last burning of the witch,

[wiesiek]

..."The last trial in Poland of a woman accused of witchcraft and executed by burning was not in Doruchow in Wielkopolski Province in 1776 – as commonly accepted – but 34 years later in August 1811. This happened in the city of Reszel in Warmia Province. The last victim to be burnt at the stake was Barbara Zdunk. The case against her began because of a fire in 1807 which destroyed nearly all the buildings in Reszel.
The investigation could not find the guilty party so suspicion fell on the woman for years suspected of witchcraft. In spite of torture under interrogation she would not admit to her guilt. After a few years Barbara Zdunk was declared guilty of the offence and sentenced, as well as being accused of witchcraft, to be burnt at the stake. The case file went through all levels of the Prussian court and finally even reached the Prussian king, but the barbaric sentence and execution was considered sound and final.

On 21st August 1811 the sentenced woman was taken to Szubienica Hill close to Reszel where the executioner from Lidzbark carried out the death sentence.,,,"

I`m bringing it on,
`cause 21 August is tomorrow
and
200 years not to far away .

[Dmitri]

Awful stuff.
Really glad we're past that sort of thing (for the most part) and are far enough removed from it (in time) to be able to make jokes about it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g

[jimmy]

[jimmy]

[Steve James]

Witches were never burned or hung or drowned because they performed magic . They were killed for political and economic reasons. The same reasons that Catholics and Protestants were burned or hung. Follow the money. Wherever and whenever they were burned, who got their property? It was especially easy to accuse someone of witchcraft, then demand they prove their innocence. Kinda difficult, at best.

[yeniseri]

Any threat to a social order can, will, and has been invoked by 'secret' words of some kind or category, to deprive the life, liberty, etc, of those who stand up to the village, the state or the nation.
It has worked and will continue to work within a social milieu, regardless of political, social or other affiliation.

The Witches of Salem; An introduction
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/ ... s-of-salem

The works of ignorant physicians and not so literate Puritans!
Not knowing the Lords' Prayer can be a defining category for being burned at the stake

[northern_mantis]

Very shocking and tragic. Although it is not necessarily comparable, this subject makes me think of the current trend in the UK for alleging sexual offences against men who are convicted without evidence and as below punished without conviction.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-yo ... e-37118850

I wonder if future generations will look back on these times with similar disbelief.

[Steve James]

I wonder if future generations

Parents will decide what to teach their children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyU0P6iqyw4

[grzegorz]

One Step Beyond.


https://youtu.be/JNgK8x_s5tc

[wiesiek]

Awful stuff.
Really glad we're past that sort of thing (for the most part) and are far enough removed from it (in time) to be able to make jokes about it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g

each generation has its own created witches
having somebody to burn is very handy, historically little beat outdated , dough
then,
in present time, as we may see - necessary adjustments have to be done...

[KEND]

A recent QI program , hosted by Stephen Fry had a piece on witches:

In Series 3 episode 12 of Qi, Stephen said:

"Well, [The Da Vinci Code] did claim that about five million women were burned or hanged around Europe for being witches; there's absolutely no evidence of anything like as much as that. Probably about 500, probably less, in England, and they weren't burned: they were hanged."

[Steve James]

"Probably about 500, probably less, in England, and they weren't burned: they were hanged."

That sentence is ambiguous. It probably means that probably less than 500 witches were hanged in England, and none were burned. But, that just speaks to the form of execution for witchcraft. Burning at the stake as a punishment (for religious crimes) in Europe goes back to Roman times. Joan of Arc wasn't burned for being a witch; she was convicted of wearing men's clothing. However, it was still political at base.

And, the number of people executed during the Spanish Inquisition has probably been exaggerated. Those numbers are dwarfed by the number of people killed in the Crusades within Europe against heretics (other Christians) such as the Albigensians and Cathars. There were more Cathars killed in one go than almost half the entire number of witches killed in England.

From May 1243 to March 1244, the Cathar fortress of Montségur was besieged by the troops of the seneschal of Carcassonne and the archbishop of Narbonne.[68] On 16 March 1244, a large and symbolically important massacre took place, where over 200 Cathar Perfects were burnt in an enormous pyre at the prat dels cremats ("field of the burned") near the foot of the castle.[68]

Apart from the annihilation of Christian heretics, there was also the burning massacre of Jews in England during the 12th century. That was mob violence, though. Burning at the stake was a particularly symbolic form of execution. Dead is dead, whatever the reason for or manner of execution.

Anyway, England is not what comes to mind when it comes to witch burnings. In the US, we think of Salem, MA . Iirc, only 20 or so people were executed as witches (by hanging, of course). Several others died while incarcerated.

From Europe, in general, we have gotten our ideas of "medieval torture," maybe in the Tower of London. It's interesting how our mythology is fashioned. Fifteenth-century fantasies are more well known than 18th century realities.

[Michael]

I think Game of Thrones is preparing fertile mental landscape for these historical details, although I wonder in what context people view them: as ancient exaggerations or fairly recent realities?

[middleway]

Wonder if all those Amanita Muscaria on the ground have anything to do with how the Baba Yaga appears to researchers?

The Ergot theory is pretty interested ref the Salom witch trials too.

https://www.damninteresting.com/bad-rye-and-the-salem-witches/