History of Magic and Witch Trials
About Contra sagas

Research, dialogue and historical sources

International scholarly exchange on witch trials and magical offences in the Habsburg lands.

Our mission

Connecting regional histories

Contra sagas is an independent international scholarly platform devoted to the history of witchcraft prosecutions, magical beliefs and judicial responses to alleged magical offences, with particular attention to the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy.

The platform emerged from the international conference Contra sagas – Early Modern Witch Trials in the Habsburg Monarchy (16th–18th Centuries), held in Zagreb on 13–14 October 2026. It preserves the conference’s scholarly materials and promotes cooperation across national, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries. It is intended to support future conferences, scholarly publications, historical source initiatives and collaborative research, including projects that may seek external funding.

Scope

What the platform brings together

01 / RESEARCH

Regional and comparative approaches

Research into local jurisdictions, estate courts, community conflicts, legal procedures and wider Habsburg contexts.

Explore research
02 / CONFERENCES

International dialogue

Programmes, speakers, abstracts and photographic records from scholarly meetings.

Conference archive
03 / SOURCES

Historical materials

References to archival collections, editions, scholarly publications and research resources as they become available.

Sources and archives
Origins

The Zagreb conference, 2026

The inaugural international conference took place at Matica hrvatska in Zagreb on 13–14 October 2026. Its principal organiser was the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, through its Department of History, in cooperation with the Centre for Advanced Studies of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, the Department of History of Matica hrvatska, and the Croatian Institute of History.

Contributions addressed regional patterns of prosecution, court practice, demonology, religion, gender, social tensions and historical sources. The online conference archive includes its edited programme, book of abstracts, poster and photographs.

Explore the 2026 conference