Spee uses most frequently to denote a gathering of witches, whether supposed or real, physical or spectral, as seen in the first paragraph of question one of his book. This is the same word from which English words convention, convent, and coven are derived. Cautio Criminalis (1631) was written as a passionate innocence project. As a Jesuit, Spee was often in a position of witnessing the torture of those accused of witchcraft. Malleus Maleficarum In a 2009 translation of Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer's Malleus Maleficarum (1486), the word sabbath does not occur. A line describing a supposed gathering and using concionem is accurately translated as an assembly. But in the accompanying footnote, the translator seems to apologize for the lack of both the term sabbath and a general scarcity of other gatherings that would seem to fit the bill for what he refers to as a "black sabbath". Fine art The phrase is also popular in recent translations of the titles of artworks, including: The Witches' Sabbath by Hans Baldung (1510) Witches' Sabbath by Frans Francken (1606) Witches' Sabbath in Roman Ruins by Jacob van Swanenburgh (1608) As a recent translation from the original Spanish El aquelarre to the English title Witches' Sabbath (1798) and Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (1823) both works by Francisco Goya Muse of the Night (Witches' Sabbath) by Luis Ricardo Falero (1880) Disputed accuracy of the accounts of gatherings Modern researchers have been unable to find any corroboration with the notion that physical gatherings of practitioners of witchcraft occurred. In his study "The Pursuit of Witches and the Sexual Discourse of the Sabbat", the historian Scott E. Hendrix presents a two-fold explanation for why these stories were so commonly told in spite of the fact that sabbats likely never actually occurred. First, belief in the real power of witchcraft grew during the late medieval and early-modern Europe as a doctrinal view in opposition to the canon Episcopi gained ground in certain communities. This fueled a paranoia among certain religious authorities that there was a vast underground conspiracy of witches determined to overthrow Christianity. Women beyond child-bearing years provided an easy target and were scapegoated and blamed for famines, plague, warfare, and other problems. Having prurient and orgiastic elements helped ensure that these stories would be relayed to others. Ritual elements Bristol University's Ronald Hutton has encapsulated the witches' sabbath as an essentially modern construction,