Witch finder
A person who pretended to recognize witches was called a witch finder or witch connoisseur . This could be done by visual inspection, but also with the help of magical means such as fortune telling or with the help of witch samples such as the water or needle test .
Occasionally the word sorcerer was used to designate such a person .
Reports on witch connoisseurs and witch finders
Germany
The use of the word witch connoisseur is attested in Germany for the 17th century. In a court text from West Prussia it says: " In 1652 the Danzig council supported the jury in Baldenburg in a trial against several witches by sending a witch connoisseur ."
From the end of the 16th century comes a report of the Werdenfels witch hunts, in which the executioner of the city of Schongau was used as a witch finder and identified three women as witches. The judge Kaspar Poissl zu Atzenzell, who was active in the Werdenfels trials, describes the executioner with the words that he could " poorly recognize such magical persons outside of the ordeal on sight " - so he saw it at them - and " that he was Work already undertaken in Schongau and already executed witches there by princely orders ”. In addition to this executioner, " a man experienced in witchcraft matters " from Biberach and "the one from Hall in Tirol" were later appointed for the trials . Because of their activities, 50 women were burned to death between 1590 and 1591 and the husband of one of the women was whacked .
England
In Essex and East Anglia in England, Matthew Hopkins (1621-1647) was active as a witch finder; he referred to himself as a Witch Finder General . At first he worked quite unsuccessfully as a lawyer, but began to advertise his services as a witch finder in 1645. Hopkins was on the lookout for demons , witch paintings and "guardian spirits" (English familiars ) of witches. Animals such as dogs, cats, crows or toads were viewed as familial . He worked with two aides, John Stearne and Mary Phillips, who examined the suspects for witch marks. In his investigations, he preferably used the water sample, but also the needle sample. If he had identified a witch, she was tied to a chair or table and observed whether devils, demons or guardian spirits appeared.
Since his first investigation, there has been displeasure because they were concerned about his remuneration of 40 schillings per investigation and an extra payment per conviction. In 1646, for example, the clergyman John Gaule published a book in which he was critical of the atrocities of the witch hunts and especially the practices of Hopkins. In response, Hopkins published a treatise in 1647 in which he asserted that he was only concerned with the annihilation of evil, but not with the financial aspect of his activities.
On a petition from Newcastle dated March 26, 1649 mentioned in the municipal council files , the obligation of a man from Scotland goes back to who pretended to be able to identify witches with the help of the needle test. He demanded 20 shillings per convicted person. As a result of his investigations, 15 women and one man were found guilty of witchcraft in Newcastle and executed. After the trials, this man traveled to Northumberland , where he identified other women as witches. But doubts arose about his abilities, so that after his escape to Scotland he was arrested there and put on trial. He was sentenced to death on the gallows as a cheater after his admission to convicting over 220 women as witches .
swell
- ↑ evidence, according to the German legal dictionary in: Basel Yearbook 1935, page 41 and in: Hessian history and regional studies Issue 2, Volume 48/1932, page 44
- ↑ Reference according to the German legal dictionary in: Westpreußischer Geschichtsverein: Mitteilungen des Westpreußischer Geschichtsverein 32/1933, page 35
- ^ Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan and Heinrich Heppe: History of the witch trials, revised and edited by Max Bauer, 2 Bde, Munich 1911; Page 982 f.
- ^ Judika Illes: The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, London 2005, page 792 f.
- ^ Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan and Heinrich Heppe: History of the witch trials, revised and edited by Max Bauer, 2 Bde, Munich 1911; Page 1090 f.