When, in the autumn of 1878, George Lincoln Burr -- still a sophomore at Cornell -- was entrusted by Cornell President White with the care of his historical library, the collection was allready well under way. White saw the witch-persecution as a particularly interesting form of fanaticism preceding the Enlightenment. He was a firm secularist, and, since his 1869 speech on “The Battle-Fields of Science,” the promoter of the so-called "conflict thesis" which postulated an intrinsic conflict between science and superstition, "scientific conclusions" and "theological control." In this never ending war of ideas, university libraries were viewed as arsenals. White used historical books and manuscripts in his history classes as early as 1872, and offered them to the curiosity of researchers. The period 1881-1895 proved the most fruitful for the expansion of the collection, with an increasing number of original and complete witch trial records (see for example, box 5, folders 1 and 8). When White was appointed as the first U.S. ambassador to a unified Germany (1897-1902), he found himself in a good position to buy from German booksellers. While witch hunts were seen all across early modern Europe, the epicenter of the phenomenon was Southwestern Germany and Thuringia. The peak years of witch hunts were from the 1560s to the 1670s, with more than 10,000 trials ending in executions. With family money and the proceeds from sales of his book "The History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom" (1896), A. D. White could afford outstanding documents, such as records of the witch-trial of Sister Maria Renata Sänger (or Singerin) von Mossau, charged with bewitching her fellow-nuns, whose execution was the last notorious witch burning in 1749 (box 5, folder 3). Her tragic case undermined the witch-hunt in Europe, and White commented upon it in chapter XVI of his book, "From Diabolism to Hysteria." He paid particular attention to the role played by jurists in fueling or denouncing the repression, for example in Rinteln, where Friedrich von Langenfeld wrote his "Cautio Criminalis" in 1631 (cf. box 4, folder 24), or in Ingolstadt, where the law faculty was particularly active (cf. 4620 Bd. Manuscript 35 ++).
In his effort to build a unique collection for Cornell Library, White could count on Burr, who once described himself jokingly as "a witch-hunter in the book shops." Burr had been captivated by the subject since he read an essay on the history of torture by Henry Charles Lea (1825-1909) at age fifteen. In 1885, while in Trier, he made a paleographic transcription of the trial of Dietrich Flade, ex-rector of the University and chief judge of the electoral court , who opposed the trials and especially the use of torture, and was arrested, tortured, strangled and burned for that reason in 1589 (Box 2, folder 8, and for the trial record, Bd. Manuscripts 4620 21++). Dietrich Flade, "the most eminent of the German victims of the persecution," became an icon to both White and Burr: he was a scholar who earned his fate through his attempt to check rationally and challenge the beliefs of his time. Having improved his paleographic skills in University of Leipzig and at the Ecole des chartes in Paris, Burr even started a doctoral dissertation on Dietrich Flade, and later published an article titled "The Fate of Dietrich Flade" (1891), conceived as a chapter of his never-written "History of Intolerance." In 1900, Burr initiated a correspondence with Joseph Hansen, the director of the Köln Stadtarchiv and a witchcraft historian who stood squarely within the positivist tradition. A Unitarian and a progressive thinker, Burr was convinced that witch hunting was not “the people’s fault,” and that clericalism -- more than "religion" -- bore the main responsibility for persecutions. Until his own death in 1938, he purchased original documents – though at a slower pace – and commissioned transcriptions of German manuscripts for the Cornell Library.
Documents, broadsides, letters, and other manuscripts concerning witchcraft and witchcraft trials in Europe, mainly in Germany, through the early modern period, with a few documents from New England. The unbound manuscripts and letters in the Witchcraft Collection include very interesting letters of George Lincoln Burr and Andrew Dickson White with dealers and with each other, concerning purchases for the collection. The George Lincoln Burr Papers #14-17-22 are another precious source for the history of the Witchcraft collection as a whole, and the purchase of witch trial records in particular.
Witchcraft collection, unbound manuscripts, #4620. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
George Lincoln Burr papers, #14-17-22
This guide covers only a small portion of the Witchcraft collection. There is also a large collection of books (ca. 3000 v.) held in the repository, ranging in date from 1487 onward.
Manuscript copy of his article on Balthasar Bekker in his "Nieuw biographisch... van Nederlandsche dichters" document.
Manuscript copy of a poem.With manuscript annotation by G.L. Burr and partial transcription by LF
Fragments of trial records, containing accusations of witchcraft against a woman in [Zella-]Mehlis, Thuringia (Germany).
Manuscript copy of a Gnostic text.
