The Bamberg witch hunt, 1623-32

Question 1

The extent of witch-hunting in the Holy Roman Empire

Answer 1

Over the course of nine years, as many as 900 accused witches were executed in the small state of Bamberg.
A variety of people, both low-born and of high social standing, were caught up in the craze.
There were complicated social, economic and religious causes.
The craze in Bamberg was part of a wider trend of witch-hunting in Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Geographical and religious boundaries overlapped in the Holy Roman Empire, with Catholics living alongside Calvinists and Lutherans. Some towns and cities could enjoy relative freedom if they had the status of an Imperial City, with only the Holy Roman Emperor to report to.
Town and village courts were given a remarkable amount of freedom to make their own judgements, with jurors selected from the locality. Cases could be referred to the governor of a particular territory, and sometimes appeals to higher courts were possible, but not always.
Across the German-speaking world, witch-hunts followed different patterns. In some areas, no witches were executed at all. In others, a handful of witches would be executed each decade, but in some regions, mass witch-hunts took place with hundreds, in some cases thousands, losing their lives.

Question 2

The religious context

Answer 2

As well as complex geographical boundaries, religious passion made the situation even more dangerous.
As the Protestant faith gradually gained support in the early 16th century, German towns became divided.
After the Catholic Emperor Charles V gained victory over a Protestant confederacy in 1548, a new principle was established: that the religion of a ruler should be the religion of a region.
There then developed a complicated arrangement whereby a town with a Protestant majority could be ruled by a minority Catholic clique, and vice versa.
Catholics, Calvinists and Lutherans lived side-by-side, and although they could live harmoniously together, the balance could be easily upset.

Question 3

Why Germany?

Answer 3

The hunts in Germany were often brutal with many more victims than other regions in Europe.
Historians have struggled to explain this: in Germany, Catholic regions ruled by prince-bishops were the most extensive witch-hunters, but in Catholic Spain, where the Inquisition was involved in hunting witches, relatively small numbers were executed.
Anti-Catholic Scotland suffered a number of high-profile witch-hunts and Lutheran Sweden experienced a witch-hunt in 1675 that resulted in 71 people being executed in a single day.
It seems, therefore, that Catholics were no more inclined to horrific witch-hunts than Protestants.
Across Europe, the image of a witch was very similar. To most Europeans, a witch was a poor old woman who cavorted with the Devil and caused harm. In Germany, a number of factors led to more panics spreading and becoming widespread:
The fact that political and judicial authority was fragmented meant that panics could easily take hold.
The context of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation is important because it led to Germans fearing the Devil’s work all around them.
Germany also had limited legal framework to use against witches. A law code created under Charles V in 1532 known as The Carolina specified that justice should remain a local matter. Although it contained little to guide witch-hunters, they citied it regularly in order to justify their work.

Question 4

The importance of Bamberg

Answer 4

Founded in the 11th century, the principality of Bamberg was created to aid the spread of Christianity in Germany.
From 1242 its bishops became prince-bishops, and it became an important centre of the Roman Catholic Church.
A confused picture emerged in the prince-bishoprics, as a bishop might have complete judicial control overo one geographical area, but lack the power to set up courts in others.
The extensive lands ruled by the Catholic prince-bishops saw most witch persecution in Germany in the 17th century.

Question 5

The Counter-Reformation

Answer 5

Began in the second half of the 16th century
Led by zealous prince-bishops from across the Holy Roman Empire
It gained momentum through the influence of the recently established Jesuit order.
Jesuit churches were founded in cities like Munich, and the message from the clergy was fiercely anti-Protestant.
In return, Protestants believed that Catholics were in league with the Devil and that the pope was the Antichrist.
Catholic emperors were keen to promote the Jesuit cause, and they were settled across modern Germany and in Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck and Linz in Austria.
Traditional forms of Catholic devotion were encouraged, and new shrines dedicated to saints were established.
The Catholic faith became an essential component of the prince-bishopric, and the elites who governed these states supported the Habsburgs and enabled them to cement their overall control.

Question 6

resistance to the Counter-Reformation

Answer 6

In the small Lutheran commune of Marktzeuln, which was officially controlled by the bishop of Bamberg, the parishioners of the local Protestant church refused to renounce their faith, despite enormous pressure to do so.
When the Catholic authorities attempted to place new ministers in office, they were faced with threats and weapons and chased out of the area.

