Witchcraft in Russia

This article surveys the few witchcraft trials from the Novogrod region that survive in central archives of the Razriadnyi prikaz from the seventeenth century to determine whether or not there is some particular skew to the cases from that region. Although the number of cases is very small, they all show an uncommon willingness on the part of community members to accept benign, medical explanations for the use of roots and grasses
instead of attributing malevolent supernatural powers to those ingredients and their users.

This story is a composite tale, based closely on the records from two trials of alleged witches in the late seventeenth-century. Muscovite records, predominantly generated by state administrators or churchmen and reflecting their particular interests, do not usually devote much space to describing people's domestic or emotional lives. Trial records offer a rare point of access to the lives of ordinary people and take us into the usually opaque realm of the serf-and slave-owning household. Transcripts of the testimony provided by plaintiff, accused, and witnesses allow us to hear the voices and inflections of the wide variety of people who came before the courts. Some caution is necessary in reading court transcripts, since the voices of the witnesses were recorded through the pens of court officials, who had their own formulas and agendas. Moreover, witnesses undoubtedly tailored their testimony to suit instrumental ends, such as winning a case or mitigating the harshness of a sentence. Nonetheless, these documents are invaluable for helping us understand the experiences of women like our fictional " Oksan'ka, " who occupied a precarious position as the widow of a soldier. Bereft of her husband and his defined position in society, she lacked the fundamental necessities of survival in a world built around rank and affiliation. Without protection, connections, financial means, a " free person " like Oksan'ka fell into the suspicious gray zone of masterless and rootless people. When she fell into the hands of an unscrupulous " patron, " she found herself in a position where her only defense came in the form of magic. It is important to note that most of the people accused of witchcraft in Muscovite courts were men. A sizable minority of cases, however, involve women, and the story of our fictional Oksan'ka draws on those models.