Fulda Gedenkstätte Hexenverfolgung mit Gedenktafel von S

The Witch trials of

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

in Germany from 1603 to 1606 resulted in the death of about 250 people. They were one of the four largest witch trials in Germany, along with the Trier witch trials, the Würzburg witch trial, and the Bamberg witch trials. Midelfort, H. C. Erik, Witch-hunting in southwestern Germany 1562-1684: the social and intellectual foundations, U.P, Stanford, Calif, 1972 The persecutions were ordered by the Catholic Prince Bishop, a follower of the Counter-Reformation. Crypto-protestants were executed on charges of witchcraft.Stuart Clark, William Monter,
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 4: The Period of the Witch Trials
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History

The witch trials were ordered by Prince-abbot Balthasar von Dernbach, who had been exiled by the Lutherans in 1576 after his

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) ...

policies, and returned to power in 1602. He resumed the Counter-Reformation, and announced an investigation of witches and other undesirables. The witchcraft persecutions were presided over by Balthasar Nuss, who had attached himself to the abbot during his exile and afterward was appointed ''Zentgraf'' of Hofbieber and ''Malefizmeister''. Investigations began in March 1603, and shortly thereafter, the arrests begun in the city. One of the first and the most well-known victim was

Merga Bien Merga Bien (late 1560s – 1603) was a German woman convicted of witchcraft and perhaps the most famous of the victims in the Fulda witch trials in 1603–05. Life Bien was born in the city of Fulda. She was married three times and was the hei ...

, whose case even concerned the

Imperial Chamber Court The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

. Dornbach was a follower of the Counter-Reformation, and Nuss arrested crypto-protestants on charges of witchcraft alongside others. The exact number of victims is not known, but they are known to have been at least over 200; the accusers of Nuss accused him of having accused 239 people, while he admitted to 205. The witch hunts ceased soon after the Prince-abbot died on 15 March 1605. in 1606, Nuss was imprisoned and accused of having enriched himself. Nuss remained in custody for 13 years; after the university of Ingolstadt ruled to that effect, Nuss was beheaded in 1618.

Reception

In 2008 a memorial for the victims of the witch trials was established in Fulda.

References

Sources

*Heinrich Heppe, . 1850 *Karl Eder, ''Die Kirche im Zeitalter des konfessionellen Absolutismus (1555–1648)'', 1949, 69. 295 f. * Ingrid Möller-Münch, ''…ach Gott, so wil ich es gethan haben. Das Leben der Merga Bien. Beitrag zur Hexenverfolgung im Hochstift Fulda (1603 - 1606)''. Fulda 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fulda witch trials Witch trials in Germany 1603 in law 1604 in law 1605 in law 1606 in law Fulda History of Hesse 1603 in the Holy Roman Empire 1604 in the Holy Roman Empire 1605 in the Holy Roman Empire 1606 in the Holy Roman Empire