The End of Witch-Hunting

Abstract

Most histories of witchcraft used to emphasize either the irrational, religious, or ecclesiastical sources of witchcraft prosecution, or else they portrayed witches as dissident women, persecuted for their knowledge or assertiveness. Both rationalists and romantics imagined witchcraft as a conspiracy of some sort. From circa 1970, social historians showed that those accused were rarely dissidents or village healers. Most accusations originated in village fears of harmful magic rather than in the scholastic imaginations of inquisitorial prosecutors. The end of witchcraft trials, therefore, involved both a decline in belief in efficacious magic and changes in legal procedure. Changes came at different times and ways across Europe. Efforts to see the end of witchcraft trials as an expression of “the baroque” might focus on the growing effort among artists, authors, and intellectual leaders to maintain a comprehensive and unified world view, a task that was becoming more difficult by the eighteenth century.

The Social Background of Witchcraft Accusations in Early Modern Debrecen and Bihar County

“…142 These two cases, however, seem to contradict the hypothesis of Erik Midelfort, according to which the stereotype of the 'poor witch' was broken down in cases of mass accusations when the witchcraft accusation could basically reach anyone, and hence wealthier people of higher positions as well. 143 Neither the case of Mrs. Bagoly nor that of Mrs. Szűcs was related to a witch panic. And out of the further three cases involving wealthy, noble women of Bihar County, only one trial (the aforementioned trial of Ottomány) has surpassed the threshold regarding the number of accused, which, according to Brian Patrick Levack, is the margin for a panic-like witch-hunt.…”

The devil’s power to delude

“…94 Jacob Heerbrand, a theologian from Tübingen University, preached in the same vein in the 1570s. 95 The Tübingen jurists wrote little about witchcraft during the sixteenth century, but 'their occasional opinions show definite restraint in regard to procedures used against witches'.…”

“…Whereas Brenz and his followers argued that witches deserved execution just for apostasy, Theodor Thumm and other moderates argued against the death penalty for a spiritual crime. 104 The important point from a Rothenburg point of view was that the councillors chose to opt for the moderate Thummian position in 1627, on the advice of Wittenberg-educated Georg Zyrlein and because this made good sense to them for other reasons. 105 The similarities in the treatment of witchcraft between Rothenburg and Nuremberg may have stemmed as much from their political similarities as they did from any explicit exchange of ideas on the subject: they were both imperial cities with rural hinterlands, ruled by patrician councils which introduced Lutheranism.…”

‘An honourable man should not talk about that which he cannot prove’

“…Between August and December of that year sixty-three witches had been executed under the aegis of Count Ulrich von Helfenstein, after fears had been raised that witchcraft was responsible for the severe hailstorms which had badly damaged vineyards in the area. 48 Although no mention was made of Wiesensteig in connection with the Finsterlohr case in 1563, it was mentioned by two jurists from Nuremberg, Christoph Hardessheim and Christoph Fabius Gugel, who were asked for advice on the Oberstetten case of 1582 by the Rothenburg council. They cited Wiesensteig as an example of the unpleasant consequences which could ensue if witchcraft cases were pursued on a dangerous, unstable basis by judicial authorities.…”