Kunigunde Sterzl
Kunigunde Sterzl (also Künigunda / Küngotlin Stürzlin / Störzlin, alias Nonn ) (* around 1544 in Eichstätt ; † July 18, 1620 there ) was a victim of the witch hunt from the time of the height of the persecution in Eichstätt .
Life
Kunigunde Sterzl was born in Eichstätt around 1544 as the daughter of the shoemaker Alexius Jan and his wife Anna Janin. At the age of about 32 (approx. 1576) she married Hanns Bidermann / Biedermann, a shoemaker in Eichstätt and a member of the external council, and lived with him until his death in 1606. Their marriage remained childless. They owned their own house in the east suburb of Eichstätt, where they also rented rooms. Eight years later, Kunigunde married Hannsen Stürzel / Störzel, a baker, citizen and widower of the town, in 1614 at the age of about 70. In May 1620, at the age of about 76, she was arrested in Eichstätt on suspicion of witchcraft, interrogated for weeks by the witch commissioners , tortured and finally beheaded and burned in public on July 18, 1620 together with three other women.
Witch trial
Kunigunde was arrested in Eichstätt on Friday, May 8, 1620 on the basis of 17 denunciations on suspicion of witchcraft and brought before the Maleficent Commission at 9 a.m. She said, "As surely as God lives in heaven, you know nothing to say about witchcraft, God should be a thing of that." She was then stripped by the executioner and examined for suspicious "witch marks", which were not there. After she had still not confessed when she was persuaded, the interrogation in the torture chamber was continued with the so-called "empty pulling" . For this purpose, the hands were tied behind the back and the body was pulled up without any additional weights (empty). When she continued to plead her innocence despite the severe pain, she was lowered and placed on the "stick," presumably a torture chair with thumb and toe screws . She was tortured twice more that morning by being wounded before being put in a detention cell around noon. In the afternoon the interrogation was continued by amicable interrogation, but Kunigunde continued to assert her innocence, “be khein monster, don't know what to say about witchcraft, do whatever you want with Ir, and when Irish 100 you said half witchcraft, so be it Ir iedo wrong ”.
The next morning she made a first confession and admitted that about ten years earlier she had got involved with the devil in the form of a peasant for money and had denied God ( devil's allegiance , denial of God). After she refused to admit any further crimes on the third day of the interrogation, she was taken to further confessions on the fourth day by whipping her with the rod . She admitted that she took part in a witch's dance on the Gallows Hill and gave herself to the devil again there. She was also baptized by the devil there and received black powder from him with the order to use it to harm people and cattle (devil baptism, witch's dance ). She happened to be spared the torture scheduled for the fifth day because there were craftsmen in the garden next door. On this day she finally confessed that she had actually used the harmful powder on people and animals on behalf of the devil in several cases, almost all of which died shortly afterwards ( damage wizardry ).
On six further interrogation days, she admitted all the damaging sorcery for which she was reported, with three times "drawing empty" and "putting on the stick" was helped. She also confessed to having caused storms (making the weather) and driving a fork through the air at night ( flight of witches ) to take part in witch dances. This usually took place on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights. There was wine, food and music and the devil put burning candles up the buttocks of many women. Under threat of further torture, she confessed to having spat and dishonored consecrated hosts that she had received during communion in the church ten times, and to having spat on the crucifix and images of saints (blasphemy).
From the 11th to the 24th day of interrogation, the witch commissioners concentrated on getting the names of alleged accomplices, with repeated threats of repeated torture. Kunigunde named a total of 59 people (53 women and six men), of whom nine had already been executed as alleged witches by this time and at least 13 people were sentenced to death and executed by the same court for witchcraft with Kunigunde or later.
Kunigunde was detained for 72 days (from May 8 to July 18) and was interrogated on a total of 29 days (until June 19). She was threatened with torture on three days and used on three days. Apparently she did not have a defense attorney, as no one was mentioned in the minutes. During the trial, five named witnesses appeared who confirmed the alleged wizardry. For example, a carpenter who worked at Kunigunde's house the year before died after four months of fever. The three-year-old child of a neighbor died of "red gout" and so did a young woman from the nearby infirmary who had been seriously ill for a long time. Furthermore, a healthy cow in Kunigundes stable suddenly died, as well as a horse in the neighboring house. The testimony of witnesses hardly played a role in reaching the verdict, because according to the legal opinion of the time, the defendants' confessions ( original gicht ) were decisive.
