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Letters from the Witch Trial of
Rebecca Lemp
trans. by Brian A. Pavlac
In the Year of Our Lord 1590, the mayor and council of the town of
Nördlingen hunted witches. Surviving letters from one of the accused, Rebecca Lemp (or Rebekka Lempin), and from her family provide a unique insight into these witch hunts. Based
on the accusation of an executed witch, authorities arrested the forty-year-old
mother of six on June 1, 1590 while her husband, the Zahlmeister or tax counter
of the town, was away on business.
The next day, on June 2, 1590, the Lemp children wrote their mother:
| Our warm greetings as children to our beloved Mother. We want to let you know that we are well. You have also informed us that you are well, and, God willing, Father will visit you today. So, we will let you know when he is coming. May almighty God grant you His grace and Holy Spirit, that you may once more return to us in joy and with a healthy body. Amen. Beloved Mother, let them buy some beer, bake a cake, and cook a cutlet and let them get a little fish and a small chicken from us. And afterwards I took two of them and we had Herr Rummel1 for dinner with us. And when you need money, you can get it from us. You have enough in your purse. Fare well, my beloved mother. You should not worry about the housekeeping until you return to us. God give you a thousand times good night. Rebecca, your loving daughter Anna Maria, your loving daughter Maria Salome, your loving daughter Joannes Conradus, [in Latin] your most loving son Samuel, your loving son |
1A local deacon and family friend. |
Probably while they were writing, Rebecca underwent her first examination. She protested her innocence, but was already threatened with torture. Rebecca wrote the following letter to her husband on July 10, 1590:
| My beloved husband, be without worry. Even if they should force me a 1000 times, I remain innocent, or may every devil come and rip me to shreds. And if they should question me harshly,2 I could admit nothing, even if they would rip me into a 1000 pieces. Do not worry, I am innocent down to my soul. If I should be martyred,3 which I do not believe will happen, then I am justified. Father, if I am guilty of the crime, then may God never let me appear before his countenance, for ever and always. If they do not believe me, then may God the Highest perceive such and perform a sign. If I am stuck in misery, then there is no God in heaven. You hear my innocence. By the will of God, let me not remain stuck in dreadful misery. | 2Torture.
3Tortured.
|
Three days later, on July 13, 1590, her husband Peter appealed directly to the town council with this letter:
Most honorable, considerate, respectable, prudent, generous, and imposing
Lords! Because in the meantime I have received from my wife a veracious report, namely that she in her innocence lies in her oppressive prison. And on her account, as her nearest, most loving, and best friend, master of the household, and husband, unto me has been implored, exhorted, and entreated to be helpful to her in her crucifixion and suffering. Thus in all verity, I could not have a Christian heart, if ever I would not be steadfast in comfort and attachment to her. On her account it is my subservient and official request, that my generous and imposing lords, seriously and at the earliest opportunity, recognize that with all those envious and antagonistic people with her, she has heedlessly and impudently, and yes, susceptible to diabolic delusion and suggestion, presented whatever may be confronted and imagined in their replies and answers heard from one another. That this has occurred, will without doubt be concluded by my generous lords hence, as their high intelligence can comprehend, whether such accusations against her have a good sound basis or rather have occurred from merely diablolic deception and delusion, or not. For I hope and believe and hold it for a certainty that all such things of which they accuse my wife, not one time in her life has she had the merest thought, much less has she said or done any such thing, even in the smallest degree. Hence I testify according to my conscience along with many good honest people, that as much as I and others could observe, she has been at all times God-fearing, diligent, respectable, domestic, and pious; and always and every time she has been an opponent and enemy of Evil. She has her life-long honestly kept me as her loving spouse, whereby I, for my part, have been satisfied. Concerning her dear children, likewise, as is appropriate and proper for a true housemother, by my side and with me truly and diligently, she taught and instructed them, not only their catechism, but also the Holy Bible, and especially the dear Psalms of David. Also, God be praised and without boasting on my behalf, I have not a child (who with God's blessing had been conceived with her) who does not know by heart and can explain the Psalms of David. In addition, no one can reasonably maintain, that she has even once done harm to a body or otherwise, or that ever a suspicion has landed on her, as those who daily worked in the Counting House and had official business to do can provide evidence-- and not only those people, but also clergy and foreigners inclusive! If now the generous lords would have in consideration, that not a single deficiency, or any kind of fault, or crime, harm, or damage has happened or taken place. Why should one not have with such a person more sympathy and understanding as opposed to those who are notoriously willfully and partially well-known to be depraved? Thus, myself and my dear children, of which I (God be always praised) have six in number, meekly and humbly plead and, for the sake of God and the Last Judgment (in which Jesus Christ the righteous judge shall appear), officially petition that your Y[our]. H[onorable]. P[rudent]. E[arnest]. respectable and considerate Wisdoms, as our legal superior, herewith may have and bear a merciful consideration regarding our dear mother and let her once more be delivered to us. Or, if they want to pull her across the testing stone,4 nevertheless they should proceed with the matter so that it should not be exercised too strictly and too harshly, and that confrontation and opposition do not lead to resentment, and her innocence may be determined, which I hope for, and my lords would well know to defend. Additionally, I have wanted to convey to my loving children, bit by bit, much about your honorableness, wisdom, and lordship. The assurance of your lordship and wisdom means that such an unpleasant examination will turn out to be nothing for me along with my wife and loving children. In all subservience at Y[our] W[isdom’s] official command. Y[our] H[ighborn]. F[reelord]. P[rudent] W[isdoms] |
4Torture.
