Witch hunts - A dark chapter

They brew magic potions, fly around on brooms, adore their black cats and wear pointy hats. Witches are portrayed as almost lovable in films or at Halloween. But a few hundred years ago, people were full of fear of these fantasy creatures. Superstition, fear and hysteria led to real manhunts that cost thousands of lives.

Three men forced their way into her house, grabbed the 46-year-old and dragged her out. Before she could even think straight, she found herself in the dock. Surrounded by men who looked her up and down and asked her lots of questions. One of them looked at her and began to slowly unroll a cloth in front of her. Pliers, knives and other instruments appeared. "I'm going to help you ease your conscience," he said as he approached her with the thumbscrew.

It began long before the Middle Ages.

Such trials were the terrible end of almost every witch hunt. No one can say for sure exactly when this cruel practice began. However, Gregory of Tours (540 - 594 AD) already reported on death sentences carried out on witches.

In 1090, there was a trial in the village of Vötting in Bavaria in which three women were accused of weather and disease spells. They were first subjected to a water test by being thrown into the Isar. They were then whipped and finally burned at the stake. One of the women is said to have been pregnant at the time. This cruel murder was condemned by the Pope and the bishops at the time. This can be seen in a letter to Harald Bluetooth (the King of Denmark), which Gregory VII had written to him about similar incidents. In it, he mentions that the wrath of God is invoked when innocent women are brought to ruin.

Towards the end of the 13th century, the belief in beings flying through the air, who met for witches' sabbaths and cast harmful spells on people, was already very widespread.

"Women are a weapon of the devil"

The Franciscan priest Alvaro Pelayo wrote in his book "De planctu ecclesiae" from 1474 that women were a weapon of the devil, causing impotence in men, suffocating children in bed and committing adultery. They would also cause infertility with the help of herbs. These and similar statements led to an extremely misogynistic world view.

The Alsatian Dominican prior Heinrich Kramer was almost obsessed with witches. Heinrich Kramer (1430 - 1505). Henricus Institoris, as he was known in Latin, was convinced that witches worked with the devil, committed fornication and met up flying through the air for a joint witches' sabbath. Wherever he went, he tried to catch them. In his world view, there was only good and evil, which were in constant battle against each other. In his view, witches were a threat to the divine order and had to be persecuted and exterminated.

The witch bull stirred up hatred

In December 1484, he turned to Pope Innocent VIII and presented him with a document he had written himself. In it, he explained that the witchcraft sect was extremely dangerous and that there was therefore an urgent need to eradicate it. His text was included in the "Sumis desiderantes affectibus" (= In our most ardent wish). The document is better known as the Witches' Bull. The Pope signed it on December 5, 1484. By adopting Kramer's document, the ecclesiastical leader indirectly confirmed that witches existed - which contradicted the church's doctrine at the time(Canon episcopi). The bull explicitly points out "the need to combat sorcery as a serious crime".

Kramer thus received confirmation from the highest authority to continue his witch hunt. The bull gave him the authority to reprimand, imprison and punish suspects - but not to burn witches.

Resistance against the Inquisitor

His trial methods of using brutality and torture to force a confession also met with opposition. Both Bishop Georg Golser and Archduke Siegmund of Innsbruck wanted nothing to do with these methods and threw the church representative out of the country in October 1485.

However, this only fueled Kramer even more. He decided to write his own work on witchcraft: the Hammer of Witches. (Malleus maleficarum). He cleverly prefaced it with the Bull on Witches as legitimization from the Pope himself. He also added an expert opinion from the theological university in Cologne dated May 19, 1487. This was intended to give the impression that the theological faculty was fully behind his work. On a cursory reading, his plan worked. However, a closer look at the "expert opinion" reveals that it was merely a personal statement by the dean Lambertus de Monte, which was endorsed by three other Cologne theology professors.

In addition to Kramer, a second inquisitor was also active in Germany: Jacob Sprenger (1435 - 1495). Sprenger was an influential professor of theology in Cologne and prior of the Dominican monastery there. It is claimed that he co-authored the Hexenhammer. It is not possible to say with absolute certainty, as the first two editions did not include an author's name. The two authors are only listed from 1519 onwards. By 1520, 10,000 copies of the Hexenhammer had been published, making it the most important book on witch-hunting.

What does it say?

It consisted of three parts, was written in Latin and was composed from 1486 onwards. It was published in 1490 in the German city of Speyer. Specifically, it explained the following:

Part (consisting of 17 chapters): Do witches exist? Is it right to persecute them?
Part (consisting of two questions): What are the practices and powers of witches? Are they connected to the devil?
Part: How should witch trials be conducted? The importance of the use of torture is particularly emphasized here.