Question 7

When Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen was appointed prince-bishop of Bamberg in 1609

Answer 7

He prioritised the conversion of his Protestant parishes to Catholicism.
A number of methods were employed that caused further resentment between followers of the two denominations.
Fines were imposed on parishes that insisted on remaining Protestant.
Supplies of wood to Protestant parishes were restricted.
Catholic troops were quartered in Protestant villages.
Dissidents were sent into exile.
On a number of occasions, Lutherans were rounded up and arrested.
Protestants could also face imprisonment in Bamberg tower, in a room twelve feet wide and infested with vermin.
Despite this, Protestant communities in Bamberg remained stubborn and in 1619, some parishioners in Marktzeuln were still refusing to convert to Catholicism.

Question 8

Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen

Answer 8

Von Aschhausen invited the Jesuits to settle in Bamberg, and founded Catholic schools.
He sent unco-operative priests to their own prison, known as the ‘Priests’ Vaults’.
Although his persecution of Protestants, and, as a result, suspected witches, was not as widespread as that of his successor, John George II Fuchs von Dornheim, he had around 300 suspected witches executed.

Question 9

The first witch trials in Bamberg

Answer 9

Aschhausen’s predecessor, Neytard von Thungen, initiated the first persecutions in 1595. Margarethe Pemmerin was charged with witchcraft in this year, and she admitted worshipping the Devil for a period of ten years. She was sentenced to being burned at the stake, but Bishop Neytard allowed her last minute to be executed by the sword, a punishment viewed as less brutal.

Question 10

new ordinance concerning witchcraft issued by von Aschhausen in 1610

Answer 10

In it, he ordered an investigation, whereby any person found practising magic would be severely punished.
It is no coincidence that this ordinance coincided with Protestant rebellions in nearby Bohemia.
He also stated that contrary to the laws of the Catholic Church and the Empire, sorcerers and fortune-tellers were at work in Bamberg.

Question 11

bishop’s visitation report of 1611

Answer 11

Despite the ordinance, the bishop’s visitation report of 1611 stated that blasphemous practices were still being carried out in Bamberg, including fortune-telling and spell casting.
Pre-Christian activities were reported at an old pagan shrine.
In the same regions where evidence of occult practices were found, Protestant preachers were being harboured, thus enhancing the connection between Protestantism and witchcraft in the eyes of the Catholic authorities.

Question 12

Lena Pantzerin

Answer 12

When one woman, Lena Pantzerin, was accused in 1612, no one seemed to know how to examine a witch, so an outsider named Trill was called in.
The accusation against Pantzerin led to many more being accused and ultimately executed.

Question 13

1616-1619

Answer 13

These years saw an intensity of witch-hunting never seen before in Bamberg, although trials were brought to an end in 1619 by a group of moderates on the local council.
They claimed that with war breaking out in neighbouring Bohemia, the authorities could not afford the luxury of chasing phantoms.
With the election of George II Fuchs von Dornheim as prince-bishop in 1623, any opposition to witch-hunting was effectively removed and the hunts were able to begin again.

Question 14

The origins of the Thirty Years ‘War

Answer 14

Witch-hunting developed to become extensive across Germany during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), and Bamberg was affected significantly by the conflict.
The origins of the war lay in both the religious divisions found in Northern Europe and the ambitions of the Habsburg monarchy.
The Habsburg Emperors were historically concerned with enhancing their territory, usually through marriage.
This would often cause resentment , as was the case in both Moravia and Bohemia, where Protestants became bitter as a result of Counter-Reformation policies.
In Prague, defenestration was carried out on representatives of the emperor. The Protestants of Bohemia then raised armies in support of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, the son-in-law of James VI and I of Scotland and England.
Many of the German states ultimately became embroiled in the war, and a number of historians have argued that this lead to an increase in witch-hunting across the Empire. This view has been criticised by some historians who point to the fact that in many areas, witch-hunting ceased with the arrival of the war.

Question 15

Impact of the war on Bamberg

Answer 15

Foreign armies became involved in the war, with nearly 150,000 Swedes and 100,000 Danes fighting for the Protestant cause, as well as Dutch, Scottish and English involvement.
From 1635, France joined the anti-Habsburg alliance and the war became less a war of religion and more a continuation of the existing rivalry between the French and the Habsburgs in Spain and Germany.
The presence of large armies had a devastating impact on Bamberg and the wider empire. Famine was caused as a result of soldiers requisitioning food, villages and towns were plundered for supplies, and young men and boys were forcibly conscripted by both sides.
This, combined with crop failures and inflation led to an increased fear of witches as misfortune was seen to be present everywhere.
In this context, those Catholics in Bamberg who had fought for the Counter-Reformation became more fanatical than ever. People who deviated from orthodox Catholic practices were labelled as heretics, and inevitably suspicion was laid upon the Devil.
Those who were targeted in the context of war usually fell into one of the following categories:
women whose sexual behaviour deviated from that expected from the Catholic Church. This fear originated from the Protestant belief that priests should not necessarily live lives of celibacy
people (both women and men) whose political views and attitudes to the war deviated from those of the Catholic authorities
people who had an existing reputation for healing, fortune-telling or sorcery, who became easy scapegoats for the destruction that was taking place everywhere
members of the upper class. Under Prince-Bishop von Dornheim (1623-32) a law that allowed for the confiscation of witches’ property was exploited, resulting in the upper classes being disproportionately targeted.

