Sabbat Inquisitor

Lore & Background

It discusses the historical Witches' Sabbath, including its first recorded English use in 1660, its appearance in a 1613 translation, and its use by Henry Charles Lea in 1888 and Joseph Hansen in 1900. It also notes that the term became increasingly popular during the 20th century. No information about the Sabbat Inquisitor is present.

Reader's Guide

It discusses the disputed accuracy of accounts of witch gatherings, noting that modern researchers have found no corroboration that physical gatherings of witchcraft practitioners occurred. Historian Scott E. Hendrix explains that belief in the real power of witchcraft grew during late medieval and early-modern Europe, fueling paranoia about a vast underground conspiracy. This is unrelated to the Sabbat Inquisitor.

Did You Know?

• The first recorded English use of 'sabbath' referring to sorcery was in 1660, in Francis Brooke's translation of Vincent Le Blanc's book The World Surveyed.
• The phrase 'Witches' Sabbath' appeared in a 1613 translation of Sébastien Michaëlis's Admirable History of Possession and Conversion of a Penitent Woman.
• In 1124, the term 'inzabbatos' was used to describe the Waldensians in Northern Spain.
• The Malleus Maleficarum (1486) does not contain the word 'sabbath' (sabbatum).