Fulda witch trials

Fulda witch trials

The Witch trials of Fulda in Germany in the years from 1603 to 1606 was one of the biggest witch trials in Europe together with the Trier witch trials 1587-1593 and Quedlingburg i 1589. It was to lead to the death of about two hundred and five people, and was as such one of the biggest mass-executions in peace time.

The witch trial

The witch trials of the diocese of Fulda can be described as a part of the counter-reformation. The person responsible was the Prince Bishop Balthasar von Dernbach, who ordered for the witch hunt as a part of re-chatolize the diocese after a period of religious liberalism.Fact|date=September 2008

Dernbach was born in a noble family as the son of a protestant and a Catholic; when his father died, his Catholic mother sent him to be raised by stern Catholics, and he became a Fanatic. He was appointed ruling Prince Bishop in 1570, but deposed in 1576, after which he was replaced with a Prince Bishop who issued a law of freedom of religion. When Dernbach was re-elected as regent in 1602, he ordered for an investigation of sorcery as a way of purging the city form everything he deemed as improper. The investigation began in March 1603, and shortly thereafter, the arrests begun in the city. Hundreds of people were to die before the witch trials ended, many of them being burnt alive at the stake.Refimprove|date=September 2008

Victims of the Fulda witch trial

* 1603: Merga Bien, the most known victim.
* June 1604: Nine women burned alive.
* August 1604 : Nine women burned alive.
* September 1604 : Eleven women burned alive.
* September 1604 : Twelve women burned alive.
* October 1604 : Ten women burned alive.
* December 1604 : Eight women burned alive.
* May 1605 : Thirteen women burned alive.
* June 1605 : Twelve women burned alive.
* July 1605 : Twelve women burned alive.
* August 1605 : Twelve women burned alive.
* October 1605 : Ten women burned alive.
* November 1605: Eleven women burned alive.
* March 1606: Seven women burned alive.

The 15 March 1605 the Prince Bishop Balthasar von Dernbach died and his government over Fulda was dissolved, and soon, the witch hunts ended.

See also

* Würzburg witch trial

Sources

* Heinrich Heppe, Die Restauration des Katholizismus in Fulda, auf dem Eichsfelde und in Würzburg. 1850
*Karl Eder, Die Kirche im Zeitalter des konfessionellen Absolutismus (1555-1648), 1949, 69. 295 f.


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