Wiesensteig witch trial took place in Wiesensteig

Wiesensteig

Wiesensteig is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Fils, 16 km south of Göppingen....

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1562-1563. It led to the execution of 67 women for sorcery. This has been described as the first of the great witch trials of Germany and the starting point of the continuing European witch hunt. The trial inspired to the popular book : Of the tricks of Demons, which were printed in six expanded editions in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 between 1562 and 1583 and translated to French in 1565. It was recorded in 1563 in a pamphlet called "True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches".

The trial

In the mid-16th century, Wiesensteig suffered from religious turmoil, war, severe hailstorm

Hailstorm

Hailstorm may refer to:* Hail, a type of precipitation* Hailstorm , a fictional character* Hailstorm , 2010* Hailstorm , a 1994 album by Barathrum-See also:* Halestorm, an American rock band...

s and epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

s. The ruler of the city, Count Ulrich von Helfenstein, started to blame the misfortunes of the city on witches.

On August 3, 1562, a severe hailstorm hit the city. Damages were extensive. Within a couple of days, Helfenstein had several women arrested and accused of witchcraft, an action which appears to have met with approval. Six of the arrested women were executed as witches. They were made to confess to sorcery through torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

. A number of these claimed to have seen citizens of Esslingen at their sabbat. Three people where arrested in Esslingen, but later released.

Helfenstein was appalled at the lenience in Esslingen. He executed another forty-one women from Wiesensteig. On December 2, 1562, he approved the additional execution of 20 more. This amounted to the total reported in a sensational pamphlet

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

of 1563, which described as: the true and terrible acts and deeds of the sixty-three witches and sorceresses who were burned at Wiesensteig.

There have been debates of the religious convictions of Ulrich von Helfensten in regards to the witch hunt: he was originally Catholic, a Lutheran during the trial and converted to Catholicism in 1567, which thereby also turned the religion of the city. Wiesensteig experienced more witch trials in 1583 (25 dead), 1605 (14 dead), 1611 (5 dead).

Literature

• Erik H. C Midelfort : Witch-Hunting in Southwestern Germany 1562-1684: The Social and Intellectual Foundations. Stanford: Stanford University Press (1972)
• William E. Burns: Witch hunts in Europe and America

External links

• http://books.google.se/books?id=Qr6_q-chR6MC&pg=PA324&lpg=PA324&dq=Wiesensteig+1563&source=bl&ots=GbUuYx32ij&sig=1dNVImthl6pvF0vOrfuGUNraIoE&
• http://www.shanmonster.com/witch/hunters/helfenstein.html