Michael Ostling
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587902
- eISBN:
- 9780191731228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587902.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
What factors exacerbated witch-trials in Poland, and what factors tended to limit the number of trials? This chapter shows that the weak, decentralized Polish courts resulted in relatively few trials ...
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What factors exacerbated witch-trials in Poland, and what factors tended to limit the number of trials? This chapter shows that the weak, decentralized Polish courts resulted in relatively few trials but in a high rate of execution. Court procedure remained largely accusatory, and the expenses of a trial were considerable. By the same token, once an accuser, usually a nobleman, agreed to fund a trial, he expected and usually got a guilty verdict and a capital sentence. Many town courts sent magistrates to a village to try witches in situ (a practice called deputation): such trials had an especially high execution rate. But jurisdictional conflicts kept the feudal subjects of other noblemen safe from trial, and prevented chain-reaction trials.Less
What factors exacerbated witch-trials in Poland, and what factors tended to limit the number of trials? This chapter shows that the weak, decentralized Polish courts resulted in relatively few trials but in a high rate of execution. Court procedure remained largely accusatory, and the expenses of a trial were considerable. By the same token, once an accuser, usually a nobleman, agreed to fund a trial, he expected and usually got a guilty verdict and a capital sentence. Many town courts sent magistrates to a village to try witches in situ (a practice called deputation): such trials had an especially high execution rate. But jurisdictional conflicts kept the feudal subjects of other noblemen safe from trial, and prevented chain-reaction trials.
Ian Coller
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300243369
- eISBN:
- 9780300249538
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300243369.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter investigates the wave of revolutionary universalism launched by a piece of revolutionary theater. This was symbolized by the turban, even as that universalism was riven from within by ...
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This chapter investigates the wave of revolutionary universalism launched by a piece of revolutionary theater. This was symbolized by the turban, even as that universalism was riven from within by contradictions over race and religion. As the exclusions of the ancien régime were addressed, new questions emerged around the plurality of religions and their relation to the state. In June 1790, on the anniversary of the declaration of the National Assembly, the appearance of a deputation of foreigners led by the Prussian baron Jean-Baptiste (later Anacharsis) Cloots set off a remarkable chain of events that led to the abolition of noble titles in France. The visible presence of Muslims in this deputation played a key role in catalyzing the explosion of enthusiasm that followed: so much so that counterrevolutionary voices clamored to insist that these Muslims were impostors dressed in costumes from the opera.Less
This chapter investigates the wave of revolutionary universalism launched by a piece of revolutionary theater. This was symbolized by the turban, even as that universalism was riven from within by contradictions over race and religion. As the exclusions of the ancien régime were addressed, new questions emerged around the plurality of religions and their relation to the state. In June 1790, on the anniversary of the declaration of the National Assembly, the appearance of a deputation of foreigners led by the Prussian baron Jean-Baptiste (later Anacharsis) Cloots set off a remarkable chain of events that led to the abolition of noble titles in France. The visible presence of Muslims in this deputation played a key role in catalyzing the explosion of enthusiasm that followed: so much so that counterrevolutionary voices clamored to insist that these Muslims were impostors dressed in costumes from the opera.