The trial file ended with the executioner's cost accounting, who billed each individual activity during the embarrassing questioning and execution for himself and his assistants in accordance with the applicable fee schedule. In total there were 3 guilders 47 Kreuzer 2 d, which, like the other detention costs, had to be paid by the convicted person or her surviving dependents.
The verdict was not mentioned in the trial protocol, but was recorded in the city's original feud book together with the final confession (Urgicht). It is noteworthy that Kunigunde did not write his own judgment, but referred to an earlier death sentence that had been imposed six months earlier on four other women for witchcraft. However, this was not an isolated case, but was handled as standard in Eichstätt from the end of 1619 until the end of the local witch hunt in 1630.
execution
Saturday, July 18, 1620 was set as the court day for Kunigunde Sterzl and three other women. This was the fifth of a total of nine Eichstätter court days in 1620, in which a total of 24 women and one man were executed for alleged witchcraft. On this day, at around 8 a.m., the town hall's blocking bell rang three times every half an hour. With the first ring, the blood judge and all members of the inner and outer council gathered in the council chamber, where the original gout of the condemned and the verdict drawn up by the princely councilor were read out. The blood judge then asked each councilor whether he agreed with this judgment. With the third ring of the locking bell, the convicts were brought down from the office to the parlor court, which has now become public. In the presence of all those present, the defendants were introduced and their original gout read out. The blood judge then asked the assessors for their verdict and then had the court announce the death sentence. For each of the four convicts, a stick was broken in three and thrown on the ground.
The executioner was then asked to proceed according to this judgment. He tied the condemned and led them to his horse-drawn cart, in which a clergyman also rode. The blood judge rode together with mounted city servants at the head of the procession that brought the condemned from the town hall to the place of execution on the Galgenberg, where the place of execution was already prepared. Once there, the condemned were given the opportunity for a final confession and repentance. Meanwhile, the servant announced to the people around that it was forbidden to intervene under the death penalty if the executioner should fail to strike the sword. Now the messenger Matthias Hörman did his job and beheaded each of the four women one after the other with the sword. At the end he announced loudly and clearly to the blood judge that he had accomplished what the judgment and law required, whereupon he and the guards returned to the city while the corpses of the women were burned at the place of execution. They were not given a Christian burial and their deaths were not recorded in the church records.
More executions
With Kunigunde, the following women were also executed as alleged witches on this day:
- Helena Schneckin, at least 65 years old, presumably the widow of Thomas Schneck, who died in 1594, councilor and provost in Eichstätt, with whom she had five adult children.
- Barbara Freyin, pharmacist from Eichstätt.
- Eva Hohenschildin , alias the cook Eva, 36 years old, wife of Michael Hohenschild, alias Kochmichel, Garkoch and Weinwirt in the Rosengasse at the Prediger Kloster (Dominican monastery), who was also executed eight years later on April 8, 1628 for witchcraft in Eichstätt.
See also
swell
- Trial files of the Künigunda Stürzlin, Nuremberg State Archives, Rep. 190 II, Eichstätter Archivalien, No. 4018, pp. 1–60
- Diocesan archive Eichstätt: B 15. Urvedt Büech de anno 1603. The Urfehdebuch of the City Court Eichstätt contains the original judgments and judgments for almost all death sentences for witchcraft, murder, theft, poaching from 1603 to 20 August 1627, fol. 186a.
- Diocesan Archives Eichstätt: B 5. Heusler Collection 1496–1521. Contains among other things the instruction of the blood judge in Eichstätt from 1497, in which the prescribed procedure on the day of execution is described.
literature
- Heinrich Stürzl: The case of Kunigunde Sterzl - An Eichstätter witch trial from 1620 with a standardized death sentence. In: Leaflets of the Bavarian State Association for Family Studies. Self-published, Munich. 2013: 76: 284-328. ISSN 0005-7118
- Heinrich Stürzl, Rosa Marschall: Family Chronicle Stürzl. Origin and distribution of the surnames Sterzl and Stürzl in southern Germany . Cardamina, Weißenthurm 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sterzl, Kunigunde |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stürzl, Störzl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German witch trial victim |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1544 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eichstatt |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 18, 1620 |
| Place of death | Eichstatt |