|
The authorities tortured her on July 29 with thumbscrew, then with Spanish
Boots. Tortured the next day on the strappado, she confessed to the following:
Three years earlier she agreed to be the lover of a man in black of courteous
and noble bearing, yet who had paws for feet. For him she signed with black ink
a document renouncing God. The Evil One gave her grey powder and a yellow liquid
with which to kill people. She murdered her servant Old Anna and a visitor,
Katherina von Neher, by stroking their skin with the powder. She named others
who had joined her in the company of the Evil One.
After torture, Rebecca again wrote to her husband:
| O you, my most chosen treasure, should I be torn from you so innocent? May such be ever and always held against God. They force one, that one must confess. They have martyred me. I am as innocent as God in heaven. If I only knew the least bit of such matters, then I would deserve that God refuse me entrance into heaven. O you, beloved treasure, what is happening to my heart? Alas, alas, my poor orphans. Father, send me something so that I may die. I must otherwise despair as a martyr. If you cannot do it today, do it tomorrow. Write to me within the hour. R[ebecca] L[emp] |
Inside the letter was wrapped a ring and a rosary; Rebecca added a note:
| Carry the small ring in my memory. Divide the rosary into 6 parts and let each child carry a part around their wrist all their life long. O treasure, your innocent Magelona,5 they take me from you with force. How can God suffer it? If I am a monster, then may God not be gracious toward me. Then such injustice upon injustice should deservedly happen to me. Why will God not hear me? Send me something, otherwise I will perjure myself. Otherwise, I would first burden my soul. | 5A princess in a romance popular at the time, who is separated from her lover. |
The court intercepted her letters, using the last to add an accusation of attempted suicide. She repeated her confessions in open court on August 13 and 19. The court made her write the following admission to her husband:
| Father, may God protect you. I have done wrong to my Lord, as I have made known to you and my brother. I have again confessed everything and this being so, that I am such as attested to in my deposition. Rebecca Lempin |
The town government had her burned with four other convicted witches on September 9, 1590 in the presence of her family. Thirty-four women and one man would die before this witch hunt ended in 1598.
Select Bibliography
The original letters are preserved in the Stadtarchiv Nördlingen, Bavaria, Germany. Special thanks to Dr. Wilfried Sponsel for his help in the archive and permission to use pictures of the letters.
Selections in other English translations:
"Article VII. Prosecutions of Witches in Germany in the Sixteenth Century from the Archeologist," March 1842, pp. 573-576. The Literature of the World: The American Eclectic or Selections from the Periodical Literature of all Foreign Countries. Absalom Peters and J. Holmes Agnew, ed. Vol. III. New York: Platt & Peters, 1842; [Reviewing Weng, J. F., cited below]; Available at Google Book Search.
The Burning Times. Women in Spirituality, part 2. Directed by Donna Read. Los Angeles: Direct Cinema Ltd., 1990.
Friedrichs, Christopher R. Urban Society in an Age of War: Nördlingen, 1580-1720. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979, 212-213.
Rebecca Lemp, Website of Deborah Small. California State University San
Marcos. n.d.
<http://public.csusm.edu/public/dsmalltest/breb1.html>
(Accessed 16 February 2012).
Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. NY: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1959, 303-305.
Selections in German:
Lemp, Rebecca gest. 1590. Sphinx Suche: Webkatalog für Esoterik, Kunst und Multimedia<http://www.sphinx-suche.de/hexerei1/lemp.htm> (Accessed 16 February 2012).
Lienert, Eva Maria und Wilhelm. "Die geschändete Ehre der Rebekka L. oder: Ein
ganz normaler Hexenprozeß ...." Praxis Geschichte 4 (1991), 32-37; also
available at Hexenforschung / Themen/Texte / Unterrichtsmaterialien,
Historicum.net <http://www.historicum.net/fileadmin/sxw/Themen/Hexenforschung/Themen_Texte/Unterricht/Die_
geschaendete_ehre.pdf>.
Topalovic, Elvira and Iris Hille. "Perspektivierung von Wirklichkeit(en) im
Hexenprozess."
Historicum.net. 10 December 2007. <http://www.historicum.net/no_cache/persistent/artikel/5234/>
(Accessed 16 March 2011); includes transcriptions and translations of some
of the letters: Nördlingen 1590 Kassiber [Rebecca Lemp] <http://www.historicum.net/fileadmin/sxw/Themen/Hexenforschung/Themen_Texte/Unterricht/Noerdlingen_
Kassiber.pdf>;
and the legal records: Nördlingen 1590 Protokoll [Rebecca Lemp], <http://www.historicum.net/fileadmin/sxw/Themen/Hexenforschung/Themen_Texte/Unterricht/Noerdlingen_
Protokoll.pdf>.
