Code of Ordinances of the Àneu Valleys

The Code of Ordinances of the Àneu Valleys, known in Catalan as the Còdex d’Ordinacions de les Valls d’Àneu, is a collection of legal rules created in the Vall d'Àneu, a region in the Catalan Pyrenees under the Kingdom of Aragon, with the earliest known compilation dating from 1408. It is a notable early European legal document addressing witchcraft, though earlier codes like the Canon Episcopi exist.

Historically, the Vall d'Àneu was a remote, mountainous area that operated under its own legal framework, blending civil and ecclesiastical law. After the Counts of Pallars regained control of the valley in the early 1300s, following decades of internal conflict, the territory was allowed to write down its customs and traditions, which then became the highest law. This process began in the early 1400s. The first compilation, from 1408, already included a crime attributed to women: causing swelling in the lymph nodes of the neck.

The surviving version of the code is a copy from 1500, which escaped the fires that destroyed the valley’s archives in the 1600s. It is a legal text that records the area’s customs, traditions, and ordinances, based on a 1408 compilation of 47 chapters. Eight more chapters were added in 1419, and nine in 1424. This final update included a series of rules specifically targeting witchcraft-related crimes.

These rules are considered a legal milestone in Europe for witch persecution, predating later documents like the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484) and the Malleus Maleficarum (1487). They were enacted in 1424, though the role of Arnau Roger IV in this update is not verifiable in standard historical sources. A minor revision occurred near the end of the 1500s.

The early chapters define what was considered witchcraft and its punishments, while later chapters outline judicial procedures and evidence collection.