Franz Buirmann

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Franz Buirmann (also Franziskus Buirmann ; * 1590 in Euskirchen ; † after 1638) was a notorious Justice Commissioner from the Electorate of Cologne (" Hexenkommissar "), who worked in the cities of Rheinbach and Bonn and sentenced over 100 people to death for witchcraft .

Life

Buirmann was born in 1590 in poor conditions in Euskirchen. He studied law in Cologne from 1608 and became a witch commissioner in the service of the Electorate of Cologne at the end of the 1620s. His sphere of activity was concentrated on the Rhenish part of the Electorate of Cologne , but he also appeared in witch trials in other areas in the area. As a lawyer, his task in conducting witchcraft trials was to provide the lay jury courts of the time with his specialist knowledge of the offense of witchcraft.

In 1631 he worked in the town of Rheinbach , where he sentenced at least 20 people to death for witchcraft in 1631. His work was shaped by greed for money , according to a report by lay judge Hermann Löher, who took part in witch trials with him , his employer Heinrich Degenhardt Schall von Bell supported him and was involved in the booty from the witch trials. One of the prominent victims of this greed for money was the former mayor of Rheinbach, Hilger Lirtzen , whose fortune was estimated at 6,000 to 7,000 thalers. He was severely tortured and burned in July 1631.

In addition, Löher accused the witch commissioner of personal revenge accusing a woman and her family who had rejected his marriage proposal. In several cases he violated the imperial court order and tortured against the established procedural rules. Aldermen who protested against this had to pay for it themselves or with their families' lives, for example the families of alderman Gotthard Peller and alderman Herbert Lapp. After Löher, Buirmann was in Rheinbach and the surrounding area from June to October 1631. Buirmann was suspended in October 1631 because of procedural errors and the desire for profit that had become known behind his trials and was ordered to Bonn. Under the influence of his employer and the elector, Buirmann was reinstated as a witch commissioner. The subsequent series of witch trials lasted until 1638. During this time , over 100 people are said to have been burned in the three villages of Rheinbach , Meckenheim and Flerzheim . Other sources assume around 150 people.

As an eyewitness to these events, Löher fled to Amsterdam with his family in 1636 . There he wrote a book in 1676 with the title Hochnötige Unterthanige Wemütige Klage Der Pious Invalid , in which he recorded the offenses of Buirmann and his helpers and which is considered to be one of the most important contemporary descriptions of such events.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Schormann: The war against the witches. The extermination program of the Elector of Cologne. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991, p. 71
  2. ↑ a b Gerhard Schormann: The war against the witches. The extermination program of the Elector of Cologne. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991, pp. 72-73.
  3. ^ A b William E. Burns: Witch hunts in Europe and America. To encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 2003, ISBN 0-313-32142-6 , p. 174.
  4. ^ Hermann Löher: Hochnötige Unterthanige Wemütige Klage Der Pious Invalid , commented HTML edition
personal data
SURNAME Buirmann, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buirmann, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cologne Justice Commissioner
DATE OF BIRTH 1590
PLACE OF BIRTH Euskirchen
DATE OF DEATH after 1647