Academic literature on the topic 'Trials (Witchcraft) – Germany – History'

From the late sixteenth to the late seventeenth century many of the territories and cities in Central Europe were the scene of witchcraft trials. As recent research shows, it was especially in the years around 1590, 1610, and 1630, and again in the 1650s, that many parts of Germany were overwhelmed by what might be called a tidal wave of witch-hunting, with thousands upon thousands of victims: women mostly, yet also men and children. So far, despite a large number of detailed studies, there is no convincing explanation of why witch-hunting should have played such a prominent role in Germany from the 1590s to the 1650s.

Abstract This article enhances our understanding of the development and dynamism of early modern witch stereotypes by focusing on the stereotype of the witch-cleric, the Christian minister imagined by early modern people as working for the devil instead of God, baptizing people into witchcraft, working harmful magic and even officiating at witches’ gatherings. I show how this stereotype first developed in relation to Catholic clerics in demonology, print culture and witch-trials, then examine its emergence in relation to Protestant clerics in Germany and beyond, using case studies of pastors from the Lutheran territory of Rothenburg ob der Tauber from 1639 and 1692 to explore these ideas in detail. I also offer a broader comparison of beliefs about Protestant witch-clerics and their susceptibility to formal prosecution with their Catholic counterparts in early modern Germany, showing that cases involving Protestant witch-clerics were part of a cross-confessional phenomenon that is best understood in a comparative, Europe-wide perspective. In addition to showing how the witch-cleric stereotype changed over time and spread geographically, I conclude by arguing that three distinct variants of this stereotype had emerged by the seventeenth century: the Catholic ‘witch-priest’ and Protestant ‘witch-pastor’ (who were supposedly witches themselves) and the overzealous clerical ‘witch-master’, who was thought to do the devil’s work by helping persecute innocent people for witchcraft. Despite these stereotypes, however, relatively few clerics of either confession were tried and executed as witches; overall, patriarchy worked to protect men of the cloth from the worst excesses of witch persecution.

Twenty years have passed since Hans Eyvind Næss published what remains the only complete study of Norwegian witchcraft trials. This article considers the work done since that time, and surveys the state of research on witchcraft trials in Norway. Drawing on a recent registration of all known extant witchcraft trial records in Norway as well as recent research, I show how there was a much higher degree of regional differences within Norway than Næss allowed for, as well as a much greater degree of diabolism (the charge that witches took Satan as their lord) in Norwegian trials.

This article explores the trauma that early modern witchcraft trials inflicted on survivors and their communities. The point of departure is the case of Margareth Los, a widow accused of witchcraft in 1520s Württemberg. Subjected to brutal torture, Los was acquitted provisionally after three years in jail. Remarkably, she had the strength to produce an account of her ordeal and to bring her case before the highest court of justice in the Empire. The historical literature on witch trials has long been polarized by the quest for the most “accurate” death tolls. However, the social cost of witch hunts cannot be assessed by the number of death sentences alone. As Los’s case illustrates, witch hunts often had inconclusive outcomes, leaving the accused in a legal limbo that could last for years or even decades. Only one outcome was always the same: witch trials left behind a population of uprooted, dispossessed, and traumatized individuals.

For a Long time, scholars of witch-hunting presented Enlightenment political reforms as a kind of ”cure” for the “craze” of witchcraft, but despite these efforts, relatively little attention was truly paid to the end of witch-hunting. Without were formulated, historians attributed changes in state policy to an emerging skepticism and rationalism within the judicial and political elites of Europe.1 At times, scholars focus upon specific, local trials in which a loss of confidence emerged among those hearing witchcraft cases, but somewhat more frequently, they examine specific regions in which, they claim, scientific values and attitudes fostered skepticism among the elites formulating policies on the crime of witchcraft.2 Although there is an undeniable validity to both approaches, their conclusions are not without controversy. Several scholars have pointed out that judicial skepticism toward the crime of witchcraft emerged even before widespread intellectual change, and they have noted that the centralization of judicial administrations led to a decrease in the number and intensity of trials well in advance of enlightened thinking.

