GERMAN
WITCH PANIC:
Erik Midelfort, Witch Hunting in S. W. Germany 1972
Wolfgang Behringer, Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria 2003
Lyndal Roper Witchcraze:Terror & Fantasy in Baroque Germany 2006
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]
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]