Book
The last witch of Langenburg : murder in a German village / Thomas Robisheaux.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780393065510 (hardcover)
- ISBN: 0393065510 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 427 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton, c2009.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [383]-408) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Death on Shrove Tuesday -- The autopsy -- A confusing and suspicious affair -- Warding off evil -- A secret crime? -- The outsider -- Sorcery at the mill -- Wider conspiracies -- Satan in the heart? -- A daughter's betrayal -- A mother's revenge? -- Corpus deliciti -- A question of poison -- Impasse -- Politics -- A vengeful heart -- Poor sinner -- Ruin -- Stories. |
| Summary, etc.: | Exploring one of Europe's last witch panics, historian Thomas Robisheaux brings to life the story of an entire world caught between superstition and modernity in a high-stakes drama that led to charges of sorcery and witchcraft against an entire family. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Witchcraft > Germany > Langenburg > History. Murder > Germany > Langenburg > History. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at GRPL.
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The Last Witch of Langenburg : Murder in a German Village
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Summary
The Last Witch of Langenburg : Murder in a German Village
On the night of the festive holiday of Shrove Tuesday in 1672 Anna Fessler died after eating one of her neighbor's buttery cakes. Could it have been poisoned? Drawing on vivid court documents, eyewitness accounts, and an early autopsy report, historian Thomas Robisheaux brings the story to life. Exploring one of Europe's last witch panics, he unravels why neighbors and the court magistrates became convinced that Fessler's neighbor Anna Schmieg was a witch--one of several in the area--ensnared by the devil. Once arrested, Schmieg, the wife of the local miller, and her daughter were caught up in a high-stakes drama that led to charges of sorcery and witchcraft against the entire family. Robisheaux shows how ordinary events became diabolical ones, leading magistrates to torture and turn a daughter against her mother. In so doing he portrays an entire world caught between superstition and modernity.
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