Rojas Wins Fulbright Grant

Rochelle Rojas's research elucidates quotidian witch beliefs in the Basque lands, and uses them as a lens through which to examine important aspects of the history of this region in the tumultuous 16th and 17th centuries. He work traces the historical evolution of witchcraft beliefs, from common concerns of sudden deaths, poor weather, and maleficent magic in 1525 (the earliest witch trial on record); through to the diabolical tropes of a devil’s pact which peaked in 1609; and then will analyze the hitherto unexplored trials and beliefs of the middle and later seventeenth century.