Posted on 05/09/2024 9:34:05 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1628, a prepubescent boy went to the stake at Würzburg, the victim of a witch-hunting spasm amid the confusion of the Thirty Years’ War.
Here is the story as related by Midelfort’s Witch Hunting in Southwestern Germany, 1562-1684:
Bernhard Reichardt, a magistrate and wealthy man of Markelsheim, had tried to give his young son, Johan Bernhard, a decent education by sending him to school at Neuen Münster in Würzburg. In December of 1627, however, the father became convinced that his son had been seduced into witchcraft there, and transferred Johan Bernhard to the Jesuit school at Dettelbach. By mid-March 1628 the authorities in Würzburg were aware that this nine-year-old boy had been involved in witchcraft and wrote politely to the Teutonic Order in Mergentheim to ask for assistance in extraditing the child to Würzburg for questioning. Johann Caspar, Administrator of the Teutonic Order, responded at once that the boy was to be delivered up formally to the authorities at the border. By the end of March he was under the jurisdiction of the Würzburg authorities. Far from merely questioning him, the Würzburg court got Johan Bernhard to sign a confession on April 8 that he had been seduced into witchcraft by a classmate. Among other horrors, he had denied God, Mary, and all the saints and angels. With his own blood he had written “Ich, Johannes Bernhardus Reichard, hab mich dem Teüfel vergeben.” He had flown to numerous dances and, although only nine years old, had had intercourse with the devil on numerous occasions. Like adults, Johan Bernhard always found the devil “hard as horn” and “of a cold nature.” Implicating his complices, the boy noted that he had seen three other persons known to him at the dances.....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Every so often you post one of these, and it leaves me shaking my head in disbelief and disgust at what cruelties man devises.
The witch hunters would be having a heyday in 2024...
It’s shocking. How dark is human history ...
They are, actually. The subject matter is rather different, but the mindless belief driving the J6 and Trump trials feels soooo similar.
She turned me into a newt!!!
Hope you got better!
:-)
Except today these deceived kids that buy into a cult to feel important and to be different are celebrated. Change “witchcraft” to “transgenderism” and it is what we see today. Also it is mostly found in kids from middle class and above families.
“Bernhard Reichardt, a magistrate and wealthy man of Markelsheim, had tried to give his young son, Johan Bernhard, a decent education by sending him to school at Neuen Münster in Würzburg. In December of 1627, however, the father became convinced that his son had been seduced into witchcraft there...
Really, being a witch was deadly back then. Now, you might get elected to public office. Nancy Pelosi looks like one... 🤓
People don’t relate to witch hunts the same way anymore. Need a better metaphor.
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