Northern Moravia witch trials
Northern Moravia witch trials, also known as
Background
The Northern Moravian witch trials are considered to be part of the
Jesuit priest Arnold Engel was the first person who had pointed out to the alleged witch practices in
Witch trials were otherwise uncommon in Bohemia and Moravia. The first witch trials occurred in Jeseník in 1622, when 4 women were executed. In 1636, the first great hunt erupted and lasted until 1648; the number executed has been lost, but is considered to have been great. In 1651, 86 people were executed for witchcraft. 250 people are estimated to have been executed for this charge in the first period of 1622–1651. In 1667, another 16 were burned in Ratibor. They occurred mainly in present-day Silesia and the Principality of Nisa.
The trials
At Easter 1678, Marie Schuhe from
The countess did not initially approve of torture. By displaying the torture devices for Schuhe, she pointed out the midwife Dorota Grör, who, in her turn, pointed out Dorota Davidová, who had wanted the communion to use for a spell which would give the cows more milk. Boblig now convinced the countess that torture was necessary, and after this, torture was much used. The accused were stripped, the Devil's mark were searched for.
In 1679, Marie Schuhe and three other women were burned at the stake; one, Davidová, had died in prison but her corpse was burned all the same.
Boblig and his commission continued his work, and was rumored to be driven by economic reasons. He turned to the town of Šumperk, where many wealthy families lived. Caspar Sattler and his wife Marie were among those found guilty by him.
The trial of Lautner
In February 1680, five women were decapitated and burned. Usually, those convicted by Boblig were sentenced
Another of the critics was Christoph Alois Lautner, vicar of Šumperk and a popular person because of his tolerance. The Sattler family belonged to the most known accused people of these trials. They had come into an argument with members of the commission. Boblig had long planned to have them accused so that he could confiscate their property. An already arrested person was made to implicate them.
Caspar Sattler, his wife Marie and daughter Lizl were arrested and tortured. They were made to implicate Suzanne Voglick, the house keeper and mistress of Lautner. The accused were made to confess to have committed incest and sex with demons at the witches' sabbath. They implicated Lautner, who was arrested as well with permission from the bishop. Lautner, Voglick and the Sattler family were burned at the stake in 1685.
The persecutions continued for eighteen years, until the death of Boblig in 1696. About one hundred people are estimated to have been executed in the 1678-1696 witch craze.
See also
In fiction
Otakar Vávra's film Kladivo na čarodějnice (Malleus Maleficarum, also translated as Witches' Hammer or Witchhammer, 1969) is based on Václav Kaplický's book Kladivo na čarodějnice (1963), a novel about witch trials in Northern Moravia during the 1670s.
References
- ^ a b Veselý (14 November 2004). "Hon na čarodějnice (Toulky Českou minulostí - Příspěvek)". Czech Radio (in Czech). Retrieved 15 August 2010.
External links
- http://www.rozhlas.cz/toulky/vysila_praha/_zprava/141284
- http://www.metalopolis.net/art_downtown.asp?id=247
- http://www.muzeum-sumperk.cz/index.php?item=cinnost/publikacni-cinnost/vlastivedny-sbornik-severni-morava/obsah/&larticle=3005
- http://www.carodejnicke-procesy.mysteria.cz/ Archived 2005-12-16 at the Wayback Machine