Letters to George L. Burr, Cornell University [Library], documenting the purchase of documents of witch trial records (concerning Sister Maria Renata Sänger or Singerin as well as Hans Loder's wife, 17th century).
Typed letter to A.D. White [then U.S. Ambassador in Berlin] offering him witch trial records for purchase(Bamberg, 1617-31)
Two manuscript letters to George L. Burr about the purchase of witch trial records (Alsace, 1607-75), one with envelope
List of works concerning Bekker, plus a manuscript copy of the poem "Aan aalems vreede schrijver ddomienee Zaalomon val til", signed "Baltasar Bekker" (?)
Manuscript copy of the poem "Lof Geedight op den Roem der kristenen Geemaaakt door", signed "Baltasar Bekker" (?)
Manuscript copy of "Bijschriften voorkomende in de gedichten uit het stamboek..."
Manuscript copy of the poem "Lof Geedight op het euwig evangelium Gemmakt Door Joohannis Vlak prediekant tee Zutven", signed "Baltasar Bekker"; the signature was actually appended by the copyist.
Manuscript copy of the poem "Lof Geedight over het verklaare van den eerste Brief van Petrus door Doomiene Golieus, prediekant tot hindeloopen" in Dutch, signed "Baltasar Bekker"; the signature was actually appended by the copyist
Manuscript copy "UItrreksl uit het Kort bericht" [1692], signed "Baltasar Bekker"; the signature was actually appended by the copyist
Manuscript copy poem "Brief aan zijn huisrouw, Frouk Fullenia" 1691), signed "Baltasar Bekker"; the signature was actually appended by the copyist
Partial record of a witch trial against Marta Braun zu Mergentheim, 1628 [copy]. The original document is kept in the Hohenloe-Zentralarchiv (archive of the Hohenloe) in Neuenstein, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (Germany), Bestand GA 55
Manuscript record of a witch trial which took place in Treptow (Pomerania). The widow was accused of having song hymns to the devil (trial "in cantationis"). The record includes the testimony of her neighbors, her own inquisition, letters from the local clergy, an order for torture from the Law Faculty of the University of Greifswald, her confession, and the sentence, according to which she was burnt.
Complete manuscript record of a witch trial, Anhalt-Bernburg region, 1688-9, 240 p. in folio sewn into one fascicle. The former baker was accused of adoring the devil and having poisoned a neighbor (trial "in venesicii"). The record includes the testimony of her neighbors, her own inquisition, the fact that she was left to the torturer to be interrogated harshly ("to death if necessary"), two personal interventions from the Prince Carl Wilhelm von Anhalt, and the sentence, according to which she was eventually acquitted in the absence of evidence, and released after almost two years.
Trial record of a witch trial in Rodenbach, Hesse, Germany, 1650. The widow was accused of being a witch by two men of the same village. The document consists of her accusers' statements and her answers. Accompanied by a note by George L. Burr: "This manuscript was bought for the President White Library in the winter 1898-99"
Original text of a lecture titled "On the Loos Manuscripts," on witch hunting and the persecution for heresy in Europe ("that strange nightmare that fell upon the world just as it woke from the long sleep of the Middle Ages") delivered by Burr on October 6, 1886, at a meeting of the Historical and Political Science Association; with a full transcription.
Manuscript copy of a document kept in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Impr. Ln2 4768
Fragment of a withcraft trial record: preliminary statement by the prosecutor and testimony of one witness.
Three letters to George Burr by Ewen, the author of "Witch Hunting and Witch Trials: The Indictments for Witchcraft From the Records of 1373 Assizes Held for the Home Circuit A. D. 1559-1736," 1929.
Statement by several "witnesses" that a woman named Stolz "turns herself into a wolf, and very often into a bear too"
Autograph letter signed "F," sent from Poitiers. Describes the last days of Urbain Grandier, who was publicly burned in Loudun on August 18, 1634, after being convicted of witchcraft, specifically for his involvement in the Loudun Possessions. The letter reports certain "symptoms" of Grandier's alleged adoration of the Devil.
Manuscript containing the preliminary statement, the testimony of seventeen "witnesses," as well as the trial proper of Hans and his wife, who was tortured to death in Schleusingen, Thuringia.
Paleographic transcription made by Burr in 1882 of the minutes of a trial record (Trier Stadtbibliothek Hs. 1533a/171). The Witch trials of Trier (Germany) in the years from 1581 to 1593 led to the death of about three hundred and seventy people, including Judge Dietrich Flade, ex-rector of the university and dean of its law school, who opposed the persecutions and especially the use of torture. He was accused of participation in a sabbat where he had arrived in a silver carriage drawn by four dark horses. The document is mentioned in President White's 1896 book(A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology..., I, p. 357, Rare BL 245 .W58 1896).
