Witchcraft treatises in the National Library of Spain

Abstract

The National Library of Spain has holdings that have yet to be explored. In its catalog alone we can find an important group of treatises attacking witchcraft in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seven-teenth centuries. They served as guides for inquisitors, helping them conduct interrogations and sho-wing them how to apply torture, how to decide on punishments, when to hold an auto de fe, and what the hierarchy in those acts should be. In short, these are documents that must be identified, recovered, preserved, and digitized so that we may better publicize this rich Spanish cultural heritage.