Guirandana de Lay

Guirandana de Lay (died 1461), was a Spanish healer. She was accused of leading a coven of witches near Villanúa, Spain. De Lay considered herself a healer but was accused of poisoning children and spouses, among other evils, and sentenced to burn at the stake by a seven-man court in Jaca, Spain.

Biography

De Lay's residence was officially recorded as Villanúa in northern Spain, but because of the structure of her name (in English, Guirandana of Lay), she is thought to have moved to Spain from the town of Lay-Lamidou near Pau, France, located on the other (northern) side of the Pyrenees mountains. Her mother, Vicienta de Lay is also thought to have moved to northern Spain from southern France, so both women would have been labeled foreigners.

In Aragon, the term witch first appears in the official document Ordinations and Paramientos of Barbastro of 1396, but it does not specify which women or men were included in that definition, although many were eventually accused. Thirty years later, suspected witches Gracia Del Valle and Narbona Dacal (both executed in 1498), were thought to be members of the same coven.

The documented criminal proceedings mention that de Lay's assets were to be confiscated and sold to pay the court costs, but they do not explicitly record the date and place of de Lay's execution. Scholars have concluded that her sentence was carried out in Jaca in late March 1461.