Self-indulgent submissive lamentation of the pious indefensible

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The book Hochnötige Unterthanige Wemütige Klage Der Pious Invalid ( early New High German for “urgent, submissive, painful complaint of the pious innocent”) by the Amsterdam businessman Hermann Löher , a moral accusation of witch persecution , is one of the most important contemporary descriptions of such events, printed in 1676 .

Submissive action, p. 246

This includes Pastor Michael Stappert's (Michael Stapirius) writing on witch trials .

Löher was born in 1595 and was a respected citizen of the German city of Rheinbach , where he became a lay judge in 1631 . In the same year, a series of witch trials began there under the notorious witch commissioner Franz Buirmann , which lasted until 1638 . In total, over 100 people are said to have been burned in Rheinbach and neighboring towns during this time.

Löher was involved in these trials as a member of the court, but obviously against his will. The lay judges were put under great pressure by Buirmann, they had to help with the torture and execution of their neighbors and even their own relatives. Two of the lay judges were themselves executed. Löher describes these processes in detail, attacking especially Buirmann and other witch commissioners who instigated and directed the persecution - the "false magical judges" mentioned in the title. In 1636, when his mother-in-law was threatened with prosecution, Löher and his family fled to Amsterdam.

The book gives z. E.g. on p. 246 there is an interrogation of the then Hirschberg judge Heinrich von Schultheiß from 1616, who interrogates a defendant, the Wintersche, and suggests answers.

In addition to this eyewitness report, which is illustrated with a few copperplate engravings and which is particularly notable for its insider perspective as part of the indictment, the book contains argumentative arguments with writings by proponents and opponents of the witch hunt, including the Cautio Criminalis by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld .

Literature / web links