BP2: The Witch-Hunt

People implicated and executed in Bamberg 1623-1632?

varies from 600-900

What % of those brought to trial were women 1623-1632?

72.7%

When did the craze become widespread?

After the election of Von Dornheim in 1623

When were there a few isolated trials in Bamberg?

1623-25

When did the main trials start?

1626

Where was the epicentre of the trials?

Zeil

How many people were charged in Zeil in 1626, and how many of these were executed or died in custody?

59, 30 were executed or died in custody

How many suspects from Zeil were brought to trial in Bamberg in 1627?

130

When did the trials spread to Bamberg itself?

1628

How many were brought to trial 1623-31, and how many were released, escaped, or executed?

642, 45 were released, escaped, or executed

What type of women were the ones accused in Bamberg?

Women of marriageable age

What was the average age of the 300 women?

33.5

How old were most of the men accused?

Middle aged

Very young boy confession?

Open confession of a 9 yr old boy who claimed a demon called George encouraged him to perform maleficia, including destroying crops and causing livestock to be killed in freezing conditions

Example of high-status Bamberg resident being targeted?

John Junius - Mayor of Bamberg

Situation with Hans Langhans - Mayor of Zeil?

Confessed after torture in 1628 that he had been baptised by the Devil and was responsible for the frost

How many members of the town council/mayor’s office were executed, and how many of their relatives found guilty?

10, 29

Why were high-status individuals often targeted in this hunt?

• the financial motivation of confiscating their property

• their opposition to the hunts

High status individuals opposing the hunts —→ accusation - example

Georg Eder, son of a well-known Catholic reformer at the imperial court, was executed. In opposing the trials, Eder and other officials were aiding the Devil, and so must be witches themselves.

From what year did officials begin to examine parish records for individuals who failed to receive Catholic communion?

1628

Example of people feeling Bamberg?

Margarethe Weltzin (who escaped to Vienna after her relatives and friends were burned, where she petitioned the imperial court)

Case of Georg Hann?

Questioned the trials and petitioned the imperial court to intervene. His wife and daughter were executed in 1628 (helped the authorities convince others of his guilt)

Whole families being wiped out?

2 notable families associated w the town council of Zeil were virtually wiped out from 1626-28

What did the Carolina law of 1532 allow for?

An extensive range of torture devices to be used on suspects, and with the judicial freedom that the princes enjoyed, many confessions were extracted that way

Problems with torture and extracting confessions?

Confessions obtained under torture were permissible in court and defendants were denied many basic legal rights

When was John Junius arrested?

June 1628, after his wife had been executed for witchcraft

Who implicated Junius?

Georg Hann

Junius’ confession?

Only confessed under torture (letter to his daughter), he renounced God, tried to kill a horse and his daughter

Who was Dornheim’s legal advisor?

Dr Ernst Vasolt

Evidence that Vasolt extended the trials?

He often demanded 100 names of the suspects accomplices or those seen at meetings

Authorities in Bamberg schedule of confession?

They established a schedule of 101 questions to be asked during interrogation which show a concern about the Devil - asking about Diabolic pacts.

What encouraged the persecution of the upper classes in Bamberg?

The law that allowed for the confiscation of witches property

What caused a witch-hunting ‘business’ in Bamberg?

• law for confiscating witches property

• Victims being responsible for their court costs incl; travel expenses for torturers and interrogators, raw materials for the execution

How many witches were still being held by the end of the persecution in April 1631?

22

How many florins were confiscated in total?

around 500,000

Why was Georg Neudecker imprisoned for three years?

He had been the Mayor of Bamberg and one of its richest citizens, they got 100,000 florins from him.

How many florins did they get from the Treasurer of Bamberg, Wolfgang Hoffmeister?

50,000

What was the extensive nature of the hunt 1623-32 largely due to?

The actions of the prince-bishop Von Dornheim (died 1633)

Who was Dornheim?

• champion of the counter-reformation

• believed tackling witchcraft to be of utmost importance

• took personal responsibility and hired people to assist him

What were the characteristics of the Drudenhaus (witch-prison)?

• built in 1627 by Von Dornheim

• could contain 30-40 suspects

• walls were covered in Biblical texts

• suspects could be tortured with his personal consent

Who was Frederick Forner (1568-1630)?

• deputy to Dornheim

• supporter of the Counter-Reformation

• relentlessly pursued suspected witches

Forner experience/qualifications?

• took up a position at the Seminary in Bamberg in 1592

• Returned in 1528 after studying in Rome

• Involved in witch hunting since 1609

Forner’s 25 sermons on witchcraft and magic 1625?

• Calvinists = liars who are no different to magicians

• areas where occult practices = harbouring Protestant preachers

• by failing to respect Catholic doctrine and liturgy you are undermining social and political order

• Lutheran clergy caused witchcraft in Germany

• 30 yrs war caused increase in witchcraft - final battle between God and the Devil

Examples of Forner providing the intellectual framework for the hunts?

• made the link between man’s disobedience, sin, idolatry, and witchcraft

• argued for a historical struggle between God and the Devil (who made false promises)

• Devil becomes more violent as he is closer to being defeated - 30 yrs war

• More witches in Catholic territories, as Protestants already believed the Devil’s lies