Summary of a trial record [Hexenprozess in Flamersheim, Germany]
Contains the manuscript of an essay, "American Legends, Ghost Stories, and Witchcraft" written by Judge Furman of Brooklyn in 1825.
17 sets of notes.
Concerns Hanswolf Gasserstedt's payment of court costs for his wife, Judith Rommelmann, who had been banished for witchcraft.
Partial transcript and notes on the manuscript of a trial. Defendant was Anna Gause, the 70-year-old widow of Klaus Zauman, accused of being a witch and strangled.
Complete record, call number: 4620 Bd. Manuscript. 25 ++
Partial transcript of esoteric notes.
List of material on witchcraft in the Connecticut State Library (31 articles)
Autograph letter signed to the Honourable Commitee. Document concerning "the destruction of [his] poor family" since Good's wife, Sarah, was executed in Salem in July 1692 "upon the account of supposed witchcraft"; also mentioned are "a sucking child [who] died in prison before the mother's execution" and another "child of four of five years old [who] was in prison seven or eight months and being chained in the dungeon was so hardly terrified that she [now] has no reason to govern herself." Included are two letters from the secretary of the Essex Intitute, 1913, as well as an auction catalog, in which the letter is described, sale item # 805.
Autograph document signed. Advice of the Luxembourg authorities, in the name of the Grand-Duke, reporting the torture, confession, and execution by "strangulation by naked hands" of an alleged witch. With partial transcription and translation.
Autograph document [copy by Judge Gabriel Furman]. One of the two copies of the bill of indictement for the trial of Ralph Hall and his wife, annotated by Furman, according to whom this was "the only trial for that offence in [the state of New York]."
Autograph letter signed from a German bookseller to Burr. Offers him "Protokolle von Hexenprocessen zu Flammersheim...aus den Jahren 1629-30" for purchase.
Partial transcription and bibliographic description of Happe's treaty on alchemy, call number: 4620 Bd. Manuscript 77
Copy of trial records made by Burr, with his annotations.
Judicial order for the torture of "Barbara, Beclagtin und Behaeftin," on the charge of witchcraft.
Photostat copies of records of a famous witchcraft trial that took place in Cologne, with a letter from Dr. Hansen, Historisches Archiv, Köln, to Burr.
Fragment of a trial record
Incomplete record of a witchcraft trial held in Carinthia, Austria
Tolbooth speech as to witchcraft [copy]. Copy made by Lucy Dreicker in 1929. Attached is a letter requesting payment from Burr.
Two documents relating to her trail for witchcraft: one describing the "great tumult" which took place in her cell and was supposedly caused by supernatural beings, and the other attributing her death under torture to strangulation by the devil.
"The Copye of a Letter Written by Mr. Thomas Killigrew." Contemporary manuscript copy of a well-known account of the possession of the nuns of Loudun, composed as a letter by the future dramatist Thomas Killigrew, then aged 23, during his tour of France.
Other manuscript copies are Bodleian Library, Ashmole
manuscript 800, art. iii, ff. 21-27r, Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys
Library 2099(3), ff. 10r-25v, and the British Library, Add. manuscript 27402,
ff. 69r-71v. Source:
Copy of a Dutch poem composed in 1662.
One of the few remaining accounts of a witch hunt before the trials of 1692-1693. From the Phillips Collection (Harbin Papers), with a full transcription. "It demonstrates that neighborood suspicion of Rachel Clinton long antedated her trial in connection with the Salem outbreak" (John Putnam Demos, Entertaining Satan, 1983, p. 20. The author observes that the heading on this document, "Witchcraft 1687," is in a separate hand and was probably added at some later time.)
Manuscript review of an article, by Johannes Roman, Boekverkooper.
[Trial for Witchcraft in Suhl, Germany]. Various documents relating to the trial of a widow accused of being a witch ("der Hexerey wegen"), who confessed before being tortured, was sentenced to death by fire -- sentenced commuted to death by decapitation by the Duke Moritz von Sachsen-Zeitz, Administrator des Stifts Naumburg, after she showed repentance (rescriptum.)
Complementary source: Bundesarchiv Koblenz, FSg.2/1-F Film Nr. 39 Suhl.
Copy of a short notice issued in the "Nederlansch Archief"
"Dass den vier Herrn Geistlichen und dem Kirchner zu Schleusingen der Herr Ambtschreiber Sebastian Bentzinger 2 fl[orins] 5 g[ulden] 3 d[ucats] von Irmel Wagnerin zu Breitenbach... entrichtet und bezahlt [die ich richtig bekommen habe]." Sebastian Kühn certifies to the payment to himself, as well as to four other clergymen or sacristans, of a sum taken from the estate of Irmel Wagnerin, who had been executed for witchcraft after examination by those "skilled theologicians [periti]".
