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    The Witch Hunter
    The Witch Hunter
    The Witch Hunter
    Ebook65 pages56 minutes

    The Witch Hunter

    By Peter Heisser

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    About this ebook

    The story takes place in Lindheim, a small town and castle in the district of today's Hesse, during the mid of the 17th century. As the governing nobles of the castle are noticing that certain inhabitants of Lindheim accuse each other of witchcraft, the Noble von Rosenbach introduces a new Police Regulation to fight this. The recently appointed Bailiff Geis encourages him to take this step, mentioning among others that fines and compensations from sentenced persons can contribute to the repairing costs of the castle's war damages. Geis sees also a great opportunity to enrich himself with the belongings of the victims and is establishing a witch court, with his own person as judge and some of his assistants as jury.
    Quite a number of innocent persons are being executed as a result of forced concessions and false witnesses.
    As soon as victims have been executed by hanging, beheading or burning, the bailiff is confiscating their properties.
    Geis' eagerness takes such an extent that he also accuses leading families in Lindheim. The family of the Miller Johannes Schüler is being afflicted in a cruellest way and many other inhabitants of Lindheim become victims before Geis is being stopped by the nobles of the castle.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeter Heisser
    Release dateSep 5, 2013
    ISBN9781301367146
    The Witch Hunter
    Author

    Peter Heisser

    Peter Heisser was born in Hamburg/Germany, but is nowadays living in Båstad/Sweden. After his career in Marketing he developed his interest in genealogy and medieval and early modern history, which resulted in his first book “Häxjägaren” about witch hunts in the german town of Lindheim, which has also been published in German under the title “Der Hexenjäger” and in English “The Witch Hunter”Peter Heisser är född i Hamburg, men är numera bosatt i Båstad. Efter en mångårig karriär inom Marketing har han utvecklat sitt Interesse för släktforskning samt medeltids- och den tidigmoderna tidens historia, vilket har resulterat i hans första bok ”Häxjägaren” om häxförföljelse i tyska Lindheim, vilken har också publicerats på tyska under titel ”Der Hexenjäger” samt på engelska ”The Witch Hunter”.

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      Book preview

      The Witch Hunter - Peter Heisser

      The Witch hunter

      A historical novel

      by

      Peter Heisser

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      Published by:

      Peter Heisser on Smashwords

      The Witch Hunter

      Copyright © 2013 by Peter Heisser

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents:

      Foreword

      1st Chapter

      2nd Chapter

      3rd Chapter

      4th Chapter

      5th Chapter

      6th Chapter

      Epilogue

      Foreword

      During medieval and early modern times, witch trials were spreading both in the old and new world. The numbers of people, who became victims of this cruelty , which was caused by superstition and belief in witchcraft, were uncountable. Witch executions in Salem (New England) and Essex (England) as well as in many other European countries are well-known among people, who are interested in this topic.

      However, the witch trials in a small town in the German district of Hesse have caught special interest among historians. The theologian Konrad Horst treated these in a scientific way in his book Dämonomagie in 1818 and he had many followers.

      There are several reasons which in whole made the tragedy of this small town in the mid of the sixteen's century very special. First of all, the number of victims is unprecedented compared to the number of inhabitants prior to the witch trials. According to sources as many as 38 persons have been executed or arrested and tortured in a place, which hardly had more than 35 families. This also can be compared with the total number of witch trials in the German-Roman Empire - i.e. most of the today's countries in South and Central Europe - which are estimated to approximately 50 000.

      Further, the Church had in contrast to similar witch trials in other places no part in chasing innocent people, although the Witch court gave the impression that the processes were in the name of God. Also, our knowledge is not only based on official documents like court protocols but as well to diaries and letters of Lindheim's vicar of that time, which on top of facts also give us a unique picture of the victims and their slayers. Besides, even consequences of the Thirty Years War had some influence on the events.

      In case you are driving the German motorway A5 in direction to Basel and pass Frankfurt, turn north-east to Hanau. After approx. 30 km, where two small rivers meet, you find the idyllic town of Lindheim, scene of the witch hunts described in this book.

      You are passing among others the graveyard, where you still find some old tombstones from that time, with typical decoration in the form of angle heads and sundials. After some hundred meters from the market square, you find the old church with its unusual appearance, which is quite understandable as it has the orig in in a medieval knights' hall.

      To the right following a small river, you can see an old stone wall with a deciduous forest behind. Go through the iron gate and follow a meandering forest trail until you see a medieval building through the foliage, the Witch tower - prison for people accused of witchcraft. A plaque informs the names of Lindheim's most known victims of the witch trials. You do not need to be sensitive to feel compassion for these poor people!

      The Author

      Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.

      2nd Samuel 24:14

      1st Chapter

      A late November evening in 1662 a dark-clothed person with his slouch hat pulled down over his face was leaving the house of the Noble v. Oeynhausen inside the castle of Lindheim. He went down the Castle road in direction to the lower port, but turned suddenly into a narrow alley passing the church, continued the walkway between Junker Stümmel's house and the school building down to the castle wall, or more accurately what was left after the great war, known to us as the Thirty Years War. This former so strong wall, which withstood attacks from enemies for hundreds of years, a mong others from Frankfurt's troops and their allies, who retaliated Lindheim's assault on the pepper sacks - which Lindheim's nobles condescendingly called Frankfurt's rich merchants. However, when the troops

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