Question 16

The trial of Lorentz Kempffen Seebauer’s wife in 1629

Answer 16

she was accused of suggesting that a frost should ruin the fruit harvest, and recent freezing conditions were mentioned throughout the trial

Question 17

The confession of Katharina Merckhlerin in November 1626

Answer 17

contained the admission that she had been part of a plot to freeze and destroy all of Bamberg’s crops

Question 18

Witch trials peaked in Bamberg in 1629

Answer 18

It was also the year that frost destroyed the wine crop.

Question 19

The 1620’s weather

Answer 19

Generally cold and wet
In trial records 1628 is remembered as a year without a summer.
The early 17th century coincided with the so-called ‘Little Ice Age’, which was a period of significantly colder and unsettled weather in Europe, peaking between 1560 and 1660.
Combined with debt from the Thirty Years’ War, crop failure amounted to a crisis for the state. Debts from war increased to 800,000 florins by its end, and during the war the authorities had little choice but to levy high taxes.
It was in the interest of the prince-bishop to carry out witch-hunts in order to ensure that the frost did not return.

Question 20

petitions from subjects to their overlords

Answer 20

The vast majority of suspects in Bamberg were arrested after they were named by others under torture as accomplices but petitions from subjects to their overlords was also a regular feature of witch trials.
These petitions demanded the eradication of witches in a particular village, parish or town, and evidence from a contemporary, Hans Langhans, who was mayor of the town of Zeil and was himself executed for sorcery in 1628, indicates that a petition produced after the frost of May 1626 triggered some of the trials.

Question 21

Inflation and economic crises

Answer 21

The supply of money in general was an issue. Silver from America had been relatively well supplied until around 1610, when imports started to decline.
Across the Empire, non-silver (especially copper) currency was utilised.
The gold florin, which was used across Europe as a reserve currency, had reduced in gold content from 79 percent in the early 15th century to 77 percent in 1626.
As money lost its real value and poor weather resulted in crop failures, the price of goods increased.
The people of Bamberg had little understanding of economics, and if they did they lacked the data with which to make an informed interpretation. The only possible explanation for many was to place the crisis within a framework that they understood to be rational: that of magic and witchcraft.
It is no coincidence that those accused of witchcraft in Bamberg and beyond were more likely to live along trade routes. This meant they were more likely to engage in financial conflict with their neighbours and others.

Question 22

Maria Anna Junius, nun and daughter of the Mayor of Bamberg, John Junius (who was accused of witchcraft himself), attempted to explain the causes of the witch-hunt in her memoirs.

Answer 22

The primary reason she puts forward is inflation, and the reduction in the value of currency.

Question 23

Margaretha Eissmennin (economic causes mentioned in confession)

Answer 23

Margaretha Eissmennin admitted that after extensive coin clipping, money had lost its value, and she was forced to turn to the Devil.
The familiar tale told in witch trials across Europe- that of the poverty-stricken turning to the Devil- became more and more common in Bamberg.

Question 24

Kunigudta Rindterin (economic causes mentioned in confession)

Answer 24

Kunigudta Rindterin confessed that she entered into a relationship with a rich man in order to avoid poverty. This was interpreted by her accusers as a pact with the Devil.

Question 25

Margaretha Gussbacherin (economic causes mentioned in confession)

Answer 25

Margaretha Gussbacherin prostituted herself to a man in a black feather hat to free herself of poverty and suffering. This was again interpreted as a diabolical pact.

Question 26

reserve currency

Answer 26

A strong currency held in significant amounts by central banks or treasuries as part of their foreign exchange reserves

Question 27

coin clipping

Answer 27

The process of clipping the edges of a coin to reduce its precious metal content. This can be done to deliberately lower the value of the coin, or to use the precious metal for other purposes, such as making counterfeit coins.