This thesis is a study of the problem of subjectivity and prostitution in the Middle Ages. Three legal case studies of unpublished archival material and one chapter focussing on fictional texts from late mediaeval Germany and Switzerland are used to investigate the conditions of prostitutes' subjectification in law and literature. The thesis takes impetus from Ruth Karras's recent articulation of the problem of prostitution and sexuality, seeking to engage critically with her notion of “prostitute” as a medieval sexual identity that might be applied to any woman who had extra-marital sex. In dealing with trial records, it also aims to make a methodological contribution to the study of crime and the problem of locating the individual. Chapters I-III examine the records of criminal cases featuring the testimony of prostitutes, or women who risked such categorisation, to consider the available subject positions both within and outwith the context of municipal regulation. Whilst acknowledging the force of normative ideas about prostitutes as lustful women, these chapters argue that prostitutes' subject positions in legal cases were adopted according to local conditions, and depended upon the immediate circumstances of the women involved. They also consider trial records as a form of masculine discourse, arguing that an anxious masculine subject can be seen to emerge in response to the phenomenon of prostitution. Chapter IV expands this discussion by drawing on literary texts showing how prostitutes prompted concern on the part of male poets and audiences, for whom their sexual agency was a threat which belied their theoretical status as sexual objects. Note: Transcriptions of the legal cases making up chapters I-III are provided in Appendices A, B, and C.

The purpose of this essay is to explore actions of the representatives of the church during the first of the trials of what later developed to the great swedish witch-hunts between the years 1668–1676. The method of this study is microhistorical, where you look at local events that then can be applied on a bigger scale. The theoretical ideas applied are Michel Foucault theories of a society at war, and the dynamics between central power and peripheral power in that kind of situation. By applying these theories, the relations between central juridical directives and the enforcement of these in a local place can be studied. The main subject of interest for this essay is clerical representative Lars P. Elvius, who, during the trials, were the one responsible and the one the rest of the court relied on for interpreting the crimes of witchcraft, maleficum and other crimes of supernatural art. By looking at the directives and laws concerning witchcraft, how he interpreted the testimonies of the accused and what kind of verdict was given at the end of the trial, the relationship between central directives and peripheral enforcement is made clear. This study is part chronological and part thematic; the directives and laws presented first, followed by the interpretation during the trial categorized thematically, with correlating testimony and crime, and finally the verdict at the end of the trial.

