Thinking with demons among the comuneros of Castile. The Devil and the revolt of the Comunidades (1520-1521)

Abstract

Between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries the Devil was one of the main characters of European culture, increasing, in the view of the people of those centuries, his intervention in the world. His participation was associated with multiple events, such as natural disasters, creation of heresies or the organization of a sect of witches that sought to destroy Christianity. After considering the figure of the Devil as a rebel in the Christian tradition, this article deals with the intrusion of the Devil in the revolt of the comuneros of Castile (1520-1521): many contemporaries linked those rebels to stereotypes normally associated with diabolical activity, from the presence of demons among them to the use of demonic magic by some of the comunero leaders. Thus, it analyzes what might be called the political uses of demonology. Facing the incredulity of the Spanish Inquisition on the stereotype of the sabbat, we can see here another menacing devil: the organizer of revolts against the monarchy. Finally, the rebel is incorporated among the gallery of "others" demonized by European medieval and renaissance culture.