Witch hunts in and around Pärnu 1641 (original) (raw)
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Witch Trials in Seventeenth-Century Târgu Mureş
Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Historia
"The witch trials from Târgu-Mures are typical ones and fit together with the other cases from the early modern period. We can identify the same processes and elements as historiography and ethnography had described. On the other hand, these cases are slightly different because these witch trials were less bloody than usually in the seventeenth century. In the Hungarian Kingdom, the zenith of the witch hunts was in the middle of the eighteenth century. Perhaps the intensity of witch hunts in a medium town was smaller. This paper aims to describe and analyse the witch cases from the seventeenth-century Târgu Mures. These cases are not that remarkable, but we can gain insight into the juridical processes through them. Keywords: Târgu-Mureş, witch trials, seventeenth-century, protocols"
Acta Poloniae Historica, 2008
in the early m odern period. In the second half of the 17th century it was undoubtedly quite a common practice am ong the townswom en of Nowe to h u rl the "w itch" in su lts at one an o th er. On 8 th A ugust 1682 M arianna B aranow ska, a townswom an, appeared in the local court together with some w itnesses who testified th a t Anna Linska h ad insulted the plain tiff verbally. Among others, Petrus Ottowic, a painter, presented his testim ony, according to w hich he, "being in the vestibule, was painting crosses for Mr S tadny and Mr Stolarz", when he heard Mrs Linska who, having noticed Mrs Baranow ska, said loudly these words: "Here goes the whore, the witch, an d the fat cow"1. This accusation, however, did not resu lt in the w itchcraft trial of Baranow ska. This time it was Linska who paid for her slander. The insults cost her 24 P russian m arks as a penalty2. Trials were conducted by the court of benchers both in the town itself an d at out-of-court sessions, w hen the owners of villages located in the Nowe district called fo rju d g es to try their own subjects. S uch a court consisted of a judge (iudex, Schulz), as the chairm an, his deputy (subiudex or vicescultetus), an d six benchers, who chose their own chairm an. The court also included
THE FINNMARK, NORWAY WITCHCRAFT TRIALS: DISCERNING PATTERNS FROM THE ARCHIVES
2020
This thesis deeply investigates the witch trials of Finnmark, taking a close look at how gender and ethnicity played a major role. Religious extremism, which preached intolerance towards Sámi men and Norwegian women, was used to promote authoritarianism during the trials. This is seen in the first case involving Morten Olsen and Christen the Tailor. King Christian IV’s religious anti-sorcery decrees, influenced by Niels Hemmingsen, promote the persecution of women and Sámi men. District Governor John Cunningham uses these religious decrees to promote misogynistic legislation, which was influenced by the Scottish witch panic of 1597. The last panic in Finnmark was also a result of religious extremism, as Christopher Orning used religion as an excuse to promote authoritarianism and practice gynocide. This argument is supported by the digital mapping of the locations of where the accused lived via Palladio. This reveals patterns which show that Sámi men who lived along the northern fjords were disproportionately affected and that Norwegian women living in villages near Vardøhus, where the District Governor lived, were disproportionately accused. The use of digital tools further solidifies the argument that accusations were motivated by systemic misogyny and racism against the Sámi. Palladio digital maps revealed that areas with high Sámi populations were disproportionately affected during the trials, and women in areas surrounding the District Governor were majorly impacted. From this, a conclusion is made, which shows that these areas were impacted because of religious extremism within the government, which promoted misogyny and intolerance towards the Sámi and their beliefs.
Women, the devil, and a cat's head: The trial of Anna and Tobbe Mall in Reval, 1594
Journal of Baltic Studies, 2003
This article reconstructs and analyzes the trial of two women in the Reval Lower Court in 1594: Anna, a young woman of Swedish extraction from Finland, and an old Estonian woman, Tobbe Mall, both arrested on suspicion of infanticide. Over the course of repeated interrogations, some of which were conducted under torture, the dark outlines of a crime emerge, along with the relationships between the two women and their social milieu. Although the circumstances of the birth and death of two of her other children form part of the context, the trial is focused around the ostensible killing of Anna's child from her liaison with Bodt Schröder, an old member of the Reval City Council and former judge from a long and distinguished local lineage.In the court records allegations are raised that the two women might have had dealings with the devil, that is to have been involved in witchcraft. These aspects reflect changes in the social climate of Reval at the end of the sixteenth century, when witchcraft trials increased in frequency. The period following the end of the Livonian Wars was a time of general social crisis and deteriorating economic circumstances, weakening the boundaries of the traditional class society. The article considers a range of specific methodological and source-critical problems raised by the interpretation and analysis of a trial as an event, and calls attention to the need for more extensive research on court documents in the future.
Premodern Beliefs and Witch Trials in a Swedish Province, 1669-1672
Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, 2021
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The Witch Hunts in early modern Europe (Winter 2019)
The history of witchcraft and the witchcraze is a topic that has fascinated students, historians, and the general public for centuries. With this fascination, however, has come certain distortions of the past, creating many different versions of the events which took place in Early Modern Europe. This course investigates the concept of witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and the origins, evolution and decline of the witch hunts which took place from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The course will start by considering ideas about witchcraft from the foundation of medieval superstitious beliefs and practices, exploring in particular, the idea of demons and demonology. We will also consider how witchcraft was conceived of within folklore in the early modern period, focusing on the idea of witch familiars. We will then turn to consider how these beliefs came to be seen as a basis for witchcraft as a crime, within both secular and religious legal contexts. Across Europe, approximately 80% of those accused of witchcraft were women, so we will spend a class thinking about the impact of gender on perceptions of witches and those actually tried for the crime. In order to see how all of these concepts worked in practice, we will next explore examples of witch hunts in five distinct geographical regions: Germany, England, Italy, Russia, and the New England colony of Salem. Format This course is a seminar and it is therefore based on discussion. Attendance is mandatory, as is participation in class discussion. All students are required to do the assigned readings before each class so that they are fully prepared to participate. If you do not do the readings, you are disrespecting your fellow students who worked hard to prepare. In preparation for class, students will sign up for roles for THREE Academic Reading Circles over the course of the semester. Each Academic Reading Circle (ARC) is focused on a topic we are covering for that week. In that role, you will help lead off our discussion for that topic based on the readings that were covered, both ONLINE and IN CLASS. Please see the handout "Academic Reading Circle Preparation" for more information.