Question 28

Numbers and gender affected by the witch-hunt

Answer 28

Estimates of the number of people implicated and executed in Bamberg between 1623 and 1632 vary from 600 to 900.
Women were significantly more likely to be accused.
Women made up 72.7% of those brought to trial from 1623 to 1631, which is slightly lower than the 81.1% of those brought to trial in the major wave of 1616 to 1622.
The election of John George II Fuchs von Dornheim as prince-bishop in 1623 allowed for the craze to become widespread.
After a few isolated trials in the years 1623-25, mass trials took place from 1626.
The initial epicentre of the hunt was in Zeil, a town under the authority of Bamberg, where 59 people were charged in 1626. At least 30 of these were executed or died in custody.
In 1627, 130 suspects from Zeil were called before the court in Bamberg, and in 1628 the trials spread to Bamberg itself. According to contemporary records, at least 642 individuals were brought to trial between 1623 and 1631. Of these 45 were released or escaped, with the remainder being executed.

Question 29

Social groups: age

Answer 29

Closer examination of the evidence shows that few victims meet the usual criteria for those accused of witchcraft.
The stereotype of the witch as old and poor is rarely found in Bamberg.
In Zeil, only seven older women were sent for execution, and just two of these were identified in trial records as ‘wisewomen’.
The majority of women across the region of Bamberg who were brought to trial were of marriageable age, and the number of widows was small.
The average age of the 300 women for whom this can be determined is 33 1/2.
Most of the men accused were middle-aged, although a case is recorded of a nine-year-old boy tried for witchcraft. His name is not recorded, although he was interrogated for a number of weeks. Unusually, he confessed without being tortured to a wildly exaggerated story about an encounter he had with a demon he named as George. He claimed that the demon appeared to him with horns and goat feet, and after initially threatening the boy, encouraged him to learn witchcraft.
His story related to various acts of maleficium, including destroying crops, stealing wine and causing livestock to be killed by freezing conditions.
He also stated that his demon was able to visit him while he was in prison, and that it even assisted him in escaping for a short time through a gap in the wall.
There is no record of his execution, but his crimes are comparable with those of other suspects who were burned in Bamberg.

Question 30

High-status individuals

Answer 30

Those from higher social groups were extensively targeted, with the most notable individual being John Junius, Mayor of Bamberg. Other high-status individuals included the following:
Hans Langhans, the mayor of Zeil, kept an accurate diary of the witches and sorcerers put on trial. He confessed after torture in 1628 that he had been baptised by the Devil in 1611. He also admitted to being responsible for the frost that destroyed the wine crop in 1615-16.
Along the Lange Gasse, the main street through the centre of Bamberg, 17 different households became victims, all of them from well-respected backgrounds.
The leading citizens of both Bamberg and Zeil suffered. As well as Langhans, 10 other members of the town council or mayor’s office were executed. At least 20 relatives of town councillors were also found guilty. In total, around half of those accused in Zeil were either local officials or their relatives.

Question 31

Reasons for why so many high-status individuals were accused

Answer 31

financial advantages for the prince-bishop from property confiscations
their opposition to trials. Even George Eder, the son of a well-known Catholic reformer at the imperial court, was executed. As a passionate supporter of the Counter-Reformation, Eder could not comprehend why he was accused of witchcraft and used this fact as part of his defence. For the Catholic authorities in Bamberg, however, this was no surprise, because in opposing the trials, Eder and the other officials were aiding the Devil, and there was a widespread belief that public officials who failed to persecute witches effectively were themselves witches.
This belief is echoed in an anonymous pamphlet that was found under the door of an official in Bamberg in September 1629. The pamphlet is written as a dialogue between two labourers, who are concerned at the number of witches in the town of Forchheim.
Interestingly, Forchheim was almost untouched by thw witch trials, despite being under the jurisdiction of the prince-bishop.

Question 32

From 1628 officials began examining parish records for individuals who failed to receive Catholic communion.

Answer 32

They were then reported to the official commission on witchcraft.
Many of these individuals had either refused to convert to Catholicism or had only reluctantly converted, and a number of them fled Bamberg.
Albert Pfersmann, whose wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law had all been executed, sought protection in Hungary.
Two brothers, Johann and George Kauwer, fled to Rome where they presented the Vatican with a complaint against the prince-bishop. Both of their parents had been executed.
Margarethe Weltzin, whose friends and relatives had been burned, escaped to Vienna where she petitioned the imperial court.

Question 33

Hereditary guilt

Answer 33

In a number of cases, a pattern emerges whereby a father was initially accused and was executed along with his wife or daughter.
Sometimes the opposite pattern can be seen: the cathedral chancellor, George Hann, who had made the mistake of questioning the trials, was arrested following the execution of his wife and daughter in 1628. Hann came under suspicion after he petitioned the imperial high court to intervene in the cases of accused women in Bamberg. The execution of his wife and daughter was beneficial to the authorities because it helped to convince others of his guilt. His son and daughter-in-law were then condemned after they in turn protested at the treatment of Hann and his wife.

