Matteuccia de Francesco (died 1428) was an alleged Italian

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...

and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is ...

, known as the "Witch of Ripabianca" after the village where she lived. Matteuccia was put on trial in

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. ...

in 1428, accused of being a prostitute, having committed

desecration Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Detail Many consider acts of desecration to ...

with other women and of the selling of love potions since 1426. She confessed having sold

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

and of having flown to a tree in the shape of a fly on the back of a demon after having smeared herself with an

ointment A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classe ...

made of the blood of newborn children. She was judged guilty of sorcery and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Her case was one of the earliest

witch trials in Europe Witch trials in the early modern period saw that between 1400 to 1782, around 40,000 to 60,000 were killed due to suspicion that they were practicing witchcraft. Some sources estimate that a total of 100,000 trials occurred at its maximum for a s ...

, and perhaps the first case where a witch is mentioned flying in the air.

References

* Jan Guillou, Häxornas försvarare, Piratförlaget 2002 () * People executed for witchcraft 1428 deaths Executed Italian people People executed by the Papal States by burning Executed Italian women 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Year of birth unknown Witch trials in Italy {{Italy-reli-bio-stub