As inquisitors, Kramer and Sprenger were responsible for the dioceses of Mainz, Cologne, Trier and Salzburg. They were not allowed to be prevented from carrying out their duties by force or in any other way. They were assisted by itinerant inquisitors, priests, chaplains and auxiliary chaplains.

The population helped

The search for witches was made easier by many people who denounced others. According to popular belief, a witch was recognized by these characteristics:

Too little or too often in church
Confident appearance
If you were seen in a field before a thunderstorm.
Search for herbs
If you had a convicted witch in your family.
Witch-like appearance
Old age
Low body weight (hence the belief that witches could not sink)
Witch marks - insensitive body parts as a sign of the devil's affinity (stigma diabolicum)

Even though witchcraft hysteria was rampant, there were still a few critics. It was a dangerous thing; after all, witches were also accused. Nevertheless, the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 - 1536) openly mocked Kramer and his terrible behavior. Others also referred to the witch hunter as a "bloodthirsty monk" and a "cruel hypocrite".

The head of the church did not like this. Pope Innocent VIII declared the resistance that the inquisitors encountered in carrying out their duty to be unjustified. The Pope instructed the Bishop of Strasbourg to counteract this by imposing ecclesiastical censures.

The Inquisitor dies - The end of the persecution?

Shortly after its publication, the Hexenhammer made an impact. In 1491, Kramer boasted that he had hunted down more than 200 witches. The persecutions in southern Germany and Switzerland rose sharply after the first publication of the Hexenhammer. There were also persecutions in South Tyrol, the Dolomites and Lombardy. It was only after Kramer's death in 1505 that the Curia* in Rome heralded a political turnaround. However, several thousand people had already died at the stake by then.

The church relented and, as a result of the Reformation, reprints of the Hexenhammer were suspended for two generations in 1520. Laws were also passed to make it more difficult to be accused of witchcraft. And in Spain, and later also in Portugal and Italy, the Inquisition was even made a criminal offense. The end of persecution? No. The situation was different in Germany and Austria: Here, supposed witches were hunted down for more than a hundred years. The Hexenhammer was reprinted a total of 29 times by 1669. A bestseller.

But not the only one. The work by the jurist Ullrich Molitor, which was published in 1489 on behalf of Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol, is in the same vein as the Hexenhammer. Ironically, it was precisely this ruler who had chased Kramer out of the country a few years earlier. In the "Tractatus de laniis et phitonicis mutieribus, Teutonice unholden vel hexen", Molitor writes: "If the witches had not fallen away from the faith in God, the devil would not have been able to blind them and seduce them to imaginary or real misdeeds. They are to be punished with deathas heretics (heretics)".

Petrus Binsfeld, an auxiliary bishop, demanded:

"The accused must be kept awake at all times after arrest so that they cannot receive any encouragement from the devil during interrogation. In addition, the condemned must be strangled before being burned at the stake so that they cannot blaspheme in the flames."

In 1532, a new criminal code was issued by Emperor Charles V. With the "Peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung", the lawyers now took the place of the clerical inquisitors. ("Peinlich" is an outdated term for punishment). At that time, the separation of church and state was not taken very seriously. Article 44 of the "Constitutio Criminalis Carolina" describes four indications for which criminal proceedings (and thus torture) can be initiated.

When someone offers to teach someone else magic
If you have threatened to cast a damaging spell on another person and that person is actually harmed
If you are in close contact with a magical person
If you use magical objects, gestures and words and generally have a reputation for sorcery.

The majority of witch trials began with the accusation of sorcery (the last point). After torture, during which the accused admitted everything in order to escape the pain, 98 percent of them were sentenced to death.

A former supporter turned critic

One of the most important critics of the witch hunt was Friedrich Spee. He belonged to the Jesuit order and taught philosophy at the universities of Paderborn, Cologne and Trier. Initially, he still believed in the existence of witches, but his experiences as a confessor made him an opponent. He addressed his book Cautio Criminalis (Legal Concerns about Witch Trials) directly to those involved in witch trials. He advocated effective criminal defense and demanded the principle of the presumption of innocence (in dubio pro reo) in the trials.

The peak of witch-hunts in Austria was later than in Western Europe. The highest number of charges were brought here around 1680. The work of the Radkersburg witch judge Johannes Wendtseisen, known as the "Styrian Witch Hammer", marked a sad climax. Between 1671 and 1685, at least fifty women fell victim to him.

