Trine Plump

Trine Plumpe (* around 1630 in Recklinghausen ; † after 1650), got into a witch trial in Vest Recklinghausen . Her mother Anna Schorfeld, called Plumpe, and she came from the district of Hochlar, where the executions took place on the Segensberg during the time of the witch hunts. She was probably the last victim of the witch hunt in the immediate jurisdiction of the Vests .

Witch trials in Vest Recklinghausen

Between 1514 and 1706 there are 127 witch trials on record in Vest Recklinghausen, which belonged to the Archbishopric of Cologne , 104 of them against women. The high point of the witch hunts were the periods 1580–1581 and 1588–1589, when the Truchsess turmoil ended.

From the rentmeister accounts of the vestic finance officer, in which the prison costs and the expenses for the executioner are recorded, it emerges that the main focus of the Recklinghausen witch trials in the years 1580–1581 (at least 45 people) and 1588–1589 (31 people) lay. There are often related people: spouses, mother and daughter, siblings.

In 1514, the vestic bailiff, Count von Schaumburg, had a magic one. She was accused of causing the cold winter of that year. She fled, but was caught again, brought back to Horneburg Castle and probably burned there. The last woman condemned as a witch was Anna Spiekermann , who was executed by the sword in 1706.

After the occurrence of the plague, bad harvests and a great shortage of grain in 1580, there was a close temporal connection between these process waves and the Cologne War (1583–1588) between the Archbishop of Cologne Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg and the new Archbishop Ernst von Bayern . The trigger for the conflict was the conversion of Gebhard von Waldburg to Protestantism in 1582. In 1584 Recklinghausen was recaptured by Archbishop Ernst of Bavaria.

Recklinghausen witch trial files Trine Plumpe 1650 and transcription of the certificate

Witch trial against Trine Plump

In the Recklinghausen city archive there is a witch trial file on the witch trial against the accused Trine Plumpe. During the tenure of Mayor Arnold Schaumburg and Johann Ophoff in 1650 Anna Schorfeld called Plumpe (Schornfeld) and her daughter Trine Plumpe were accused of witches.

During the interrogation on July 19, the mother had named her daughter Trine as a co-conspirator of the devil. She testified in the presence of the daughter that she had said to her about four years ago: Trine, there is someone who wants you. But you have to deny God and his dear saints. Then she would have done so and stepped back three feet and denied God.

" And after a long persuasion, I admitted that almost 4 1/2 years ago the mother thought of God and all holy v [he] said three feet back, hadn't seen anything [...] in which the mother was absent and opposed Income admitted that God and his holy [s] denied and so ... dr [ey] stepped back foot would not have known that they were so angry that they stepped forward did not know whether something was said ... "

Trine initially admitted denying God, but later retracted her confession. The defendant remained in prison and was supposed to be subjected to torture. On August 1, 1650, the torture was postponed due to a suspected pregnancy. On September 9, 1650, the interrogation was continued and began amicably. Again Trine didn't know anything. After a period of reflection until the afternoon, the torture was used: "Torquiren" from front and back, screwing, stroking (beating) with rods and pulling up. Trine was brought back to the tower.

Another testimony accused her of cherry poisoning. The accused was again subjected to the strictest and most painful questioning, which the court justified in detail. Particularly distressing the fact was assessed that already mother, grandmother and sink mother of witchcraft had been accused. In addition, her mother taught her this devilish art, and she stayed there until death and died with great repentance and sorrow for her sin.

Despite repeated torture, the young woman did not confess to the crimes of which she was charged. Because of this, she could not be sentenced to death because it would have been against the law. The judgment on October 4, 1650 was to issue (probably in the pillory) and payment of all expenses of the court. The court included: Judge Reusing, Consul Schauenburg and Henricus Schlueter. The verdict was signed by the city secretary Friday. Because she did not make a confession despite torture, she contributed to the end of the witch hunt in the immediate area of jurisdiction of the Recklinghausen Castle.

Her further fate is unknown.

Sources and literature

Recklinghausen City Archives, STA IR 25, 142v
Wilhelm Mummenhoff: On the history of the witch hunts in the city of Recklinghausen and its surroundings during the 16th century . In: Vestische Zeitschrift 34 (1927), p. 75
Ralf-Peter Fuchs : witch hunt on the Ruhr and Lippe. The use of justice by masters and subjects . Westphalian Institute for Regional History. Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe. Muenster. Forum Regionalgeschichte 8. Ed. By Bernd Walter. Ardey Verlag Münster 2004, p. 40ff
The women's history workshop, Gabriele Thiesbrummel u. a .: Of witches and other women from Recklinghausen, women's lives in Recklinghausen in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century , Volkshochschule der Stadt Recklinghausen, 1990, pp. 38–41
Hartmut Hegeler : Recklinghausen , in: Hexendenkmäler in Westfalen und Lippe , Unna 2013, pp. 96–99, ISBN 978-3-940266-07-1

Individual evidence

^ Ralf-Peter Fuchs : witch hunt on Ruhr and Lippe. The use of justice by masters and subjects . Westphalian Institute for Regional History. Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe. Muenster. Forum Regionalgeschichte 8. Ed. By Bernd Walter. Ardey Verlag Münster 2004, p. 50.
↑ The women's history workshop, Gabriele Thiesbrummel u. a .: Of witches and other women from Recklinghausen, women's lives in Recklinghausen in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century , Adult Education Center of the City of Recklinghausen, 1990.
↑ City Archives Recklinghausen, STA IR 25 142v; The women's history workshop, Gabriele Thiesbrummel u. a .: Of witches and other women from Recklinghausen, women's lives in Recklinghausen in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century , Volkshochschule der Stadt Recklinghausen, 1990, pp. 38–41.

personal data
SURNAME	Clumsy, Trine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Victims of the witch hunt in Recklinghausen
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1630
PLACE OF BIRTH	Recklinghausen
DATE OF DEATH	after 1650

[1] Ralf-Peter Fuchs : witch hunt on Ruhr and Lippe. The use of justice by masters and subjects . Westphalian Institute for Regional History. Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe. Muenster. Forum Regionalgeschichte 8. Ed. By Bernd Walter. Ardey Verlag Münster 2004, p. 50.

[2] The women's history workshop, Gabriele Thiesbrummel u. a .: Of witches and other women from Recklinghausen, women's lives in Recklinghausen in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century , Adult Education Center of the City of Recklinghausen, 1990.

[3] City Archives Recklinghausen, STA IR 25 142v; The women's history workshop, Gabriele Thiesbrummel u. a .: Of witches and other women from Recklinghausen, women's lives in Recklinghausen in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century , Volkshochschule der Stadt Recklinghausen, 1990, pp. 38–41.