Her name remained in the history.
June 13, 1782, was the last in the history of Europe, the execution of witches. It is surprising, but the witch hunt lasted until the late eighteenth century, and their trials were very common. Anna Geldi went down in history as the last of the executed witches. In 2008 it was rehabilitated and fully justified. Now say that the reason for the accusations of the woman was not witchcraft – it was much more prosaic.
The torture of witches: a servant prepares to torture. Engraved drawings by F. Piloty, XIX century
Anna was born in 1734 in Sennwald. All her life she worked as a maid in the houses of wealthy Swiss. In the 46 years she got a job as a maid in the house of judge Johannes Jakob Tschudi. One day the younger daughter of the family, 8-year-old Anne-Marie, suddenly became ill, she started having seizures, and then she allegedly spat out a strange metal fragments. Decided that it was a needle, like a servant in food and drink.
Before the execution of witches were tortured
After this incident, Anna was fired, was accused of witchcraft and arrested. She was tortured on the rack until then, until she confessed to their relations with the devil, who was to her in the guise of a black dog, and that he wanted to kill the girl. The woman was found guilty and sentenced to death. 13 June 1782 she was beheaded.
Before the execution of witches were tortured
Officially Anne Geldi charged only with attempted murder. But Swiss laws in those days did not include the death penalty for attempted murder in cases where it did not lead to the death of the victim. This episode of the witch-hunt was widely publicized and caused an international scandal. The Swiss were accused of using medieval methods in the age of Enlightenment.
A vertical rack is one of the most common methods of torture in Switzerland
I must say that the witch hunting in Switzerland took place on an unprecedented scale: in the XV-XVIII centuries there were executed 10 times more witches than in France and twice in Germany, in proportion to population. Only in Switzerland took place about 5000 trials of witches, 3,5 000 of whom were sentenced to death. Traditional country method of torture was stretching on the rack – after that, most of the suspects have admitted their guilt. The celebrated Byron’s Chillon castle in those days served as a prison and place of torture and executions for those accused of witchcraft. Most witches were killed in years of poor harvests and epidemics.
Poem about witches by Martin Le franc, illustrated with images of criminals, 1451
Modern historians have conducted an investigation, which found that the judge He accused the maid, only for the reason that he was with her in the affair, and when the woman threatened to tell about their relationship, the owner decided to take revenge on her. If an extramarital affair was made public, the judge would have lost the position.
The prison gallery Chillon castle, which became a place of tortures and executions of witches
On the eve of the 226 anniversary of the execution of the state Council of the Canton of Glarus adopted the decision on the rehabilitation of Anna Geldi. The authorities acknowledged legal error, which decapitated the woman. The history of the past a Treasury of witches of Europe formed the basis for two novels and a feature film. And in 2007 in Switzerland was opened by Anne, Geldi.
Frame from the movie *Anna Geldi – the last witch*, 1991
The Museum of Anna Geldi
