The Nightmare of the Powerful: Conspiracy and Diabolic Witches
摘要
The chapter focuses on the most notable type of accusation: conspiracy and diabolical witches. Though relatively few in number and geographically confined, these trials were among the harshest and most violent. Three distinct subtypes of witches emerge, each defined by the nature and extent of their relationship with the devil. The first subtype, ‘witchcraft conspiracy without diabolism’, involved organized groups of harmful witches who gathered for secret meetings but did not have explicit ties to the devil. In contrast, ‘witches led by the devil’ were believed to participate in Sabbaths and learn their magic directly from the devil, whom they followed as their leader. The third subtype, ‘witches with devil-familiars’, were accused of maintaining relationships with demons, not as their masters but as their assistants. This section also examines the political dimension of witchcraft. Witchcraft conspiracy, as an imagined public threat, became a way to channel fears about the disruption of the established social order. Additionally, the analysis suggests that the Lithuanian interpretation of diabolical witchcraft may have been influenced by local anti-Protestant polemics, where demonized depictions of Protestants in popular culture and religious texts shaped the image of the witch as both a heretic and conspirator.