The Witch Trials of Trier took place in the independent Catholic diocese of Trier in the Holy Roman Empire in present day Germany between 1581 and 1593, and were perhaps the largest documented witch trial in history in view of the executions. They formed one of the four largest witch trials in Germany alongside the Fulda witch trials, the Würzburg witch trial, and the Bamberg witch trials.[1]
The persecutions started in the diocese of Trier in 1581 and reached the city itself in 1587, where they were to lead to the death of about 368 people - possibly the largest mass execution in Europe in peacetime. The number counts only those executed within the city itself, and the true number of executed people, counting everyone executed in all witch hunts within the whole diocese, was therefore even larger. The exact number of executions has never been established; a total of 1000 has been suggested but not confirmed.[2]
- ^ Midelfort, H. C. Erik, Witch hunting in southwestern Germany 1562-1684: the social and intellectual foundations, U.P, Stanford, Calif, 1972
- ^ Walter Rummel. "Hexenverfolgungen Kurtrier". Archived from the original on 2013-03-08.