1750: Maria Pauer, the last witch executed in Austria
October 6th, 2019 Headsman
Maria Pauer on October 6, 1750 achieved the milestone of being the last person executed for witchcraft in the territory of present-day Austria — a “judicial murder” for which the Archbishop of Salzburg begged “forgiveness for this atrocity” in 2009.
It’s a late year for a witchcraft execution; we’ve seen in these pages that the ancient superstition was still in its dying throes.
Pauer (English wiki entry | a longer German one) was a household maid of about 15 years in the Bavarian town of Muehldorf, where she must have carriead a fey reputation — because when the locals started believing a building afflicted by some sort of poltergeist, they proceed to associate the haunt with a recent visit paid by the maid.
Held for over a year under close confinement and closer questioning, she eventually capitulated to the accusations, maybe even believed them herself. The Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein, refused the now-16-year-old mercy for her infernal traffic and permitted her beheading and subsequent burning in his beautiful city.
On this day..
- 1960: Tibur Mikulich, Hungarian traitor - 2020
- 1909: Martha Rendell - 2018
- 1884: Thomas Orrock and Thomas Harris - 2017
- 1893: Paulino Pallas, Spanish anarchist - 2016
- 1918: Private Harry James Knight, deserter - 2015
- 1573: Maeykens Wens, Antwerp Anabaptist - 2015
- 1922: Benny Swim, "dead as a door-nail" (or not) - 2014
- 1943: Yitskhok Rudahevski and family - 2013
- 1646: Zhu Yujian, the Prince of Tang - 2012
- 1999: Chen Chin-hsing, Taiwan's most notorious criminal - 2011
- 1553: Prince Mustafa, heir to Suleiman the Magnificent - 2010
- 1536: William Tyndale, English Bible translator - 2009
- 1849: Lajos Batthyány and the 13 Martyrs of Arad - 2008
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Austria,Burned,Capital Punishment,Children,Death Penalty,Execution,Habsburg Realm,History,Holy Roman Empire,Milestones,Public Executions,Witchcraft,Women
Tags: 1750, maria pauer, muehldorf, october 6, salzburg
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