Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) There is no record of Goya's thoughts during this period. He completed the series during a period recuperating from illness, possibly lead poisoning, when he was in considerable mental and physical pain, and withdrew from public life. "Witches' Sabbath" is believed to be a rather bitter, but silent, protest against the royalists and clergy who had retaken control of Spain after the Peninsular War of 1807–14. Advocates of the Enlightenment had sought to redistribute land to the peasants, to educate women, publish a vernacular Bible and, by replacing superstition with reason, put an end to the Inquisition. Witch hunting, seen
Spanish succession issue of 1789 enormously and might suggests distinct interpretations. One group of works sort of imply that in 1789 the succession law was effectively changed. There are authors who claim that Carlos IV decreed the Pragmatic Sanction, though he kept it secret; others tend to agree vaguely that the 1713 law was effectively altered in 1789, though the decision was not published. Another group of works is fathered by students who wrote highly ambiguous paragraphs; some note that the 1713 law was indeed changed in 1789, but the decision was put into effect in 1830, some point that the 1713 law "was modified