Arbeit und Magie werden in der ländlichen Gesellschaft der Frühen Neuzeit neu bewertet. Während die Reformation die Arbeit aufwertet, verteufelt sie den Müßiggang. Als zentrale Lebensäußerung bei der man häufig mit dem Lebensbereich des Anderen in Berührung kommt, birgt Arbeit ein hohes Konfliktpotential in sich. Als Glaubensform basiert Magie auf kollektiven Übereinkünften und strebt einen praktikablen Umgang mit feindseligen Mächten an, so dass sie mit Formen alltäglicher Konfliktaustragung (Gegenzauber, Bezichtigung als Zauberer/Zauberin) bekämpft werden können. Auf Magie als Deutung oder Handlung haben ihre beginnende Kriminalisierung (Carolina) und das Vordringen der Schriftlichkeit nachhaltigen Einfluss. Aus diesen Veränderungen heraus empfängt das Themenpaar Arbeit und Magie seine Bedeutung, das hier in seinem Zusammenwirken erstmals untersucht wird und zwar am Beispiel der Mittelmark. Wie die Auswertung von Gesuchen mittelmärkischer Gerichte um Rechtsbelehrung an den Schöppenstuhl in Brandenburg zum neuen Delikt der Zauberei im Zeitraum von 1551 bis 1620 beweist, handelt es sich bei der Mittelmark um ein verfolgungsarmes Territorium, das sich daher bestens für die Untersuchung des selbstverständlichen Umgangs mit Magie eignet. In 98 von 136 Prozessen sind insgesamt 107 Frauen und 9 Männer angeklagt – darunter eine „weise Frau“ und zwei Männer als volksmagische Spezialisten. Der Höhepunkt der Spruchtätigkeit liegt zwischen 1571 und 1580. In dieser Phase tauchen erstmals dämonischer Vorstellungen auf und werden weibliche Magiedelikte auch auf Männer übertragen (Schadenszauber, Teufelspakt). Der Vorwurf des Teufelspaktes ist überwiegend im Nordwesten der Mittelmark anzutreffen und wird hier auch zuerst erhoben. Dennoch kann sich der dämonische Hexenglauben als städtisches Phänomen in der ländlich geprägten Mittelmark kaum durchsetzen, denn in keinem der untersuchten Fälle taucht der Terminus „Hexe“ auf. Die Rezeption der Hexenlehre in all ihren wesentlichen Elementen (Buhlschaft, Zusammenkunft auf dem Blocksberg und die Fahrt dorthin) ist erst 1613 abgeschlossen. Damit kommt sie für die Mittelmark zu spät, um ihre zerstörerische Wirkung zu entfalten: Die Auswirkungen des Dreißigjährigen Krieges überlagern alsbald die Vorstellungen von „bösen Zauberinnen“. Mit Hilfe der Studien von RAINER WALZ zur magischen Kommunikation und EVA LABOUVIE (Offizialisierungsstrategien) wurden drei Fälle näher untersucht, in denen die Arbeit entweder Konfliktanlass ist, mit magischen Mitteln beeinflusst wird oder es um die professionelle Ausübung von Magie im Bezug auf ländliche Arbeit geht. In Nassenheide wird 1573 dem Bauern Peter Calys das Abzaubern von Feldfrüchten unterstellt. Seine Nachbarschaft beobachtet ein ihr unbekanntes Ritual (vermutlich eine Schädlingsbekämpfung), was sie in kein geduldetes magisches Handeln einordnen kann. In Liebenwalde geht es 1614 um „fliegende Worte“, die im Streit um erschlagene Gänse ausgesprochen und später, nach einer Reihe von Unglücksfällen, vom Gescholtenen als Flüche umgedeutet werden. In Rathenow steht 1608 der Volksmagier Hermann Mencke vor Gericht. Sein Repertoire an magischen Hilfsleistungen umfasst Bann-, Heil- und Hilfszauber. Diese drei Fallstudien ergaben für das Thema Arbeit und Magie, dass Magie in der sich schwerfällig entwickelnden Landwirtschaft ein innovatives Potential zukommt. Das Experimentieren mit Magieformen bleibt jedoch Spezialisten der Volksmagie vorbehalten. Insbesondere in den Dörfern, wo die Grenzen zwischen männlicher und weiblicher Magie durchlässig sind, erweist sich die Geschlechtsspezifik der volkstümlichen Magie als Produkt der Lebens- und Arbeitsbeziehungen in der ländlichen Gesellschaft. Männer wie Frauen verfügen über die zu ihren Arbeitsbereichen passenden Hilfszauber. Dass Zauber zu Frauenarbeiten wie Milchverarbeitung und Bierbrauen überwiegen, liegt neben der Häufigkeit, mit der diese Verrichtungen anfallen, ihrer Anfälligkeit für Fehler und ihrer Bedeutung für die Ernährung daran, dass sie sich im Verborgenen abspielen und daher verdächtig sind. Außerdem handelt es sich um mühselige und monotone Tätigkeiten, die daher der Motivation durch Magie bedürfen. Die Schlichtheit der weiblichen Magie korrespondiert mit der geringeren Spezialisierung weiblicher Arbeit in der Landwirtschaft, die sich in der Verwendung einfacher Werkzeuge bekundet. Wörter können wegen der spezifischen Organisation der Hirnareale zur Sprachverarbeitung in einer auf Mündlichkeit beruhenden Kultur heilen oder eine lebensbedrohliche Waffe sein. Indem Magie das Profane dramatisiert, kommt ihr die Funktion einer Erinnerungskunst zu, die später durch die Schrift ausgefüllt wird. Die Schrift macht Magie als Mnemotechnik überflüssig und immunisiert gegen die Macht des Wortes. Damit reift auch die Skepsis an der Wirksamkeit von Magie. Schließlich werden Schadenszaubervorwürfe nur noch als Injurienklagen verhandelt. Sie bestimmen die Prozesse um Zauberei nach dem Großen Krieg.
Work and magic have been redefined by the rural society of the early modern period. The reformation revalorized labor and condemned idleness. As basic means of existence, which was highly interwoven with the living spheres of other people, labor contained a high potential of conflict. Magic was a set of beliefs based on collective agreements and aspired to deal with evil powers by fighting them with every day strategies of solving conflicts like counter spells or accusations of sorcery. As an interpretation or action, magic was greatly influenced by its definition as an act of crime and an increase in literacy. These changes inspired the subject of this paper, which will analyze for the first time the interplay of work and magic in the electorate of Brandenburg, more precisely the Mittelmark. The examination of legal proceedings between 1551 an 1620 proves that the Mittelmark has been less infected by witch craze, which makes it an appropriate area to investigate the everyday use of magic. In 98 of 136 proceedings 107 women and 9 men have been accused of sorcery, among them one midwife and two specialists of popular magic. The climax of the proceedings happened in the 1570s. Now, demonic imaginations occurred and former female acts of magic were attributed to men as well. The assumption of a pact between witches and devil was typical for the northwestern part of the Mittelmark and has also been brought up as a charge there for the first time. Witch craze, however, was a phenomenon of the cities and hardly infiltrated the rural Mittelmark. In none of the investigated proceedings the word “witch” has been used. The reception of witchcraft in all its details like the pact with the devil or the gathering and the flight to the Witches’ Sabbath was only completed in 1613, too late to develop its destructiveness: The effects of the Thirty Years’ War overshadowed the conceptions of evil witches. By using the studies of Rainer Walz and Eva Labouvie, I closely examined three legal proceedings, in which the cause of conflict was either work, influences of magic on work, or in which someone worked as a popular sorcerer within rural work life. In 1573, the peasant Peter Calys, living in Nassenheide, has been accused to spirit away the crops. His neighborhood observed an unknown ritual which did not appear to be any form of harmless magic. 1614 “flying words” have been spoken in Liebenwalde during a quarrel about slain geese and were reinterpreted later as curses. In Rathenow the popular sorcerer Hermann Mencke had to defend himself in a trial in 1608. His magic enabled him to banish, to cure diseases, or to repair misfortune. As one healing attempt failed, his whole practice was viewed in a different light by his clients. The investigation of these three cases showed that magic possessed an innovative potential in the otherwise only slowly developing agriculture. But only specialists of popular magic were allowed to experiment with magic. The gender specificity of magic proved rather to be a result of relations and working conditions in rural society than of abstract ideas. Both men and women were well grounded in suitable spells for their working sphere. The greater quantity of spells belonging to typical female tasks like dairy or brewery work can be explained not only by importance and frequency of such duties in peasant housekeeping. These error-prone procedures could also fail easily and were additionally executed in the seclusion of a chamber and therefore suspicious. Above all, the tasks were monotonous and exhausting and therefore needed a magical motivation. The more artless female magic, relying mostly on power of words, corresponded with the less specialized female labor in agriculture. Due to the different organization of the cerebral areas for speech processing in an oral society, words could be lethal or healing. By dramatizing the profane, magic fulfilled functions of a mnemotechnique which were substituted later by writing. Writing protected against the power of words and accelerated skepticism of magic. In the end, accusations of sorcery were taken as defamations, which dominated legal proceedings after the Thirty Years’ War.

