German Jesuit against torture in the early 17th century – Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15633/tes.07101Keywords:
Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld, Jesuits, witch hunt, witch trials, TrevirAbstract
Witch hunts were common in many European countries in the modern period. The period of the greatest persecution on the German area was between the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century. Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld was one of the most determined opponents of witchcraft trials. This German Jesuit, professor, and poet was a staunch opponent of the trials involving torture. As a confessor to the women sent to the stake during executions, he wrote Cautio Criminalis – a work depicting not only the cruelty of the trials but also condemning all those responsible for the judgments and sentences handed down.References
Arens A., Ein dramatisches Leben, Aach 1988.
Battafarano M., Von Spee zu Beccaria. Der Kampf um die Abschaffung der Folter und der Hexenprozesse in der frühen Neuzeit [in:] Friedrich von Spee. Dichter, Theologue und Bekämpfer der Hexenprozesse, Trento 1988, pp. 223–264.
Friedrich von Spee. Dichter, Theologue und Bekämpfer der Hexenprozesse, Trento 1988.
Jaumann H., «Ein Jesuiter Namens Friedrich Spee…» Leibnitz’ Lektüre des «Güldenen Tugendbuch» und die «Querelle du pur amour» [in:] Friedrich von Spee. Dichter, Theologue und Bekämpfer der Hexenprozesse, Trento 1988, pp. 321–341.
Kytzler B., Zur rethorischen Struktur der Cautio Criminalis des Friedrich von Spee [in:] Friedrich von Spee. Dichter, Theologue und Bekämpfer der Hexenprozesse, Trento 1988, pp. 265–276.
Oorschott T., Zur geistigen Biographie Spees [in:] Friedrich von Spee. Dichter, Theologue und Bekämpfer der Hexenprozesse, Trento 1988, pp. 9–61.
Sobiech F., Jesuit Prison Ministry in the Witch Trials of the Holy Roman Empire: Friedrich Spee SJ and his Cautio Criminalis (1631), Roma 2019.
Spee F. von, Cautio Criminalis, oder rechtliches Bedenken wegen der Hexenprozesse, traduzione e introduzione J.F. Ritter, München 1987.
Spee F. von, Lyrik und Prosa, W. Feund (ed.), Paderborn 1991.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
Authors publish under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license. In this case, authors have a range of rights, including:• The right to share or reuse their article in the same ways permitted to third parties under
• They can "copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, but not commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms."
• Authors retain patent, trademark, and other intellectual property rights (including research data).
• Authors receive proper attribution and credit for the published work.
