1750: Maria Pauer, the last witch executed in Austria
6 comments 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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