In 1950, the leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Walter Ulbricht, began a policy of connecting foreign threats with domestic policy failures as if the two were the same, and as if he was not responsible for either. This absolved him of blame for those failures and allowed Ulbricht to define his internal enemies as agents of the western powers. He used the state's secret police force, known as the Stasi, to provide the information that supported his claims of western obstructionism and to intimidate his adversaries. This resulted in a politicization of intelligence whereby Stasi officers slanted information so that it conformed to Ulbricht's doctrine of western interference. Comparisons made of eyewitness' statements to the morale reports filed by Stasi agents show that there was a difference between how the East German worker felt and the way the Stasi portrayed their attitudes to the politburo. Consequently, prior to June 17, 1953, when labor strikes inspired a million East German citizens to rise up against Ulbricht's oppressive government, the politicization of Stasi intelligence caused information over labor unrest to be unreliable at a time of increasing risk to the regime. This study shows the extent of Ulbricht's politicization of Stasi intelligence and its effect on the June 1953 uprising in the German Democratic Republic.

This Introduction sets out the intentions of this book: to use the rich witch-trial records from the early modern duchy of Württemberg in south-western Germany to explore the central themes of emotions, gender, and selfhood. It provides an overview of the key historiographical debates on witchcraft persecutions in the early modern period, and suggests new questions that need to be asked. It also provides a methodological and theoretical framework in which to address these questions, and provides an overview of the current state of the field of the history of emotions, and, by drawing on psychological approaches to listening to self-narratives, it suggests ways in which historical studies of emotions can be pushed further by incorporating the body and subjective states. It also sets out the legal, political, and religious framework of the Lutheran duchy of Württemberg, in order to put the witch-hunts in this region into context.

Abstract This chapter tells the story of the witch trials through an exploration of the archives that shape our understanding of their dynamics, and of their instigators and victims. Examples of the questionnaires used under continental Roman law to interrogate suspected witches illustrate the mind-set of the prosecuting authorities, and also the importance of torture to the inquisitorial process. Witness statements give an insight into the strength of popular conviction regarding the power of witchcraft, and the range of popular concerns. Even seemingly dry expense accounts provide valuable insights. The influence of popular print is also explained, with examples showing how the trial process was reported and more generally influenced popular perceptions of witchcraft and magic.