Chonrad Stoeckhlin And The Night Witch Trials

What is the definition of witch-trials? The witch trials were a series of persecutions and prosecutions that occurred between the 15th and 17th century in Europe. Thousands of individuals (women) were accused of witchcraft during this time and were subjected to trials, torture, and death. From substantial evidence, the trials frequently featured charges based on hearsay, gossip, and supposition. Several of the accused were subjected to brutal questioning and torture to elicit confessions, and others were killed solely based on their confessions. They have been seen as a mirror of the times' fears and tensions, as well as a warning of the risks of public frenzy, bigotry, and injustice. Witch-hunts were triggered by several circumstances, including

He was a German herdsman from the town of Oberstdorf who was convicted and hanged for witchcraft after experiencing several visions. All these dreams began with an arrangement he made with his greatest companion. One night, they both drank too much and began theorizing about the afterlife. That night, they made a deal that whichever died first would return and tell the other what it was like. That dearest friend died a few weeks later. He returned to inform Chonrad that he should give up his sinful ways since the hereafter was a horrible realm of punishment. Chonrad was afterwards escorted by an angel which was considered “The Phantoms of the Night”, who brought him and a mob of people to various locations in the heavens and hell, where he witnessed numerous marvels. These Phantoms taught Stoeckhlin accused a local 60-year-old lady, Anna Enzensberg, of being a witch, based on what he heard from the phantoms. She was subsequently detained, and the authorities began to question Chonrad's method of designating witches. The authorities refused to accept that the "night phantoms" of which he talked were benign spirits, associating Stoeckhlin's meetings with the witch's sabbat. After a few months of torture, he confessed to being a witch, to having been taught

In certain situations, a voice of reason would emerge in society, advocating for the frenzy to halt and for the guilty to be handled properly. Jean Bodin has the right notion when it comes to how witchcraft might end. He served as the king of France's royal counselor in addition to being a law professor at Toulouse. There was a conviction that it was advantageous to execute all witches and that if we executed more witches, there would be less to discuss. The two effects on eliminating witchcraft that Bodin discusses that caught my attention were the fifth and the seventh, “The fifth effect is to reduce the number of the wicked… The seventh aim is to punish the wicked.” (Bodin, 291). His thoughts were to spread fear in people so that they would not disseminate concepts about the devil and witchcraft. So, he reasoned that if we executed all of the witches, there would be nothing to talk about and no one attempting to persuade others to the devil rather than God. In fact, neither their wealth nor their friends will be able to shield them from God's wrath, in other circumstances, the accused would be able to establish their innocence, and the allegations would be dropped. According to Bodin (Bodin, 291). According to this scripture, God alone is the only one who can forgive these witches of their sins. In some cases, the witch-hunts would just fizzle out, with people losing interest or