Hereditary guilt can also be seen in the cases of Conrad Merklein and Conrad Orter, who both held senior positions on the town council in Zeil. They were both executed on 10 November 1626, and two months later Orter’s wife and daughter were arrested. In April 1627 Merklein’s daughter Christina was arrested and four days later Orter’s son-in-law was detained.
Christina was executed, and both of her sons, together with two servant girls from her house in Bamberg, were arrested.
The eldest of her sons, Hans, was 14 years old, and claimed that he had been persuaded into witchcraft by one of the servant girls, who was in fact the Devil in disguise. He was burned shortly after his fifteenth birthday. By 1629 the Merklein and Orter families had been virtually wiped out.

Question 34

The use of torture

Answer 34

torture was used extensively
The Carolina Law Code of 1532 allowed for an extensive range of torture devices to be used on suspects, and with the judicial freedom that the prince-bishop enjoyed, numerous confessions were extracted in this way.
A network of informers was created and a witch-prison was built in order to carry out torture. Confessions obtained under torture were permissible in court and defendants were denied many basic legal rights. A number of torture methods were utilised.
A common device used at Bamberg was the thumbscrews. The thumbs of those accused were placed in a vice-like contraption, which would be gradually tightened if the suspect refused to confess. Toes were also crushed in a similar manner.
The strappado, a device that was used to suspend a victim in the air by their wrists, was used extensively. Victims at Bamberg were left elevated for several hours at a time. This would often result in the dislocation of the wrists. Heavy weights could be attached to the bodies of victims in order to cause further pain.
Recorded examples from Bamberg also include the burning of a woman’s hair.
Whipping was also common, but it is usually recorded only in conjunction with the other methods of torture.
Some prisoners were forced to kneel on a piece of wood covered with metal spikes for several hours.
Food containing excessive salt and pepper was given to some victims, who were then deprived of water.
A small room with spikes on the floor was used in order to prevent the suspects from sleeping.

Question 35

The case of John Junius

Answer 35

One of the most high-profile, and best recorded cases from Bamberg is that of John Junius.
Junius experienced some of the most brutal torture documented.
By the time of his arrest in June 1628 Junius had served as mayor for 20 years, and shortly before his arrest his wife had been executed as a witch, thus implicating him by association.
He was also implicated by George Hann and his family, who named Junius and many others, including priests and councillors, before they were executed.
Hann swore on his life that he witnessed Junius a year and a half earlier at a witch-gathering in the electoral council room.

Question 36

Junius’ letter to his daughter

Answer 36

Junius was able to smuggle a letter out of his prison to his daughter, which serves as one of the most powerful accounts of torture and persecution from the period.
In the letter, he explains that he was entirely innocent, and that it was only torture that compelled him to confess.
In his letter, Junius goes on to explain that he begged for an extra day to consider his situation and speak with a priest. The chance to consult a priest was denied, but he was allowed a day of reflection, after which he decided to confess to being a witch, and he was pressed for the names of his accomplices.

Question 37

The content of confessions

Answer 37

The authorities in Bamberg established a schedule of 101 questions to be asked during interrogation.
The historian Hans Sebald (1990) has identified a number of typical elements that can be found in the records of Bamberg confessions.
The first part of a confession usually involved recounting how the accused became involved with the Devil.
In the second part of the confession the accused usually described a death threat given to them by their demon of familiar in order to force co-operation.
An oath of loyalty or mock baptism in the presence of demons or other initiates normally followed next. The initiate would be given a new name by the Devil.
All confessions describing a baptism with the Devil reported the receipt of a gift. A common example was a piece of gold that turned into a slice of turnip or a worthless piece of pottery.
Additional demons or conspirators were an important part of confessions, and naturally names of fellow witches were sought by torturers.
Confessions of night-flight were common, whereby the witch would travel through the sky to a sabbat with others.
In order for the confession to be acceptable, the accused was asked to provide a list of evil deeds committed, such as damage to crops, harming people or harming animals.
Sacrilege and blasphemy were the most abhorrent of witches’ deeds, and accounts of witches stealing the wafer (representing the body of Christ) from communion and desecrating it occur on more than one occasion.

