The witch commission

A methodical system of torture

All court sessions were held by a commision, which was only founded for the upcoming witch persecution. The members of this commision were promovated doctors of law like Johann Gregor Harsee, Ernst Vasoldt, Maximus Steiner or Jacob Schwarzconz. The rest of this commission was filled by other young doctors of law - preferebly coming from the University of Ingolstadt.

The councelors of the prince bishop controlled the actions of this commision. Torture was looked upon being god´s justice - the crown of evidence and therefore the use of torture was absoultely legal. But there where strict regulations of how, how long and how often the torture was allowed.

Whoever could stand the three grades of torture had to be set free and was 100 % innocent. Due to the fact, that witchcraft was a “Crimen Exceptum” - a sort of special crime against god, the normal regulations were dropped and this circumstance led to the worst torture atrocities the world has seen at those times. Every single torture session was managed by one of those witch commisioners, who was accompanied by two lay judges and a protocollist. Sometime a priest or even a doctor were present as well as the guards and the torturers.

The painfull interrogation followed a specially designed catalog of 102 questions.

Unusual extreme weather at the beginning of the 17th century and thereby resulted harvest failures, need and misery as well as sudden, inexplicable deaths needed of a scapegoat for the common people.

The devil's alliance and with it all evil can be explained in this manner rationally as a work of the bad people with whose help the devil donated damage in this world.

Hatred sermons poked the already ruling old fears of the superstitious population. In the course of that the destruction of dissenters was obvious and with it also the influence of the sprouting clarification.