Understanding Carlo Ginzburg’s The Night Battles
Carlo Ginzburg is a renowned Italian historian and a pioneer in the field of microhistory, a method that focuses on detailed studies of small, specific historical subjects to uncover broader cultural and social dynamics. Born in 1939 in Turin, Italy. Carlo Ginzburg earned his PhD from the University of Pisa in 1961 and has held academic positions at prestigious institutions such as the University of Bologna, UCLA, and the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. His work spans topics from the Italian Renaissance to early modern European history, with contributions to art history, literary studies, and historiography.
Carlo Ginzburg’s The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries is a fascinating exploration of the beliefs and rituals of a unique group called the Benandanti, a peasant fertility cult from Friuli, Italy. Their practices centered on protecting crops and ensuring agricultural abundance by engaging in spiritual battles against witches, known as the malandanti.
Who Were the Benandanti?
The Benandanti believed they had a special spiritual role in their community. On certain nights, particularly during Ember Days (Christian fasting periods tied to agricultural seasons), they said their spirits would leave their bodies to fight witches. These “battles” were fought with fennel stalks, which symbolized fertility and protection. In contrast, the witches wielded sorghum stalks, representing harm and destruction.
The stakes of these battles were high—if the Benandanti won, the community would enjoy a bountiful harvest. If they lost, famine and hardship would follow. They saw their efforts as part of a larger cosmic struggle and believed they were defending their community “in service of Christ.”
Everyday Traditions and Seasonal Cycles
The Benandanti’s rituals were deeply connected to the farming calendar. Men battled to protect crops, while women participated in feasts where they claimed to foresee events like deaths or future fortunes for the village. These practices reflect ancient fertility rites that predated Christianity, blending older pre-Christian, pagan, agrarian-based beliefs with Christian ideas.
These pre-Christian ideas, as Ginzburg finds, were very widespread across Europe and linked to a belief in a mythological Wild Hunt, Wild Horde, and other names. If those beliefs and rites were shamanistic is something that is further, and much more deeply, discussed in his book ‘Ecsasties’ as we will discuss in another blog article.
The problem with shamanism in Europe is an old scholarly debate. If it is shamanistic, how does it relate to Eurasian shamanism? How did Eurasian shamanism evolve – from hunter-gatherers to Reindeer pastoralists? If it existed in Europe, how did it evolve in Europe? From Indo-Europeans from the Bronze Age? Is it older? How come these rites, myths and customs were so widespread in Europe despite Christianity being a state-religion in many parts of the continent?
Over time, however, the Church viewed these rituals through the lens of witchcraft. What the Benandanti saw as a divine calling to protect their communities was reinterpreted by the Roman Inquisition as heretical behavior, leading to their persecution.
Connections to Broader European Folklore
Ginzburg connects the Benandanti’s stories to similar traditions across Europe, such as the mythological motif of the Wild Hunt. In this folkloric motif, spirits or deities like Odin or Diana, Perchta and Berchthold in the Alpine areas of Austria and Bavaria, led mythological processions tied to fertility and the agricultural cycle. Like the Benandanti, participants in these myths mediated between the human and supernatural worlds to ensure community prosperity, good luck and a good harvest.
Even today, there are proverbs and folkloric beliefs recorded in Tyrol that indicate that if the Perchten or Krampus did not show up, it would not mean a good upcoming harvest year for farmers and the community.
Both traditions highlight how pre-Christian beliefs about nature and fertility were slowly suppressed or reshaped by Christian authorities, often rebranding them as diabolical.
A Closer Look: Paolo Gasparutto’s Testimony
A striking example from The Night Battles is the story of Paolo Gasparutto, a miller interrogated by the Inquisition in 1575. Gasparutto described how, during Ember Days, his spirit joined others in nocturnal battles against witches. Armed with fennel stalks, he and the Benandanti fought to protect their community’s crops. Gasparutto emphasized that their efforts were aligned with Christian values, stating, “We go forth in the service of Christ, and the witches of the devil.” We can read about this specific example early in the book The Night Battles, on page 6 and further.
This testimony, like others in the book, shows how the Benandanti saw themselves as defenders of the community, not as witches or heretics.
Why Is The Night Battles Important?
Ginzburg’s book is groundbreaking for several reasons: First, his work is very much about Reconstructing Forgotten Voices. By using trial records from the Roman Inquisition, Ginzburg uncovers the beliefs of marginalized rural communities and gives us a window into their world. Second, by Revealing Cultural Blends, the Benandanti’s practices illustrate how ancient traditions adapted to coexist with or resist Christian teachings. And most importantly to the research platform that is Hexenkunde, Ginzburg has Challenged Witchcraft Narratives: Ginzburg argues that many witchcraft accusations arose from misunderstandings of local traditions rather than actual diabolical practices.
For anyone interested in European folklore, the history of witchcraft, or the interaction between religion and rural life, The Night Battles provides a rich and compelling study.
Ginzburg’s work reminds us how local traditions and beliefs can persist even under pressure from dominant institutions. The Benandanti’s story shows the resilience of rural communities in maintaining their cultural identities while adapting to broader societal changes.