1717: The witch-children of Freising
November 12th, 2018 Headsman
On this date in 1717 a witch hunt in the Bavarian town of Freising concluded with the beheading of three beggar children as magicians.*
The accusations of other kids in the city against two youths named Andre and Lorenz got the snowball rolling with the aid of adults credulous enough to believe the pubescent warlocks could conjure piglets and mice.
Andre and Lorenz, naturally, then supplied confessions and additional accusations, as a result of which several more children aged 9 to 14 were arrested, all of them cajoled and tortured towards symoptic allegations. Thirteen-year-old Andre eventually hanged himself; Lorenz and two others were put to sword and fire on November 12, 1717.
Notably, two other boys were spared execution but forced to watch their fellows’ fate. One of those, Veit Adlwart, would stand at the center of a second Kinderhexenprozess in Freising that claimed eight boys and three adults in the early 1720s. Veit Adlwart was put to death on December 15, 1721.
* Street children were at great risk of catching the witch stigma given the wrong place at the time.
On this day..
- 1941: Ivan Sullivan - 2020
- 1863: Angel Vicente Peñaloza, "Chacho" - 2019
- 1963: Four CIA saboteurs in Cuba - 2017
- 1886: William Wilson - 2016
- 1800: Thomas Chalfont, postboy - 2015
- 1964: Louis Drouin and Marcel Numa, Jeune Haiti - 2014
- 1969: Liu Shaoqi dies under torture - 2013
- 1858: James Rodgers, lamented - 2012
- 1793: Jean-Sylvain Bailly, moonstruck - 2011
- 1977: Atnafu Abate, Mengistu's last rival - 2010
- 1679: The hot-blooded Lady Christian Nimmo - 2009
- 1874: William Udderzook, because a picture is worth a thousand words - 2008
- 1755: Rowley Hanson - 2007
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Beheaded,Burned,Capital Punishment,Children,Death Penalty,Execution,Germany,History,Public Executions,Torture,Witchcraft
Tags: 1710s, 1717, freising, november 12, witch hunt
That’s horrendous.