Question 38

Property confiscations

Answer 38

The law in Bamberg allowed for the confiscation of witches’ property, which encouraged the persecution of the upper classes.
The victims were also responsible for all of their court costs, thus reducing any financial liability that the state had.
They were responsible for the travel expenses of interrogators and torturers.
They were also responsible for paying any extra staff or horses required by the authorities.
At the execution itself, the families of the victims were charged for every element of the process, from the raw materials such as wood, rope and nails to a fee for the executioner and removal of the body.
As the witch-hunt paid for itself, there developed a witch-hunting industry in Bamberg. The local economy benefited, and the profits of lawyers, coachmen, rope-makers, blacksmiths and tavern owners among others all increased as their services were required to support the process.
Towards the end of the persecution, in April 1631, 22 inmates were still being held on charges of witchcraft, including the prince-bishop’s treasurer. Their property was confiscated when they were first admitted to prison, and this totalled 220,000 florins. Around 500,000 florins was confiscated in total, with 100,000 coming from George Neudecker, who had been Mayor of Bamberg and was one of its richest citizens. He was kept imprisoned for three years, presumably in order to squeeze as much money from him as possible.
Wolfgang Hoffmeister, Treasurer of Bamberg, had 50,000 florins confiscated.

Question 39

Prince-Bishop von Dornheim

Answer 39

known as the Hexenbischof (witch-bishop).
believed that tackling witchcraft was of utmost importance
he took personal responsibility for the investigation, and hired a number of people to assist him
His vicar general, Frederick Forner, was indispensable to him, and his legal adviser, Dr Ernst Vasolt, acted as an interrogator.
Property confiscations helped to ensure that the Treasury, and as a result, von Dornheim’s own wealth, increased dramatically.
In 1627, von Dornheim had a ‘Drudenhaus’, or witch-prison, built to contain 30 or 40 suspects at a time.
The walls of the prison were covered in biblical texts, where those suspected of witchcraft could be tortured with his permission. Other smaller prisons were constructed in smaller towns within the bishopric.

Question 40

Frederick Forner, Vicar General

Answer 40

Frederick Forner acted as deputy to von Dornheim.
He was a strong advocate of the Counter-Reformation and relentlessly pursued suspected witches.
He studied initially at the University of Wurzburg and took up a position at the newly founded seminary in Bamberg in 1592.
He continued his studies in Rome and after being ordained, he returned to Bamberg in 1598 and held a number of positions in churches and in the administration of the city.
He seems to have been involved in witch-hunting before Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen became prince-bishop in 1609, and became vicar general in the same year.
He gave the funeral sermon of von Aschhausen in 1623, and in it he blamed the rise of Protestantism for the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War. He published 25 sermons on witchcraft and magic in 1625, and his output continued unabated for several years.
Overall, his arguments for the Counter-Reformation and witch-hunting can be summarised up as follows.
Calvinism was detestable because its preachers were false prophets who taught lies about the Catholic clergy and were no different to magicians. Forner illustrated this point by reporting the result of a successful exorcism, whereby the demon that was encountered stated that it had no fear of Calvinist ministers because they were allies.
In his role as vicar general, he reported that in areas of Bamberg where occult practices were being carried out, Protestant preachers were also being harboured.
Both witches and Protestants undermine the entire social and political order by failing to respect the sacraments, relics and festivals of the Catholic Church.
The defeat of one demonic force leads to the rise of another, more lethal force. He claimed that witchcraft only emerged in Bamberg once the influence of Lutheran clergy, whom he considered to be a demonic force, had been extinguished.
His writings suggest that more than anything else, the outbreak of the Thirty Years War’ caused cases of witchcraft to increase. He believed that the Protestant rebellion that caused war, and increased incidences of maleficia both represent the final stage in the struggle between God and the Devil.

Question 41

How did von Dornheim and Forner justify their actions?

Answer 41

Both Forner and von Dornheim believed strongly that obedience was central to a well-functioning society, and found evidence in the Bible to back this up.
Forner was able to make a connection between’s man’s disobedience and sin, idolatry and witchcraft. Obedience to God, in turn, is the source of faith and order. His interest in history led him to present the struggle between God and the Devil as a historical one, where the Devil has always preyed on man’s disobedience in order to offer false promises-especially to would-be witches- and false religions.
This disobedience had existed from the days of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt to the present, and as each false religion died, the Devil created another.

An important belief that both von Dornheim and Forner held was that the closer one came to the final defeat of the Devil, the more violent the Devil would become.
If the Devil uses violence, it is justifiable to use violence and torture in return on suspected witches.
They also believed that it should be expected to find more witches in Catholic territories because the Devil did not need to use his power against those Protestants who already believed his lies.
The fact that more witches were being discovered as the Thirty Years’ War gained pace was a sign that the Counter-Reformation was a success because it showed that the Devil was resorting to desperate tactics as his Protestant allies were flagging on the battlefield.