Voges, Dietmar-Henning. "Nördlinger Hexenprozesse: Gesichtspunkte ihrer historischen
Bewertung," 46-88. In: Dietmar-Henning Voges, ed. Nördlingen seit der Reformation: Aus
dem Leben einer Stadt. Munich: C.H. Beck, 1998.
Wächter, Oskar. Vehmgerichte und Hexenprozesse in Deutschland, Siebenter Abschnitt. Merkwürdige Hexenprozesse. Stuttgart, 1882 <http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Vehmgerichte_und_Hexenprozesse_in_Deutschland>.
Weng, Johann Friedrich. Die Hexen-Prozesse der ehemaligen Reichsstadt
Nördlingen 1590-1594: Aus den Kriminal-Akten des Nördlinger Archives gezogen.
Nördlingen: Druck und Verlag der C. H. Beck'schen Buchhandlung, 183, pp. 6:3-60, 7:1-28. [reprint in: Weng, Johann Friedrich and Johann Balthasar
Guth, Das Ries, wie es war, und wie es ist: Eine
historisch-statistische Zeitschrift, 6 (1838), pp. 5-60; and 7 (ca. 1838),
pp. 3-28, 2 vols. Nördlingen: Heimat- und Fachverlages F. Steinmeier, 2003]; available at Google Book Search.
Wolf, Hans-Jürgen. Geschichte der Hexenprozesse: Schwarze Messen, Kinderhexen,
Zeitdokumente, Hexenwahn bis heute. Hamburg: Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft mbH,
1998, 415-418, 1062.
Wolf, Hans-Jürgen. Hexenwahn: Hexen in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Bindlach,
Germany: Gondrom Verlag GmbH& Co, KG, 1994, 273-274.
Wulz, Gustav. "Nördlinger Hexenprozesse," Jahrbuch des Rieser Heimatverein
20 (1937), 42-72; 21 (1938/39), 95-120; see also "Die schöne Magelone und Nördlingen," Rieser Heimatbote 117 (1936);
"Der Prozeß der
Hexe Rebekka Lemp," Rieser Heimatbote 131,132 (1937); Nördlinger
Hexenprozesse vor 1589, Rieser Heimatbote 140 (1938); and "Die Nördlinger Hexen und
ihre Richter: Eine familiengeschichtliche Studie," Rieser Heimatbote 142,
144, 145, 147 (1939).
Related Secondary Literature
Behringer, Wolfgang. Witchcraft Persecutions in Bavaria: Popular Magic,
Religious Zealotry, and Reason of State in Early Modern Europe. Trans. J.C.
Grayson and David Lederer. Cambridge, UK & New York: Cambridge University Press,
1997.
Graf, Klaus. "Veit Warbeck, der Übersetzer der Schönen Magelone (1527) und
seine Familie." Einhorn-Jahrbuch Schwäbisch Gmünd (1986), 139-150; also
available at University of Freiburg. July 30, 2008 <http://www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/volltexte/5584/pdf/Graf_warbeck.pdf>.
Kinzler, Sonja. "Nördlingen - Hexenverfolgungen." In: Lexikon zur Geschichte der Hexenverfolgung, ed. Gudrun Gersmann, Katrin Moeller and Jürgen-Michael
Schmidt; also available at Historicum.net. <http://www.historicum.net/no_cache/persistent/artikel/1641/>.
Klaits, J. Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch-hunts. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985.
Pregesbauer, Helga. "Irreale Sexualitäten? Zur Geschichte von Sexualität, Körper und Gender in der europäischen Hex- enverfolgung." Masters Thesis, University of Vienna, 2008 <http://othes.univie.ac.at/963/1/2008-08-21_9503668.pdf>.
Rettinger, Michael. "Dr. Sebastian Röttinger." Rettinger Family Homepage. 2004 <http://www.rettinger.tv/4851/50623.html>.
Roper, Lyndal. Witchcraze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany. New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 2004.
Schneider-Werner, Odile. "Ecart émotionnel ou syntaxe expressive? Les lettres privées dans les procès en sorcellerie dans l'Allemagne du XVIIe siècle." Paper presented at Ecart et expressivité, in Nancy, France 14-15 November 2008, 28-31 <http://www.atilf.fr/atilf/evenement/Colloques/Expressivite2008/Livret_Expressivite_2008.pdf> (Accessed 16 March 2011) or <http://jsbak.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/livret_expressivite_2008.pdf>.
These translations are still a work in progress. Suggestions for emendations are welcome.
CITATION
If you use any information from this page, be sure to properly cite it, for example using the following format:
Pavlac, Brian A. "Letters from the Witch Trial of Rebecca Lemp," Prof. Pavlac's Witch Hunts Page. (21 February 2019). URL: <www.brianpavlac.org/witchhunts/lempletters.html> (date accessed).
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