Anna Murschel

Portrait of Anna Murschel on her husband's epitaph

Epitaph of Caspar Murschel, known as Tübinger, who died three years before Anna's arrest

Anna Murschel (* around 1533 ; † after 1600 probably in Engstlatt ) was a woman accused of witchcraft in Balingen who, despite intense torture, could not be forced to confess and therefore had to be released after 596 days in prison. As the widow of the long-time mayor of Balingen , Caspar Murschel, who died in 1594 and with whom she had lived “in an amicable and Christian way” in a 39-year marriage, she belonged to the city's respectability . She was around 65 years old at the time of her arrest.

The trial of Anna Murschel

The suspicion

The fall of Anna Murschel coincided with the heyday of the European witch hunt . On a Sunday in May 1596, the Balingen area was hit by severe hailstorms, which caused damage of several thousand guilders to grain and fruit. In the superstition of the time, this was viewed as the work of witches.

In the imperial knighthood village of Geislingen , four kilometers from Balingen , the local lord Hans von Stotzingen had alleged witches burned. The following year two more women were burned to death. One of the women (Margaretha Böckhin) testified under torture that there were women in Balingen who were involved in the storm. Old Tübinger's wife (Anna Murschel), old white tanner's wife and Anna Beck brought food and particularly good wine in silver cups to a witch's dance on the Mühlgraben in Balingen.

The Balinger Unter vogt Christoff Mayer informed the Oberrat in Stuttgart. As an under-bailiff, Mayer was responsible for the judiciary in his district: he initiated the prosecution of crimes, conducted preliminary investigations, conducted arrests and interrogations, and quantified the damage and "the objective truth". However, the judicial process itself was only allowed to be initiated by the Upper Council as the central government authority.

The councilors of Duke Friedrich gave the order, however, not to do anything and to "quietly" watch the behavior of women.

In August 1598, the Obervogt made his own specific suspicions: At the end of July, Anna Murschel gave the heavily pregnant wife of the Obervogt an apple, which caused a case of nausea. The Rottweiler city doctor confirmed the suspicion of poison and thus an attack on the life of the woman and the unborn child. Furthermore, many cattle were lost in the stables of Obervogtes Achatius von Guttenberg in the previous months. According to his wife, it is well known in the city that Anna Murtschlerin moves around the Balingen Castle (seat of the Obervogts) in the evening after the prayer bell has rung , which she avoids during the day.

The accusation

On August 18, 1598 Anna Murschel was arrested in Stuttgart on the way to her daughter, who lived in the Electoral Palatinate . A total of 17 witnesses were heard whose statements were primarily based on the “ maleficium ”.

The following allegations were made

• Various Balingers accused Anna Murschel of “damaging” and “paralyzing” her with apples and pears.
• Two servants of the chief bailiff accused them of damaging cattle.
• One shepherd claimed she moved faster than a dog on foot and with a stick, more like a horse.
• One man claimed that after meeting her, his "manhood was no longer there." He based his suspicions on the fact that he "hated her in heart."
• The gatekeeper of the Upper Gate in Balingen stated that she was waiting impatiently for the gate to open and left the city early in the morning, only to return a little later. She does this several times a day. This unsubstantiated running back and forth does not bode well.

The local chaplain asked her the theological articles, twelve pre-formulated questions that were used to test her orthodoxy. She could answer this. In addition, the clergyman certified her “quiet, honest way of life” and she regularly attends the service. She also does not use curses, oaths or other lewd words.

According to the circumstantial doctrine of the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina , the allegations, the denunciation of the Geislinger witches and the fact that Anna Murschel “was in high suspicion with everyone” were sufficient to bring charges of witchcraft to the Balingen city court.

Trial with torture

Balingen city palace (seat of the governor) with city ​​(prison) tower

Anna Murschel did not make a confession. She hired a lawyer who demanded access to the files, named witnesses and formulated questions for the witnesses, which were then read out to them.

In the absence of a confession, the subordinate, as prosecutor, applied for a torture sentence under Article 44 of the Carolina. This was announced on September 26, 1598 and carried out that afternoon by the executioner who had moved from Tübingen.

In a later petition Anna Murschel herself describes her torture: first of all, thumbscrews would have been put on her . Then the elevator was made. When this did not lead to her confession, weights were attached to her head and feet.

When this did not lead to a confession either, they called in a "foreign, foreign executioner who was skilled in sorcery", the executioner from Horb in Upper Austria , who in the past two years was able to convict numerous women in Hohenberg County and execute them as witches. He gave Anna Murschel a big bang because it was believed that the devil was hiding in his hair to prevent the interviewee from confessing and to discover witch marks . He hung consecrated candles on a sack around her neck and sprinkled holy water on her. She was also given magical beverages to drive out evil. In fact, marks were discovered on her left arm and on her right thigh that "had been attached to her by the evil enemy."

On the second day she was pulled up again - wearing only an undershirt - the Balingen subordinate "mercilessly said that the devil was in her goiter, he probably wanted to get it out of her." Then she was "pitifully torn" on the ladder , so that the left arm could no longer be moved and she then limped severely.

When the pastor visited her, she wept bitterly and hoped, since she had persevered under the torture, to be released. On another legal day, the Balingen governor requested that the torture be continued.

