanism or heresy, the primary concern in witchcraft testimony in Russia involved efforts to use magic to subvert, mitigate, or avenge the harsh conditions of patriarchy, serfdom, and social hierarchy. Broadly comparative and richly illustrated with color plates, Desperate Magic places the trials of witches in the context of early modern Russian law, religion, and society. Piecing together evidence from trial records to illuminate some of the central puzzles of Muscovite history, Kivelson explores the interplay among the testimony of accusers, the leading questions of the interrogators, and the confessions of the accused. Assembled, they create a picture of a shared moral vision of the world that crossed social divides. Because of the routine use of torture in extracting and shaping confessions, Kivelson addresses methodological and ideological questions about the Muscovite courts' equation of pain and truth, questions with continuing resonance in the world today. Within a moral economy that paired unquestioned hierarchical inequities with expectations of reciprocity, magic and suspicions of magic emerged where those expectations were most egregiously violated. Witchcraft in Russia surfaces as one of the ways that oppression was contested by ordinary people scrambling to survive in a fiercely inequitable world. Masters and slaves, husbands and wives, and officers and soldiers alike believed there should be limits to exploitation and saw magic deployed at the junctures where hierarchical order veered into violent excess.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USSR
• Witchcraft
• Soviet Union
• Russia
• History of Europe
• Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques
• Russie

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801469381
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

D E S PE R AT E M AG I C

VA  E R ï E K ï V E  S O N

DESPERATE MAGIC

he Mora Economy o Wîtccrat în Seventeent-Century Russîa

C O R N E   U N ï V E R S ï T Y P R E S S ï T H A C A A N D  O N D O N

Copyrîgt © 2013 by Corne Unîversîty Arîgtsreserved.Exceptorbrîequotatîonsînarevîew, tîs book, or parts tereo, must not be reproduced în any orm wîtout permîssîon în wrîtîng rom te pubîser. For înormatîon, address Corne Unîversîty Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, ïtaca, New York 14850. Fîrstpubîsed2013byCorneUnîversîtyPress Fîrstprîntîng,CornePaperbacks,2013 PrîntedînteUnîtedStatesoAmerîca îbrary o Congress Cataogîng-în-Pubîcatîon Data Kîveson, Vaerîe A. (Vaerîe Ann), autor.  Desperate magîc: te mora economy o wîtccrat în seventeent-century Russîa / Vaerîe Kîveson.  pages cm  ïncudes bîbîograpîca reerences and îndex.  ïSBN 978-0-8014-5146-1 (cot : ak. paper)  ïSBN 978-0-8014-7916-8 (pbk. : ak. paper)  1. Wîtccrat—Russîa—Hîstory—17t century. 2. Magîc— Socîa aspects—Russîa—Hîstory—17t century. 3. Trîas (Wîtccrat)—Russîa—Hîstory—17t century. 4. Russîa— Socîa condîtîons—17t century. ï. Tîte.  BF1584.R9K58 2013  133.4'3094709032—dc23 2013016811 CorneUnîversîtyPressstrîvestouseenvîronmentayresponsîbe suppîers and materîas to te uest extent possîbe în te pubîsîng o îts books. Suc materîas încude vegetabe-based, ow-VOC înks and acîd-ree papers tat are recyced, totay corîne-ree, or party composed o nonwood ibers. For urter înormatîon, vîsît our websîte at www.cornepress.corne.edu. Cotprîntîng10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback prîntîng 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Contents

 îst o Maps and Fîgures ix

 Acknowedgments xi

 îst o Abbrevîatîons xiv

 Note on Names and Transîteratîon xvii

 Maps xviii

ïntroductîon:he Mora Economy o Desperatîon în Seventeent-Century Russîa 1

1.Wîtccrat Hîstorîograpy:Russîa’s Dîvergence 13

2.“Report on hîs Matter to Us în Moscow, Fuy and în Trut”: Documentatîon and Procedure 38

3.Muscovîte Prosaîc Magîc and te Devî’s Pae Sadow 52

4.ove, Sex, and Hîerarcy:he Roe o Gender în Wîtccrat Accusatîons 83

5.Undîvîded Speres:Gender and Idîoms o Magîc 127

6.“To Treat Me Kîndy”:Negotîatîng Excess în Muscovîte Hîerarcîca Reatîons 168

7.Trîas, Justîce, and te ogîc o Torture 198

8.Wîtccrat, Heresy, Treason, Rebeîon:Deinîng Muscovy’s Most Heînous Crîmes 233

he Atermat:Peter te Great and te Age o Enîgtenment 256 Appendîx A. îst o Wîtccrat Trîas 261 Appendîx B. îst o aws and Decrees agaînst Wîtccrat and Magîc 273 Notes 275 Bîbîograpy 308 ïndex 339

V I I I U C O N T E N T S

Maps and Figures

MAPS Map o European Russîa sowîng ocatîons o wîtccrat trîas xix

Map o Sîberîa sowîng ocatîons o wîtccrat trîas xx

FIGURES Frequency o wîtccrat trîas în ive-year întervas, 1601–1700 31

Burnîngvsrube,romîstevoî etopîsnyî svod(see aso pate 1) 41 heoius and te Devî, resco, ïarosav, 1716 55 Keîmo:DetaîromteîeoSt.Nîcoas:St.Nîcoas exorcîses a devî rom a we, begînnîng o te sîxteent century, Moscow Scoo (see aso pate 2) 56 etaBaMd”,nrsiquttearor“Babaïagaandegîtetnteeurycent 85 “Baba ïaga and te Crocodîe,” irst quarter o te eîgteent century 86

ïmageoawîtcembracîngadevî,byUrîcMoîtor,c.1490 88 “AGroupoWîtces(Hexensabbatïï),” by Hans Badung Grîen, 1514 (see aso pate 3) 89

Anîîcîtsceneowîtccratatwork,romSemyonVasîevsynAîgustov’s magîca notebook, 1680s 91

VasîîîMaksîmov,he Arrîva o a Sorcerer at a Peasant Weddîng, 1875 (see aso pate 4) 94