bamberg

• Cause 1 – reclaiming territory for Catholic church – counter-reformation – gaining territory to gain Catholic faith back/ Protestant land: fines imposed, wood supply restricted, dissidents sent to exile, Lutherans sometimes rounded up and arrested/ Johann Gottfied von Aschhausen appointed Prince-Bishop of Bamberg to convert it to Catholicism/ his successor saw over 300 witches executed – von Dornheim/ 1610 – Aschhausen issued an order saying anyone found practicing magic would be severely punished/ reports that fortune telling and spell-casting were still being practiced 
• Cause 2 – the impact of the 30 years’ war – Hapsburg wanted to claim back land/ different pockets of the empire revolted and places like Bamberg were taken over by the military/ food supplies looted and forced conscription common/ large armies went through Bamberg – increased tensions and wider famine 
• Cause 3 – economic crisis – big impact on weather and crop failures/ a number of witch trials took place 1623-32/ ‘Little Ice Age’/ debts were at 800,000 at the end of the war/ siler imports from America declined 79% to 77%/ those accused of witchcraft lived mainly on trade routes – more likely to engage in financial conflict/ economic causes are mentioned in many confessions – Margaretha Eissmennin states that after extension coin flipping, money had lost its value and she turned to the Devil 
• Widespread 1 – the use of torture and property confiscations – informers were used/ brutal torture methods used – tying up by the wrists behind the back and leaving them hanging in the air/ John Junius – most brutal torture methods making him finally confess/ around 500,000 Florins were confiscated from accused witches in 3 years – meant the economy benefitted/ families of the victims were charged for the executions/ meant people were more likely to accuse other people/ people paid to carry out witch hunts – more likely to accuse people and become more widespread 
• Widespread 2 – Prince Bishop von Dornheim and Fredrick Forner – von Dornheim – built a witch's prison that could hold 30 – 40 witches in 1627/ hired a number of people to assist with the investigations/ strong leader of the counter-reformation/ Fredrick Forner – blamed the rise of Protestantism for the outbreak of the 30 years war/ claimed that witchcraft emerged in Bamberg once the influence of Lutheran clergy had been extinguished/ provided an intellectual framework for the witch hunts/ religious issues caused a big divide and meant that people were more likely to accuse each other 
• End 1 - the influence of Ferdinand


  1. Scepticism before 1630

  2. Ferdinand's involvement
• Complaints about innocent people being executed
• Those who gave false testimony in witch hunts were flogged in 1627
• May have been simply reactionary and just to protect his inner circle
• Ferdinand directly involved in 1630 when George Heinrich Flock was accused, and Dorothea Flockin was arrested
• Concerns for health and the legitimacy of the legal process
• Ferdinand got involved then Dornheim secretly executed Flockin
• Flockin could not hire a lawyer and confessions made through torture
• Improper legal processes led to scepticism about trials
• Involvement of the Emperor shows how high-profile the case was
• End 2 – Imperial chamber court and Georg Wilhelm Dumler's letter


  1. Complaints started reaching the Imperial Chamber Court

  2. Appointed by Ferdinand

  3. von Dornheim sent two witch commissioners to the Diet of Regensburg, but they were unconvinced

  4. Ferdinand criticised von Dornheim and ordered the trial documents should be sent for review

  5. von Dornheim sent copies which angered Ferdinand

  6. Ferdinand discovered that 25 people had been arrested for witchcraft when von Dornheim claimed that there were none

  7. Dumler sent a letter to Ferdinand stating that insufficient evidence was being used and false accusations were common and were heard in secret

  8. Ferdinand said he would punish those responsible and that trials should follow the rules of the Carolina Code

  9. von Dornheim still in charge

  10. High-profile case

  11. Letter showed what was really happening and how they trials weren't following legal processes

  12. von Dornheim's decline in power (he originally led the witch hunts)
• End 3 – the arrival of the Swedish army – von Dornheim was forced to flee after the Swedish army invaded (150,000) in 1632/ von Dornheim looted the cathedral’s treasury – 12 chests of gold and valuable documents and fled to Austria/ even though Bamberg was occupied by Protestants, Catholic nuns were allowed to worship (nativity)/ counter-attacks by the Catholics led to fear and chaos/ declining power and decimated farms meant that witch-hunting was no longer a priority/ no longer used for a witch prison and the torture chambers