Her son Ehrenfried Murschel, pastor in Haiterbach , and son-in-law Christoph Gaukler, pastor in Dornstetten , applied to obtain an expert opinion from the legal scholars at the State University of Tübingen , which they wanted to pay out of their own pocket. With reference to the town servant, they wanted to prove to the under bailiff that Anna Murschel had hung for seven hours during the interrogations, contrary to Carolina's regulations. The town servant refused to testify. In addition, they applied for the conditions of detention to be eased, which was approved by the ducal chief councilors after the intervention of the Stuttgart provost . She was moved from the prison tower to the hospital . There she remained tied up with iron gangs, but was housed in a heated room and could be fed with wine, white bread, meat and poultry at her own expense.

release

Anna Murschel applied for a final judgment in January 1599. The councilors then suspended the process until the proceedings against Anna Beck were concluded. Beck had also been charged after the testimony of the women convicted as witches in Geislingen. The governor's wife had in the meantime come down with a healthy child, so this main charge was no longer applicable.

The trial against Anna Murschel was resumed in October 1599 after a woman convicted of a witch in Tübingen had named her again as a playmate in witch dances. The Stuttgart senior councilors advised the Balingen judges to obtain an opinion from the Tübingen Faculty of Law. On March 6, 1600, they determined that the new evidence would not justify another embarrassing questioning. Through the torture she had suffered - without a confession - Anna Murschel freed herself from the initial suspicion of witchcraft, so that she should be released. He was released on April 5, 1600 after 596 days of pre-trial detention.

Since she - by calling on a defense attorney - transformed the oral into a written procedure, this was accused of lengthening the process. Of the 196 gulden costs of the proceedings, she had to pay 100 gulden herself for food, typing, guardian and messenger wages.

Aftermath

On July 5, 2014, the carnival association "Murschel-Hexen" was founded in Engstlatt. The mask shows a sunken face with few teeth, a long crooked nose and a piercing look, as well as with sticks of hair falling into the face. The costume consists of a blue stole, a black sweater, a blue skirt with black patch pockets, as well as blue and black ringed socks and gloves. The gloves are embroidered with the label "Murschel-Witches". A broom is not used, but an embroidered red apple is worn, which is supposed to be handed to the audience with a mischievous undertone and the question “Want an apple?”, Only to be withdrawn immediately. The "Murschel witches" want to take part in regional fools' meetings and bring them into Engstlatt's club life.

The Balingen historian Ingrid Helber criticized the use of the figure of the carnival witch , which is viewed critically by historians. In the case of Anna Murschel, this is particularly “disrespectful and macabre”. The real historical personality is again "vilified" with an extremely ugly mask. According to his own statements, the vice-president of the fool friendship ring Zollernalb, Thorsten Spörl, is generally positive about start-ups. One sees even more positively, however, when people deal intensively with the history of their hometowns and with the customs. “Instead of a wild witch, which Anna Murschel was not, you could have designed a friendly figure. That would certainly have been more appropriate to Anna Murschel's life - and that, according to Spörl, could have been a really great carnival figure. "

In autumn 2016 the old board of the "Murschel-Witches" resigned. The new board decided to rename the association "Murschel-Weibchen". The old larvae should continue to be used, but new larvae should be made smaller, lighter and with a shorter nose. A reference to Anna Murschel should continue to exist, but she should no longer be portrayed as a witch, but as a dear woman, just as a "woman".

literature

• Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 .
• (sb): Historian outraged by Murschel witches . In: schwarzwälder-bote.de . Schwarzwälder Bote Mediengesellschaft mbH, Oberndorf am Neckar January 20, 2015 ( schwarzwaelder-bote.de [accessed January 22, 2015]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 367
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} The trial files to which Anita Raith refers in her article are in the main state archive in Stuttgart, HStAS A 209, Bü 144: Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 364
3. ↑ Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 364
4. ↑ Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 366
5. ↑ Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 365
6. ↑ Anita Raith: The witch trial against Anna Murschel 1598–1600 . In: Stadtverwaltung Balingen (ed.): 750 years of the city of Balingen 1255–2005 . City administration Balingen, Balingen 2005, ISBN 3-00-017595-4 , p. 363-371 . , P. 367
7. ^ Keyser Charles the Fifth: vnnd of the holy Roman Empire embarrassing court order
8. ↑ Detlef Hauser: Murschel witches found an association . In: schwarzwälder-bote.de . Schwarzwälder Bote Mediengesellschaft mbH, Oberndorf am Neckar, January 16, 2015 ( schwarzwaelder-bote.de [accessed on January 22, 2015]).
9. ↑ (sb): Historian outraged by Murschel witches . In: schwarzwälder-bote.de . Schwarzwälder Bote Mediengesellschaft mbH, Oberndorf am Neckar January 22, 2015 ( schwarzwaelder-bote.de [accessed on January 22, 2015]).
10. ↑ (det / mai): Murschel witches move foolish minds . In: schwarzwälder-bote.de . Schwarzwälder Bote Mediengesellschaft mbH, Oberndorf am Neckar January 22, 2015 ( schwarzwaelder-bote.de [accessed on September 13, 2016]).
11. ↑ Detlef Hauser: The witch has become a woman . In: schwarzwälder-bote.de . Schwarzwälder Bote Mediengesellschaft mbH, Oberndorf am Neckar September 12, 2016 ( schwarzwaelder-bote.de [accessed January 26, 2015]).