The French Orcavelle in the 18th Century: Between Medrano's «Silva Curiosa» and Barahona de Soto's «Las Lágrimas de Angélica»

Abstract

In 1729, the Relation de la découverte du tombeau de l'enchanteresse Orcavelle, avec l'histoire tragique de ses amours, supposedly of Julian Medrano appeared in Paris, translated from Spanish by Louis Adrien Du Perron De Castera. This text does not correspond to the passage dedicated to Orcavella in the Silva curiosa. De Castera points out the existence of an unpublished manuscript by Medrano that he presumably was translating into French. However, it is very likely that the translator is, actually, the author of a writing that takes the miscellany of 1583 as its starting point and transcends it to offer a new product, a rewriting which possibly has also taken into account Las lágrimas de Angélica, by Luis Barahona de Soto (1586). These two Hispanic titles represent a milestone in the creation of ogress-witches such as Orcavella and Canidia, as they reflect popular witchcraft and not the canonical theology. Both figures have been fused in the Relation, so it will be necessary to take into account the features of the French Orcavella to determine the degree of originality that it presents and to what extent it has been influenced by the aforementioned sixteenth century sources.