The Ellwangen witch trial took place in the Catholic Prince Bishopric of
Ellwangen
Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen (Jagst), in common use simply Ellwangen () is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about north of Aalen.
Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants.
...
between 1611 and 1618. It was preceded by a first witch trial in 1588. The first witch trial led to the death of 17/20 people, and the second led to the death of 430, making the number of deaths to about 450 in total.
History
The witch trial occurred in a religiously unstable area and was instigated by the initiative of the authorities. In April 1611, a woman was arrested accused of having blasphemed the communion. Under torture, she was pressed to admit witch craft and point out her accomplices. The alleged accomplices were arrested and, in turn, forced to confess and point out their accomplices. The prince Bishop formed a witch commission and changed the law, which made it easier to handle witch trials. By 1618, the witch trial had led to a demographic imbalance, an instable economy and a lack of trust on the legal system.
An example of interrogation and sentencing records, 82 pages, can be found in archives Ludwigsburg B 389 Bü 700 (see sources). These records included Elisabeth Schott, an old woman from Eggenrot, Ellwangen, Germany, Widow of Leonhardt Schott, who was subject to dungeon, torture, and execution in Ellwangen, burned on June 18, 1611 with five additional women from Ellwangen including two women from Röhlingen and one woman each from Hinterlengenberg, Eggenrot, Neuler, and Erpfental all burned in Ellwangen.
Aftermath
The Ellwangen witch trial was later used as a role model for the great
Bamberg witch trials, the
Würzburg witch trial and the
Eichstätt witch trials
The Eichstätt witch trials was a series of witch trials that took place in the Prince-Bishopric of Eichstätt (German: Hochstift Eichstätt, Fürtsbistum Eichstätt), Bavaria, Germany, between 1532 and 1723. They resulted in the execution of a ...
. The last witch trial in Ellwangen occurred in 1694.
In 2001, a memorial was founded for the victims of the Ellwangen witch trial.
References
Artikel „Der Fall Anna Lutzin: Wie eine junge Witwe in Ellwangen unter Folter so manche Hexerei gesteht”
Historicum.net: ''Hexenverfolgungen in Ellwangen, Fürstpropstei.'' av Wolfgang Mährle, 2 maj 2000* Abschnitt: ''5. Die Hexenverfolgung am Beispiel von Ellwangen in Deutschland'', vitabrevis.de
im
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Minnesmärke för häxprocessernas offer* https://web.archive.org/web/20110506014427/http://www.historicum.net/themen/hexenforschung/lexikon/alphabethisch/a-g/art/Ellwangen_Hex/html/artikel/1615/ca/7211567d700b51a5b0c8a0494dc9706d/
* Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg B 389 Bü 700, Bild 1 / Permalink: http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=2-2192900-1
{{Witch Hunt
Witch trials in Germany
1611 in law
1618 in law
1611 in the Holy Roman Empire
1618 in the Holy Roman Empire
17th-century executions in the Holy Roman Empire
Year of birth unknown
Duchy of Württemberg