GERMAN WITCH PANIC:
             Erik Midelfort, Witch Hunting in S. W. Germany

I. POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE [HRE]

   1555 Peace of Augsburg: Reformation political settlement
            confirms sovereignty of local princes
            reduces role of Emperor, increases decentralization

   conflicts between Imperial & local (princely) legislation

   1532: Constitutio Criminalis Carolina
                      [CAROLINA from Carolus = Charles)]
           Emperor Charles V: new criminal code for Empire
            article on witchcraft:
               1) limits placed on torture
              2) requires judges to seek "legal counsel" from
                         university professors of law
              3) result is growing influence of Roman law

   1572: Electoral Saxony adopts new criminal code

II. CHRONOLOGY:  1520-1576 (no editions of Malleus)

    Known executions for witchcraft
             1400-1560: approx. 88 in all of Empire
             1561-1670: approx. 3200 in Southwest alone
                           40% of executions occur in panic trials
             1630-1650: hiatus in trials -- 30 Years War 1618-1648
                          military governments prohibit trials

III. Geography:  smaller states have larger panics

      Ecclesiastical states (Prince-Bishoprics)
             1587-93: Archbishop of TRIER: 368 executed (K&P #47)
             1620's: Prince-Bishop of WURZBURG: 900 exec. (K&P #54)
             1623-1633: Prince-Bishop of BAMBERG: 600 executed
                         including Burgher Johannes Junius (K&P #53)

      Secular states:  BAVARIA approx. 2,000 executions

IV. Mechanisms of Panic Trials

     Accelerating factors in "chain reaction"
             1. Confiscation of property??
             2. "Legal counsel" leads to emphasis on theory of diabolical
                         nature of W/C (Sabbath, pact)
             3. Torture: standardized confessions

   Braking mechanisms: How do trials stop?
             breakdown in stereotype of old, female witch in panics
             80-90% women: but men, social elites & children accused
             gradual decline of confidence in torture  

   Frederick von Spee: Jesuit witch confessor in Wurzburg
             1631 CAUTIO CRIMINALIS (Precautions for Prosecutors)
                           [K&P #65]

GERMAN WITCH TRIALS: underlying factors
Wolfgang Behringer,
Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria (English translation1997)

1.Role of Torture in German Witch Trials

Justified by 1) horrendous nature of alleged crimes of
                           heresy, apostasy, devil worship
                    2) difficulty of proving "sprirtual crimes"
                    3) CONFESSION as only "certain proof"

Witchcraft as CRIMEN EXCEPTUM: exceptional crime
                  normal legal procedures not adequate
Torture as form of ordeal: resisting torture as proof of innocence
      but pact with devil may have given the witch power to resist
      SORTILEGIO TACITURNITATIS: sorcery of taciturnity
                               diabolical ability not to speak under torture

1532 Carolina: criminal code of Holy Roman Empire:
          important for limits on use of torture, but over time in
         some jurisdictions these limits are ignored

Reading: case of Johannes Junius, major of Bamberg (K&P)
                                Frederick von Spee, Jesuit confessor to witches (K&P)

2. Underlying Factors in German witch trials (also Europe as a whole)   

Chronology of witch trials:
                           most occur between 1560 -1630
           First peak: 1570-1590
           Second peak:  1615-1630

Economic & social crisis of 16-17^th centuries

Climactic Change: Little Ice Age
                1560 to 1700’s climactic cooling, crop failures

Epidemics 1560’s, 1590’s
              preceded by harvest failure, malnutrition
              1559-63: 5,000 people die in city of Augsburg alone
       Plague: massive outbreak in 1620’2-1630’s

Inflation   1560-1575: catastrophic inflation
                                purchasing power declines through 1650

All these factors  cause aggravation of social & economic conditions
What is the effect on witchcraft accusations?