Which Navarre village was central to the 1609-1614 Basque witch accusations?

Zugarramurdi was the Navarre village at the center of the 1609–1614 Basque witch accusations.

Located near the French-Spanish border, Zugarramurdi became the most famous local focus of the witch-hunt investigated by the Spanish Inquisition’s tribunal at Logroño. Villagers were accused of attending akelarres, or supposed witches’ sabbaths, in a nearby cave and meadow. The Basque word akelarre is commonly translated as “meadow of the he-goat.”

The accusations expanded dramatically after proceedings began in 1609. Inquisitors gathered denunciations from the surrounding region, and the 1610 Logroño auto-da-fé publicized the case. Later, Alonso de Salazar Frías investigated the allegations and found that many confessions were contradictory, coerced, or withdrawn. His work contributed to the Inquisition’s more skeptical policy in 1614.

Zugarramurdi is sometimes confused with Logroño, where the tribunal and auto-da-fé were located. They are not the same place: Zugarramurdi was the village associated with the accusations, while Logroño was the judicial center for the proceedings.