Deposition against Maria Lamkers made by the city attorney "ex officio."
Account by Laubardemont [a Capuchin monk and Richelieu's agent] of the successful exorcism of the Ursuline Prioress of Loudun, one year after the execution of Urbain Grandier. A fifth demon has been expelled from the body of the nun, leaving the name "Joseph" on her left hand.
Transcriptions of clippings collected by Lea, which he lent to Burr for copying (1889). Includes "Russian Witches," "Strange French Stories," "Superstition in Western Kentucky," "Pennsylvania Witchcraft: A Curious Case in Dauphin County," "Mojave Indians Sacrifice a Squaw accused of Witchcraft," etc. Burr worked to complete the manuscript of Lea's "Materials for a Study of Witchcraft."
Concerns his offer to sell the documents of the witch trial of Sister Maria Renata Sänger and Hans Loder's wife [cf. these names below.]
"Verbal [confrontation] zwischen Heinrich Stein aus Oberweis [in Luxemburg], formal Clergen, und Hupricht Leonhardtz aus Oberweis Lasters Zauberei halber inquirirt [ = subject to an Inquisition trial for witchcraft]."
Besides Bekker's own works, the list enumerates some 170 titles.
Report of the trial of an alleged witch who was engaged in treating kinds of human and animal diseases, using grimaces and magical signs, and pretending to "swallow the illness." She confessed to all the charges against her and was burnt.
Nine fragments of a trial record held in Arnstein, all addressed to the Prince-Bishop of Würtzburg.
Manuscript copy of a "Höllenzwang" or book of magic containing invocations and charms intended to compel the demons to do one's will. It draws its inspiration from Dr. Faust's Wunder-Buch (1501) and includes several drawings.
Her confession that she was led to become a witch by her grandmother at age 4.
A German short copy of one of the most famous books of magic.
Order to torture this woman, who was accused of magical practices and sexual intercourse with the devil, followed by a report of her unexplained death.
Letter from Judge William Stoughton to George Corwin, the sheriff of Essex County, ordering the execution of Bridgett Bishop, who was convicted of witchcraft, plus answering letter of Corwin confirming that the execution was completed.
Copy from the Massachusetts State Archives.
Answer to the questions posed by Governor Joseph Dudley of New York (text in Latin).
Copy of an article on Bekker.
List of pamphlets [1691-99] relating to the "Bekker controversy" (the furor over De Betoverde Veereld, a pamphlet published in 1691 in which Bekker attacked witch-hunting.)
Printed program for the conference "Witchcraft and the Occult in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance" organized by the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies.
Informs Burr that he has "a facsimile copy" of the trial of Grace Sherwood.
List of 117 titles of pamphlets about Bekker (1691-1692).
Report and recommendations on the matter of witchcraft and witch persecution, written by six pastors from Nuremberg at the request of the local authorities in Weisenburg, 30 miles below Nuremberg.
G.L. Burr, "The Literature of Wichcraft," in Papers of the American Historical Association, 1889, p. 61.
Inscription on Bekker's monument in Amsterdam, and list of portraits of him.
Copy made by Judge Gabriel Furman of an article issued on October 22, 1730 and dealing with a trial for witchcraft.
The first examination and testimony of seven other convicted witches who had accused Magdalen of being one of them.
"Untersuchungsprotokoll gegen die Ehefrau des Juergen Pollmann, Anna, geboren Nolte, in Rinteln, wegen Zauberei." With notes by G.L. Burr
Order for examination by torture issued by the office of the Chancellor of the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Würzburg.
Original documents from the trials of all three accused witches, that took place in Waltershausen in Thuringia, Germany. The first 106 leaves are sewn together in one fascicle and concern only Ursula Reinhard, who was tortured and burned. Followed by 93 loose leaves relating also to her trial, the rest is about subsequent trials of women accused by Ursula, Judith Rommelmann (2 leaves), and Caspar Hess' wife (7 leaves). With a note by G.L. Burr.
Postcard offering for sale "a very interesting and exceedingly rare" booklet on witchcraft. Pencilled on the card is a note by G.L. Burr indicating that the book was not ordered for Cornell Library due to the price.
