Gerta the Boltin

Gerta die Boltin (* around 1636 in Udorf ; † October 18, 1656 in Canstein ) was a victim of the Canstein witch hunt and was executed on October 18, 1656.

Canstein Castle, lower castle

Life

Gerta die Boltin (also Jütten Gerta die Boltinnen) was Georg Noeckens (Georgen Norikens) wife. Once the name Jutten Grete, Jurgen Starkes Frau from Udorf, appears. Possibly her mother Jütta die Strickersche is meant by this. She died in a witch trial in prison in 1656 without a sentence. Gerta the Boltin was young and not married. She had worked as a maid in Hanß Asheuer's house.

Marsberg-Canstein witch trials

In the archives of the rule Canstein a voluminous file is No. 1296, in which documents on 19 witch trials by Marsberg-Canstein are collected. In 1656 and 1658 nine women and one man were executed in witch trials. The outcome of a further eleven processes is unknown.

Death sentences

There are references to nine (or ten?) Death sentences in the trial documents:

• 1656 Edeling Gronen
• 1656 Stone Clara
• 1656 Friedrich Rehling's wife Trine
• 1656 Thielen Anna from Leitmar
• 1656 Gerta die Boltin (also Jutten Grete), Georg Noeckens (Georgen Norikens) wife from Udorf
• 1656 Anna Möllers
• 1656 in the application Gerta the Boltin are mentioned as executed:
  • Eva Bohlen
  • Eddeling Mronos (identical to Edeling Gronen? S. Above)
• 1658 Anna Schulten , Curdt Schulten's wife, the school desks
• 1658 Elisabeth Hempelmann

torture

The documents mention the extremely embarrassing questioning ( torture ) of the following people :

• 1656 Stone Clara
• 1656 Gertrude Volmars
• 1656 Berndt Hempelmann
• 1657 The school desks Annen, Curdt Schulten's wife
• 1658 Elisabeth Hempelmann, the Curd tables
• 1656 Friderich Rehling's wife Trina
• Without date Adelheid Hempelmann
• Without date Catharina Joppen (or Hoppen?)

Died in prison without judgment

• 1656 Jütta die Strickersche (Jurgen Starkes Frau?) From Udorf (mother of Gerta die Boltin; mentioned in her application)
• 1685 Tönnies Todt

It is noticeable that several members from some families got involved in a witch trial (Hempelmann / Gerta die Boltin and their mother Jütta die Strickersche). According to the witch's hammer , the courts assumed that if sorcery was suspected, other family members were also particularly susceptible to being seduced by Satan.

Witch trial against Gerta the Boltin

The following allegations can be found in the indictment:

• Since one should avoid any suspicion of sorcery, it is the defendant's own fault if she has suspected sorcery and has been considered a sorceress for a long time, and she is summoned to the sharp, embarrassing question.
• The accused were charged with embarrassment and emotional tremors in court. This reinforced the suspicion in the eyes of the prosecution that she had made an alliance with Satan and was a sorceress and witch. The defendant was publicly accused of being magical several times and did not defend himself. Silence and lack of self-defense were considered grounds for conviction. Once in the summer you would have heard loud, wistful cries from her in the afternoon. She would have wrung her hands and lamented excessively. When confronted, she said she didn't see how to defend herself against the talk. It was clear to everyone: the allegations were justified, because she would have had something serious on her mind.
• It was considered serious that the mother of the Embarrassed Defendant found death in a witch trial. The daughter is of no different nature and kind than her mother: True and right, if the mother is a sorceress, so is the daughter: the apple does not fall far from the tree. Her mother, Jütta the Strickersche, was publicly considered magical by the entire village of Udorf. She was arrested and killed during magical executions.
• Gerta the Boltin has been charged with multiple cases of damaging spells . She would have given something to the servant Henrich Asheuer, brother of her employer Hans Asheuer, so that he died. Henrich Asheuer is described as a young man who was sick with an unknown disease. Her possible motive was rumored that she had hoped he would marry her but was disappointed.
• Horses and cattle died for a farmer . Gerta the Boltin was suspected of having given the cattle something. She would have said: ey there you have beautiful horses, ey if I want horses like that too. Soon afterwards the horses got sick and died one by one.
• She would have benefited from her magic with the cows and Milchenwerck , and could have made a lot of butter, which aroused the suspicion of the neighbors.
• She was also accused of taking part in the witch's dance: she would have been on a black horse on the dance floor at the Ahlen Church (reference to the Owl Church in Canstein as a witch's dance place ).
• Apparently the accused panicked in the face of these accusations: embarrassed defendants didn't know what to say about them, but rather pale with trembling and hesitation, only wondering how it might happen that they would be accused, they knew nothing wrong.
• The prosecution demanded: All this makes the Embarrassing Defendant of Zauberey very suspicious because of such gross mistreatment she has committed to well-deserved punishment and to others as a hideous example she is to be executed as a public sorceress with the sword from life to death.

Marsberg Museum Memorial plaque for the victims of the witch trials

• The death sentence is dated October 18, 1656.

memory

In the museum of the city Marsberg there is a memorial to the victims of the witch trials.

literature

• File No. 1296 in the archives of the Canstein lordship with documents.
• Alexander Josef Freiherr von Elverfeldt : From the shameful vice of magic. Witch trials in the Canstein Patrimonial Court in the second half of the 17th century , Canstein 2006 (PDF; 1.8 MB), accessed on April 28, 2016.

Web links

• Historisches Obermarsberg eV: Secretly turned your neck at night
• Witch hunt- fear of black magic

See also

Anna Schulten

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Josef Freiherr von Elverfeldt : From the shameful vice of magic. Witch trials in the Canstein Patrimonial Court in the second half of the 17th century , Canstein 2006 (PDF; 1.8 MB), accessed on April 28, 2016.
2. ↑ Historisches Obermarsberg eV: Secretly turned your neck at night  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Witch Chase- Fear of black magic