Doruchowo witch trial

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Doruchowo witch trial , which allegedly took place in the village of Doruchowo in 1775, but in reality more likely took place in 1783, was to be the last mass trial of sorcery and witch craft in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It allegedly resulted in the execution of 14 women and led to the ban on witch burning in Poland. In reality, the trial may have taken place in 1783, with six victims instead of 14, having no actual effect on the law.

According to the older historians who believed the first version of the event, in 1775, the inhabitants in the village of Doruchowo asked for the authorities in the nearby city of Glabow to halde the investigation of sorcery, which had been instigated in the village. Despite of the fact that the Polish sejm (parliament) had banned local magistrates to handle such cases in 1768, the trial was conducted by the court of Glabow, which judged 14 people as guilty of witch craft and sentenced them to death. This trial led to the Polish government to ban torture and witch trials in 1775 (Gijswijt-Hofstra et al. 1999).

Modern Polish historians - such as Janusz Tazbir - have however questioned whether the Doruchowo witch trial really took place in 1775, if it happened as described, and if it had the claimed effect on the law. Tazbir points out that the most detailed account of this event was given by the early 19th century writer, Konstanty Majeranowski, who has been found by later historians to have authored several historical hoaxes (Byczkowski 2006). Tazbir notes that the existing primary sources can prove the execution of only six - not fourteen - women, and that it took place later (around 1783) (Byczkowski 2006). Further, other historians - such as Stanisław Waltoś - have also questioned whether this case was known among the nobility and this whether it could have had any impact on the Sejm legislation in 1775 that led to the ban on torture and witch trials (Byczkowski 2006).

In 1793, however, another - certainly the last - witch trial took place in Poland. During the second partition of Poland that year, a local judge in the city of Poznań citing the partitions and transition from Polish to Prussian authority as a basis that the Polish laws banning trial and executions of witches was void accepted an accusation about two women with inflamed eyes, who was to have enchanted their neighbours cattle. They were judged as guilty of witch craft and burned (Gijswijt-Hofstra et al. 1999).

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[edit] References

• Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra et al., Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999, ISBN 0485890054, Google Print, p.88-89
• (Polish) Piotr Byczkowski, Chapter 7 of Przestępstwo czarów w Polsce przedrozbiorowej, Master Thesis, 2006, University of Poznań