Autograph document signed, containing: "Ratione Corporis Delicti," a brief of the case against her (leaves numbered 1-3). Three lists of questions to be asked of her (leaves numbered 4-6). Part of her examination and confession, dated February 5, 1749, and signed in her hand "Soror Maria Renata Sengerin de Mossau" (leaf numbered 7). Legal briefs discussing her alleged crimes, plus accounts of her secular trial and execution (leaves numbered 8-13). Sister Maria Renata von Mossau was a Bavarian nun at the convent of Unterzell, who was executed for heresy, witch craft, apostasy and satanism, one of the last people executed for these charges in Europe, in Würzburg in June 1749.
Complementary sources about Maria Renata's examination are to
be found at the Staatsarchiv in Würzburg with the signature HV manuscripts f.
20, f. 225, f. 267 and f. 1569 . See
AM Deposition for witchcraft against one Schlott, who was secretary for the convent of Unterzell, near Würzburg.
This set of manuscripts bound together contains the records of seven distinct trial records, numbered 1-7 in this catalog. The first record contains the testimony of the witnesses, and an account of the procedure of Frau Seebauer's trial and execution for witchcraft in 1629, with a short annotation by G.L. Burr ("bought for the President White's Library in September 1905") as well as two letters in German from bookseller and antiquarian Emil Hirsch from Munich, the first about this acquisition, and the second about other manuscripts documenting the history of witch-hunt in Franconia, for sale (August and September 1905). The remaining six records concern witchcraft trials that also took place in Franconia in the years 1615-1630 (2-7 in this catalog) including the last defendant's "Gut und peinliche Aussag" (statement under torture)
Six documents and a postscript scrap belonging to the trial of this Seublin of Warmbronn, near Stuttgart.
Autograph document signed, related to a witchcraft trial held in Neuerburg, Luxembourg
"Advice" on behalf of the authorities of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and indictment and complete transcript of the trial held in Neuerburg, Luxembourg. With annotations by G.L. Burr, 1887
Transcript of her witchcraft trial held at Leonberg, in Bavaria.
Autograph letter signed to Cornell Prof. Adams, regarding a witchcraft case, as well as the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeares' Sonnets.
Collection of "conjurations" or formulas of exorcism attributed to the Abbot of Spannheim, magician Trithemius (1462-1516), whose work on sorcery contained the first record of the famous folk story Dr. Faustus.
An account of Sister Maria Renata Sänger's (or Singerin's) career from the time she entered the cloister to her trial and execution for witchcraft.
See Box 5, Folder 3.
Relation by Sir Richard Onsley, a clerk, who himself "had it from his credible neighbors", of a woman named Mary Wallis from Guilford, Kent, England, who was accused of having bewitched her grandson Nicholas. Contains the testimonies of villagers "[who] seemed to be sober well-bred country people." With a transcription made by William R. Johnson in 1978.
See
Partial records containing a statement of the accusation, and a report of his examination, largely under torture, as well as of the interrogation of his accuser, beggar-boy named "Zacherlen," by the Inquisitors of the free city of Schwäbisch-Gmünd (in what is now Württemberg, Germany). The record documents the patterns of persecution, and the different strategies chosen by men and women indicted for witchcraft: in this case, Nicholaus protests that he is innocent until he is tortured and admits that indeed he has devoted himself to the devil, who visited his bedroom and turned it into a magic garden, etc.; he then retracts his confession; afterwards he admits that he is a witch, yet with the caveat that he was not really possessed. In the same "volume" is a detached leaf with the heading "Einnemen / Handlelohn." This is a record of a transfer of properties from one tenant to another, with no connection to the court trial record, except that the landlord may have been the same free city of Gmünd.
Four documents from the hearings of 8 year old orphan girl named Regina Wendel, who was supposedly under the influence of the devil. Includes a report of the preliminary hearing, the examination of the defendant and witnesses, and a final decision made by a judge of Öttingen (Bavaria), who acquitted her.
Advice given by the Luxembourg [Lutzemburg] government officials for the torture and execution of a woman who was deprived of her possessions and burned after strangulation "wegen bekannten Zauberlaster und Zauberthaten."
Typewritten letter signed to Proffessor [sic] George L. Burr, Cornell University, discussing the contents and purchase of the records of the witchcraft trial of Maria Renata Sänger of Unterzell/Mossau.
Typewritten letter signed to Professor George L. Burr, Cornell University, discussing the purchase of witchcraft trial records (Bamberg?).
Extracts made in 1888 by future historians George L. Burr and Earl Barnes [who would receive his M.S. from Cornell in 1891] from the compilation of manuscripts and print known as "Wickiana," 24 volumes kept in the Zürich Zentralbibliothek. With annotations and descriptions of illustrations by Burr.