1591: Elisabeth von Doberschütz, Stettin witch
December 17th, 2015 Headsman
On this date in 1591, Elisabeth von Doberschütz was beheaded at Stettin (Szczecin) as a witch.
Elisabeth (English Wikipedia entry | German), whose husband Melchior was a lesser son of a minor noble house and (since his tiny patrimony did not afford him the ease of the great aristocrat) a somewhat favored captain of the Duke of Pomerania, was accused a sorceress on the grounds that a draught she had concoted for the duchess some years before when the latter was abed following a miscarriage had rendered the lady permanently infertile. Rumors to the effect that Elisabeth’s potionmaking ran wider still completed the customary witches’ brew.
Elisabeth being a person of consequence and not some spinster midwife or family of beggars, it is typically supposed that the “real” cause of her execution can ultimately be found in rivalries among the elites: calumnies loosed abroad by Melchior’s rivals dating from the early 1580s in a (successful) campaign to separate him from a lucrative appointment to govern Neustettin. It was under Melchior’s successor in that post that Elisabeth was ultimately brought to trial.
Melchior was not caught up in the accusation. He married another woman in 1600, then faded out of history’s annals.
On this day..
- 1668: Walter P(e)ake - 2019
- 1944: The massacres of Wereth and Malmedy, during the Battle of the Bulge - 2018
- 638: The garrison of Gaza, by their Muslim conquerors - 2017
- 1707: Jack (Sam) Hall, chimney sweep and robber - 2016
- 1954: Eugen Turcanu, torturer - 2014
- 1963: Russell Pascoe and Dennis Whitty, Britain's second-last hanging date - 2013
- 1708: Deborah Churchill, "common strumpet" - 2012
- 2009: Mosleh Zamani, because sex kills - 2011
- 1883: Patrick O'Donnell, avenger - 2010
- 1818: Abdullah ibn Saud, last ruler of the first Saudi state - 2009
- 1182: Maria of Antioch - 2008
- 1927: Rajendra Lahiri - 2007
Entry Filed under: 16th Century,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Germany,History,Nobility,Poland,Public Executions,Women
Tags: 1590s, 1591, december 17