How many victims were there?

It is difficult to find concrete figures on the number of trials conducted. In the Duchy of Styria, around 820 people were involved in witch trials between 1546 and 1746. In Salzburg, there were 198 arrests in the relatively short period from 1675 to 1690. In these fifteen years, 138 people were executed, including 56 children (boys) between the ages of 9 and 16. There was no age limit for witchcraft accusations, anyone could end up in court.

This period also saw the printing of the preacher's manual "Judas der Ertz-Schelm" (1689 in Salzburg) by the Dominican monk Abraham a Sancta Clara. It reports on sorcerers and witches and also contains a concrete example of witchcraft. The accused allegedly caused a hailstorm with their magic. To do this, they threw wafers into a pig trough, soiled them with "foul water" (urine) and used the resulting slurry to make the weather worse. Other witches would have changed the weather in their favor with a handful of peas from a black jar (Häfn).

Persecution finally declined rapidly after 1700. The last execution of witches in Austria took place in Salzburg in 1750. Although "sorcery" was still punishable under Maria Theresa, it was no longer mentioned in the penal code of 1783.

How did the process work?

The suspects were questioned immediately after their arrest. It began harmlessly with the establishment of name, parents' names, age, occupation and place of birth. They were also asked whether the reason for the arrest was known. There was no defense lawyer at the time. He was only appointed on the day the verdict was announced.

In order to prove guilt, witnesses were questioned and attempts were made to obtain a confession of guilt. This was very often accompanied by torture. If a confession forced in this way was later recanted, torture was used again until the defendant finally confessed his guilt.

A special torture shirt had to be worn

During the initial interrogation, the accused was introduced to the executioner - including the instruments of torture that would be used if the guilt was not confessed immediately. The person then had to undress, as it was assumed that the devil would hide in the folds of the clothes to help the witch. After putting on a torture shirt, shackles were applied to the wrists.

The judge, the clerk of the court, the executioner and five to six competent court personnel were present during the subsequent interrogation. The important thing about "embarrassing interrogation", as torture was known at the time, was that it was not allowed to lead to death. According to the law, no leading questions were allowed to be asked. Statements made under torture were also not to be admissible in court. For the most part, these laws were not followed at the trials. Devices such as thumbscrews, torture ladders, witches' chairs and the Spanish boot were frequently used.

Alternatives to "classic" torture

In addition to the embarrassing questioning, there were also other means of establishing guilt. Various samples were taken to find proof that the person was a witch.

During the needle test, the body was searched for a sign of the devil. A birthmark, scar or dark patch of skin was punctured with a needle. If it was not sensitive to pain (it was often pricked until the person could no longer scream loudly enough), the evidence was proven. Even if no blood flowed from the wound, the person was clearly a witch.

The tear test proved guilt if the defendant did not cry during torture - or when asked to do so.

During the water test, the defendant's left hand was tied to her right foot and her right hand to her left foot. She was then lowered into the water. If the accused did not sink, her guilt was proven. The assumption was that she must be particularly light - after all, witches flew through the air.

This was also the reason for the weighing test: the audience was supposed to estimate the weight of the accused. If the person was lighter than expected, they were a witch. If they were heavier, the scales had been manipulated with the help of the devil. And as was generally known, witches worked together with the devil.

The acid test was also often used: the "witch" was given a piece of red-hot iron. If she could walk a few steps with it, she was acquitted.

The pronouncement of judgment

After torture and trials, the verdict was finally reached. On the "final day of justice", the bells rang out solemnly, the judge held a judicial staff and sat in the middle of a semi-circle. The spectators were separated from the court by barriers.

The accused was led in. In the case of a death sentence, the Freimann (executioner) was first ceremonially called three times. The condemned woman was then handed over to him. The judge then broke his staff and said "God have mercy on her poor soul". Once the sentence had been passed, the execution was usually carried out immediately. While the bells were still ringing, the condemned person was led to the place of execution, which was usually located just outside the settlement.

If you caught a lenient judge, you got a bag of gunpowder around your neck

Execution was carried out either by the sword, hanging or at the stake. At the stake, the person was either beheaded, strangled or burned alive. If the judge was merciful, a bag of gunpowder was hung around the condemned person's neck to hasten their death.

In addition to live burning, quartering or the execution wheel was also used as a method of execution. The condemned person was tied to sharp-edged blocks. A wheel with an iron blade was used to break the bones of the arms and legs. The body was then tied to another wheel, which was raised high on a pole. There, the condemned woman, who was usually still alive, served as food for the birds.