LBWallace@aol.com Re: Docu Drama Jenny jennyg@compuserve.com Tue May 4 08:10:54 1999 : We are doing preliminary research on the Witchcraft trials *br*: in Europe for a four part series. I need access to trial *br*: transcripts to trials in France - specifically the Brittany *br*: area. Can anyone help? Thank you.*p*Dear Laura,*p*That's going to be tough, for a couple of reasons.*p*First, witch-hunting was almost non-existant in Brittany. France's trials clustered around its southern and eastern borders. There were a scattering in the central and north-central regions. But Brittany, like Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, appears to have had next to no trials.*p*Second, very few trial records have been reprinted. Salem's trials are the only ones readily available, though some of the largest university libraries have access to others on microfiche. However for most areas, researching trial records means travelling to a foreign country and spending a great deal of time rummaging through the departmental archives.*p*I can think of some possible angles and sources, but let me ask you a couple questions (so I don't dump more information on you than you really wanted <s>).*p*1) I assume you read French well, since you're interested in French trial transcripts. Do you read Latin too?*p*2) Do you have access to a major university library?*p*3) Since there are few trials from Brittany, are you interested in trials from other parts of France?*p*4) Are you interested in literary evidence? France produced some of the most influential witch-hunting manuals, and its two main witch hunters (Pierre de Lancre and Nicolas Remy) both wrote about their activities. De Lancre's books are especially interesting for Neo-Pagans, because Margaret Murray based most of her witch-cult hypothesis on his writings. (If you check the footnotes for _The Witch-Cult in Western Europe_ you'll find that Murray quotes de Lancre an average of once every four pages!) De Lancre, for example, gave us the word "esbat".*p*5) How much prelimiary research do you want? In other words, would recommendations for good, well-researched general works help you, or do you only need information on French trial transcripts at this point?*p*6) Is a trip to France out? I'm assuming it is. <g> If, however, you're one of those lucky people who actually has the time and money to do this kind of research, I think I've got some information on where some of the trial records are housed, and some suggestions on the easiest ways to locate it. (There are literally millions of trials from this period, and witchcraft cases make up only a tiny percentage of them. So even once you've tracked down a region's trials records, finding the witch-trials can still be hellishly difficult.)*p*Bright Blessings,*p*Jenny*br* Docu Drama Laura Wallace-Rhodes 177 Tue May 4 00:03:26 1999