Dynamics to the WitchCraze

• When did Trier start?

  1581 - 99
• What was the religious affiliation of Trier?

  Catholicism
• What are the key figures of Trier?

  Johann VII Von Schconhenburg, Peter Binsfield and Dietrich Flade
• Social and economic issues encouraging the Trier Hunts:

  • collection of village committees who wanted action
  • disease
  • mini ice age
  • potent village organisation
  • 1580s there was a series of poor harvests which resulted in harsh economic conditions with a need for a scapegoat
• Political issues which affected the witch hunts in trier:

  • long standing struggle for power
  • strong village organisation
  • Schoenberg - assert authority over elected officials
  • witchcraze was lucrative especially of elite individuals - land from witches given to Schoenberg
• Reasons for the decline of witch-hunts in Trier:

  • Deaths of Schoenberg and Binsfield 1599
  • criticism of loos - published Flades fate
• Religious issues affecting trier witch hunting:

  • reformation - worked against the protestant threat
  • idea to establish a Godly state
  • counter-reformation
  • Binsfield demonology preaches a religious state
  • Jesuit college + order - boy said that Flade was a witch
  • high religious tensions
• When was the Wurzberg witch trials?

  1616-18, 1626-1630
• What were the key figures of Wurzburg?

  Ehrenberg, Mespelbrunn
• Wurzburg social and economic issues:

  • badly affected by famine, plague and crop failure
  • 30 years war
  • urban area
  • reformation and counter reformation
• Wurzburg political issues:

  • highly autonomous until 1630
  • loose central control
• Wurzburg religious issues:

  • Langenfield - confessor published against it - hair went white from torture
  • strong religious motivation - embraced by authority
• Wurzburg reasons for the decline of witch - hunts:

  • Officials leading the hunt were implicated
  • Ehrenberg died
  • area came under the control of Gustavs Adolophus king of Sweden
• When were the Bamberg witch trials?

  1609 -22, 1626-30
• Who were the key figures of Bamberg?

  Asuschhausen and Dornheim
• Bamberg social and economic issues:

  • crop failure of the wine crop
  • weather
  • plague
  • poverty
  • thirty years war
• Bamberg political issues:

  • Dornheim - believed that judges like Hannweare were too lenient - thus becoming a victim
  • made Dornheim rich as he stole land off those who were executed for witchcraft
• Bamberg and religious issues:

  • Aschhausen - brought Jesuits, regain Catholicism
  • Dornheim - witch bishop, Godly state, Friedric Forner
  • Witch commissioners /informers
• Bamberg reasons for the decline of witch hunts:

  • opposition of Emperor Ferdinard II
  • Death of Bishop Fortherin 1630
  • 1631 - Swedish troops occupied it
  • Dornheim fled
• Who was the key figure of Cologne?

  Ferdinard
• The Counter Reformation:

  • Prince - bishops were at the centre of the campaign to win land back to the Catholic Faith
  • Aided by Jesuits - violent anti-protestant message
  • Bamberg - conversion of Protestant Parishes was prioritised and there were persecutions and imprisonment
  • Protestant rebellion in nearby Bohemia
• Thirty Years War:

  • large armies devastated vast areas of south Germany
  • forced conscription of young men
  • combined with poor harvest and inflation - growing fear of witches due to misfortune
  • orthodox practices were seen as heretics and suspicion was placed on the devil