Question 42

Scepticism before 1630

Answer 42

The witch-hunt fell into a steep decline with the involvement of Emperor Ferdinand II in 1630, but there was growing scepticism about the trials before this.
In early 1627, complaints about innocent people being executed for witchcraft began to be made at both religious and imperial courts.
In July 1627, von Dornheim issued a proclamation stating that those who give false testimony at witch trials should be flogged, and a whipping post was erected for this purpose.
The authorities must have been aware that not all accusations were genuine, as they renewed von Dornheim’s proclamation in 1628.
It seems that von Dornheim’s decision, however, was simply reactionary and only concerned with protecting his inner circle.
A series of accusations of witchcraft had actually been made against Frederick Forner and others in his administration.
von Dornheim was shocked that men who had served Bamberg in hunting witches should be accused themselves, and issued the proclamation as a warning against further slander.

Question 43

Ferdinand’s involvement: the case of Dorothea Flock

Answer 43

The emperor finally became directly involved in 1630, when a Bamberg councillor, George Heinrich Flock, was accused. Flock soon fled to Nuremberg, but his wife Dorothea was arrested.
Her husband and family initially appealed to Ferdinand, stating their particular concern for her health and that of her newborn child, and the legitimacy of the legal process.
Von Dornheim despatched a letter to the emperor stating that there were no concerns over the health of mother or baby, and that the trials he had been undertaking were simply following standards already set in other parts of Germany.
He also accused Flock of being dishonest in his own account of the facts, and compelled the emperor to ignore his complaints.
He added that he had only initiated the trials in order to honour God and turn people away from ungodly behaviour.
Renewed proceedings against Dorothea Flock in April 1630 led her relatives to appeal directly to the pope and the emperor again. Both Ferdinand and the pope requested that von Dornheim stop the trial, and wrote in a letter that all documents related to the trial should be sent to the imperial Holfrat for review, and that if he did not obey their orders he would be punished.
On hearing that letters were on the way from Ferdinand and the pope, von Dornheim rushed the trial through and had Dorothea executed before they could arrive on 17 May. She was sentenced to be burned alive, but von Dornheim permitted her to be beheaded first. The sentence was carried out in secret at 6a.m.
The execution of Dorothea Flock led to renewed protests from her relatives, who sent a bitter letter to Ferdinand claiming that her trial was illegal and contrary to religious law. They questioned the proceedings on a number of grounds.
Flock was not able to question the testimony of her accusers or hire a lawyer, because the trial was conducted in secret.
The Carolina Law Code of 1532, which witch trials were based on, specifically required judges to establish the credibility of witnesses. The nature of the proceedings against Flock meant that it was impossible to determine which witnesses were credible.
The Carolina Law Code also stated that confessions taken through torture should only be permissible in court if they were supported by other evidence. This had not been the case.

Question 44

The involvement of the Imperial Chamber Court

Answer 44

Complaints started reaching the Imperial Chamber Court in Speyer, where von Dornheim’s representative reported back that two other escapees from the witch-prison in Bamberg had sent complaints directly to the emperor, and compelled von Dornheim to take immediate action to preserve his reputation.
Von Dornheim decided to send two of his witch-commissioners, Dr Harsee and Dr Schwartzkonz, to the Diet of Regensburg in order to present a defence of the witch trials. They were able to present their case to the Aulic Council, another of the high courts. Although they felt their audience with the court went well, high-profile members, such as William Lamormaini and Count von Furstenburg, were already sceptical about the witch-hunt and felt that Ferdinand’s position would be jeopardised if he tolerated the persecutions.
On 15 August Ferdinand wrote to von Dornheim in an even more forceful tone than in his previous letters. He criticised von Dornheim for continuing the trials in defiance of his earlier instructions, and he complained about the case of Barbara Schwarz, who had fled to Vienna after escaping from the witch-prison in Bamberg.
After Schwarz had petitioned Ferdinand, he ordered von Dornheim to send the original trial documents for review. When these documents arrived, Ferdinand sent a strongly worded letter to the prince-bishop criticising him and his commissioners for the over-zealous use of torture and the blatant disregard of imperial decrees.
Further trial documents were demanded by Ferdinand , and when it was discovered that they were in fact copies, he demanded that the originals be sent. Von Dornheim refused and instead sent transcripts that he claimed were copied verbatim from the original trial records. Attached to these transcripts was a letter from the witch-commissioners of Bamberg, stating that no one had been arrested for witchcraft since June 1630. Meanwhile, children were learning magic and witchcraft in the street and the trials must continue in order for their teachers to be punished.

Despite the claim that arrests had stopped in Bamberg, Ferdinand discovered in March 1631 that a minimum of 25 people had been arrested in the meantime. The relatives of the victims of Zeil informed him that the commissioners continued to grow in riches through property confiscations, while the cost of trials was causing the town to go bankrupt.

