The Knights of the Teutonic Order

In 1590, by the time summer came around, the knights of the Teutonic Order in Ellingen has already sent almost fifty witches to the stake.

The pious prior had tracked down a whole nest of such limbs of Satan about a year previously. It was pure chance: a poor servant girl, unwilling to stay in her present position, had looked for employment elsewhere. This she had confessed to her mistress in the course of a conversation that took a distinctly unedifying turn. A woman who lived nearby and happened to be present joined in the argument, telling the girl that she would be sorry she had left, and that she would have no luck from that day hence. If there was ever a case that proved it doesn't pay to interfere in other people's quarrels, this was it.

For the very next day the servant girl complained of terrible pain in her arm, which she could only attribute to the fact that the wicked neighbor had slipped across the intervening garden into her bedchamber and had pinched her viciously. At any rate, that was what she reported to the authorities, who arrested the neighbor on suspicion of witchcraft. No doubt they managed to loosen her tongue whith the aid of thumbscrews, and the result was what might have been expected.

Not only did the wicked neighbor confess that she herself was a sorceress and possessed by the Devil; she also revealed to the court the names of numerous other witches in the town. Among them was a wealthy, wellborn widow, who, to all appearances, led a respectable Christian life. In no way deceived by these appearances, and in spite of her frenzied denials, the prior had the old lady thrown into prison and ordered the thumbscrews to be brought out once more. They loosened the secret witch's tongue, so that she admitte her dreadful crimes and was duly condemned. At the same time, however, the torments inflicted on her during the trial moved her to such remorse that, before she went to the stake, she bequeathed no less than one thousand gulden from her estate for the express purpose of rooting out the witches of Ellingen.

Thus the financial foundation was laid for an extensive campaign of burnings: there was no end to the fires that were lit in the domain of the Teutonic Order. The more confessions there were, the greater the number of new suspects: every convicted witch instantly denounced her confederated. Some people even expressed concern that the entire population of Ellingen would be wiped out before all the witches were finally smoked out.

The following is an account of a witch-burning at Ellingen:

An open, horse-drawn cart, bearing the four witches condemned to be burned that day, had reached the top of the rise. The executioner dragged the first witch down and pulled her on a rope across a plank to the stake assigned to her. The spectators kept up a running commentary in the form of 'Oh's and Ah's,' coarse laughter, and crude jokes. The victim's arms were bound to the stake that rose from the bundles of knidling. The other three condemned women were treated in the same way. An official clambered up onto the empty cart as the sound of the bells died away with a final clang.

A murmeu ran through the crowd, then ceased abruptly as the man on the cart raised his right hand, drawing a paper from his doublet. From this paper he proceeded to read in a loud voice the so-called shrift, a summary of the confessions made by the condemned persons. The four wretched sinners had admitted entering into a pact with the Evil One, breaking into cellars by night, and taking part in a witches' sabbath.

They had allegedly murdered innocent, unbaptized children, cut off their hands, and ground these down to make a powder, with which they had harmed people and cattle and summoned up hailstorms. For all this the worshipful court had condemned them to death by fire. This was the gist of the long statement, which was accompanied by murmurs of surprise among the listeners and concluded with an assurance of safe-conduct to the executioner, should he incur the wrath of the mob by some technical blunder.

The priests and monks stationed between the stakes immediately started sprinkling holy water, swinging their censers, and reciting Latin prayers, while the bells began to toll once more. In a trice the executioner had strangled the first witch by means of an iron collar, and action greeted by the crowd with a roar of blood-curdling savagery. The four piles of brushwood and faggots were already well kindled, with flames leaping up and enveloping the four corpses. Four pillars of black smoke rose up into the blue sky, forming a dark cloud.