Witch Hunting In Europe Flashcards
How did witch hunting develop?
Witch hunts did not start spontaneously in those communities that were ideologically, legally, politically, socially and economically prepared to experience them.
Plague, famine and the preaching of clergy which appear to have caused a hunt in one area, produced nothing in another.
In most cases what triggered the initial change was a personal tragedy or misfortune that an individual interpreted as an act of maleficent magic.
Sometimes communal misfortune was responsible for the initial impetus to round up witches.
What were the main features of large witch hunts?
Many large scale witch hunts were chain-reaction hunts in which victims named accomplices.
Judges heard cases from different areas within their jurisdiction and did so over a long period of time.
Hunts often occurred in waves, each occurrence of trails had its own dynamic.
Why was there so much wiing in the Holy Roman Empire?
The empire exercise very little control over the activities of the various judicial tribunals
There was no:
Itinerant judges to ensure the carolina law code was upheld
Procedures for reg appeals to the imperial supreme court
Local courts were required to consult with the law faculty of neighbouring universities in witchcraft cases. As Us were the centres of dissemination of demonological theory, consultation with them helped to introduce diabolical ideas to local magistrates.
Where else did witch hunting occur on large scale?
France had a population only slightly smaller than the HRE.
There was some 3000 witch prosecutions and 1000 executions.
Ten thousand witches are estimated to have been executed in Switzerland.
In Poland at least 1000 were executed.
The largest witch hunts took place in Southern Germany
Which countries saw relatively little witch hunting?
The Dutch Republic had a population of over a million, yet fewer than 150 witches were executed and they ended earlier than any other part of Europe.
Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia had very rare persecutions.
There were probably fewer than 500 executions for witchcraft in Southern Europe.
Why was witch hunting so intense in southern germany?
The intensity of witch hunting was particularly prominent in small ecclesiastical territories like Wurzberg and Bamberg.
In most cases the trail of witches in Germany was entrusted to courts which exercised jurisdiction over a relatively small area.
German judges had a latitude in handling witchcraft cases ‘that zealous witch-hunters in other parts of Europe would certainly have envied’ (historian Brian Levack).
Levack believes the small size of jurisdictional units helps explain why the largest witch hunts took place in Germany.
What were the main features of the Trier witch hunt (1581-93)?
Witch hunting in the prince-bishopric of Trier is associated with the suffragen bishop Peter Binsfield.
The factors that helped him to persecute witches were:
In the 1580s there had been poor harvests and therefore bad economy.
People sought scapegoats.
Most witches conformed to the usual stereotype of female, old and relatively poor.
But as the hunts progressed no even the noble and rich were safe.
In 1587, Dr Dietrich Flade was accused of attending a sabbat. Flade had served as councillor to the Prince-Bishop, chancellor of the university and chief prosecutor.
It is possible that he began to oppose the witch trials.
Flade, tortured until he confessed, was burned.
The persecutions resulted in the burning of former Lord Mayors, councillors and scores of parish priests. There were more than 1000 deaths.
What were the main features of the Bamberg witch hunt (1626-31)?
Bamberg was a small independent Catholic bishopric. Witch hunting began under Prince Bishop Aschhausen.
He burned 300 suspected witches. It resumed with even more ferocity under Prince Bishop Dornheim.
He was nicknamed WitchBishop as he was responsible for the deaths of 600 victims and even built a special witchhouse complete with a torture chamber. In the mid 1620s Bamberg had been devastated by war, crop failure, famines and plagues.
The vice chancellor Dr George Haan had served the bishops of Bamberg loyally for many years.
However his relative leniency as a judge made him suspect of being a witch sympathiser.
This resulted in Haan, his family and five councillors (who had been accused by Haan under torture) all being burned.
Johannes Junius was one of the councillors.
Under torture he named accomplices including friends and relatives. He and all of his family (save one daughter) were executed.
The terror of Bamberg receded in the summer of 1631.
This was partly due to Emperor Ferdinand’s opposition, Dornheim’s exile and the Swedish King’s intervention.
What were the main features of the Wurzburg and Cologne witch hunts?
Wurzberg (1626-31)
Witch hunting reached its climax during the reign of Prince-Bishop Ehrenberg.
Some 900 people were executed.
Victims came from all sections of society regardless of age, profession or gender.
Those burned included nobles and mayors, Ehrenberg’s own nephew, nineteen Catholic priests and children of seven of those accused.
In 1631, Ehrenberg died and the Swedish King took over which brought the witch trials to an end.
Cologne (1626-34)
Subject to Prince-Elector Ferdinand, Archbishop of Cologne, about 2000 people were burned.
Ferdinand had been educated in Trier while the witch hunts had taken place.
During the first fifteen years of his reign there were few witchcraft prosecution.
A series of terrible crop failures seem to have led to the witch hunts.
Only after persecutions had gained momentum at a local level did Ferdinand intervene, appointing witch commissioners.
These soon went out of control, implementing their own policies and terrorising whole regions.