Question 45

Georg Wilhelm Dumler’s letter and the end of the trials

Answer 45

A powerfully written letter by Georg Wilhelm Dumler, a former administrator of St Martin’s Church in Bamberg, may have been the final piece of evidence needed to convince the emperor once and for all that the trials needed to be stopped. In this letter, he stated the following.
Several hundred respectable people had suffered as a result of torture and the leaders of the witch-commission were easily led by false accusations.
There was never sufficient proof in the trials to legitimately find suspects guilty.
In August 1628, his pregnant wife had been taken from their house to the witch-prison, where she was tortured and miscarried. She was executed, and now he had been accused of witchcraft. Both he and his wife were entirely innocent and were raised as pious Catholics.
The Carolina Law Code permitted the accused an advocate or lawyer to represent them in court, but this had been denied at the Bamberg trials.
Cases of witchcraft should be heard in the civil courts, but in Bamberg they were being heard behind closed doors by the commissioners.
On 12 June 1631, Ferdinand announced that he was to punish those responsible for the Bamberg trials. He appointed a new director of the witch-commission, Dr Anton Winter, and decreed that all future trials should be conducted according to the Carolina Law Code. The confiscation of property was forbidden.
Von Dornheim stubbornly remained in Bamberg, and gave little support to Winter.
He sent a final letter to the emperor, reiterating his view that those who had accused him of malpractice were involved in witchcraft themselves. He refused to release those still held in custody, and it was only the advance of the Swedish army that encouraged him to flee and end the persecutions.

Question 46

Swedish involvement in the Thirty’ Years’ War

Answer 46

With the Protestant Swedish army, led by King Gustavus Adolphus, entering the war in 1630 and achieving important victories in 1631, it looked as though the tide of the Thirty Years’ War was turning.
Much of the territory lost by the Protestants was regained between 1630 and 1634, and Adolphus’ dream of a Swedish empire became a reality.
The Swedish army swelled in size, from approximately 40,000 in 1630 to 150,000 in 1632.
An army of this size required huge amounts of resources and food, and the army took to plundering the countryside in order to maintain itself.

Question 47

The arrival of the Swedish army in Bamberg

Answer 47

Despite the emperor’s direct involvement in the hunts, as long as von Dornheim remained as prince-bishop, the persecutions would continue.
When the Swedish army invaded and took over the administration of Bamberg, von Dornheim was forced to flee.
Bamberg was already tired of the fighting, as it was one of the main routes that troops took when traversing Germany. The population that would decline by around 40 percent during the war was already in decline when the Swedish army arrived.
The Swedish army were outside Bamberg by February 1632, which led to the downfall of von Dornheim as prince-bishop. He looted the cathedral’s treasure, which included 12 chests of gold and valuable documents, and fled to Austria.
He died there, of a stroke, on 19 March 1633.
Despite Bamberg being occupied by Protestants, it seemed that Catholic nuns were able to continue with their ordinary way of life with little interference, and were even able to organise a nativity scene at Christmas.
Jesuits were also allowed to continue their work.
Counter-attacks by Catholic forces contributed to the feeling of panic and chaos across the region.
With a declining population, decimated farms and constant fighting, combined with the flight of the prince-bishop, witch-hunting was no longer seen as a priority by the authorities.
Any trials that could take place had to follow the Carolina Law Code, and there was no longer a use for the witch-prison and its torture chambers.

Question 48

Why were the Bamberg witch trials so extensive?

Answer 48

Personalities were important (Forner, von Dornheim, Vasolt).
The judicial environment in which the trials took place also meant that it was able to continue unchecked for a relatively long period of time.
A number of high-profile individuals were executed in both Bamberg and Zeil. Clearly the property confiscated from this group added much to the Treasury, but there were other reasons why they were targeted. A generation earlier, a large proportion of officials in Bamberg were Protestant. The witch-hunts provided an opportunity for many newly converted Catholics to prove their loyalty to their regime, but it also resulted in an increased number being accused by their colleagues.
It is no coincidence that the most intense phase of witch-hunting coincides with the Edict of Restitution of 1629, in which Ferdinand II called for the conversion of Protestants to Catholicism. As Forner pointed out in ‘Panoplia Armaturae Dei’, the bishop had the opportunity to destroy the two demonic threats of heresy and sorcery. By the end of the craze, von Dornheim was willing to defy even the emperor.
The witch-hunts can be seen as the culmination of a long process whereby increasing power was centralised in the hands of the prince-bishop. Gradually, old structures that kept the bishop in check, such as the local council and cathedral chapter, were neutralised and placed under the control of the bishop and his agents. By the time von Aschhausen became bishop, there was virtually no organised opposition within Bamberg.