Box 6

Scope and Contents

Autograph letter signed to Cornell Prof. Adams, regarding a witchcraft case, as well as the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeares' Sonnets.

Scope and Contents

Collection of "conjurations" or formulas of exorcism attributed to the Abbot of Spannheim, magician Trithemius (1462-1516), whose work on sorcery contained the first record of the famous folk story Dr. Faustus.

Scope and Contents

An account of Sister Maria Renata Sänger's (or Singerin's) career from the time she entered the cloister to her trial and execution for witchcraft.

Scope and Contents

Relation by Sir Richard Onsley, a clerk, who himself "had it from his credible neighbors", of a woman named Mary Wallis from Guilford, Kent, England, who was accused of having bewitched her grandson Nicholas. Contains the testimonies of villagers "[who] seemed to be sober well-bred country people." With a transcription made by William R. Johnson in 1978.

Scope and Contents Partial records containing a statement of the accusation, and a report of his examination, largely under torture, as well as of the interrogation of his accuser, beggar-boy named "Zacherlen," by the Inquisitors of the free city of Schwäbisch-Gmünd (in what is now Württemberg, Germany). The record documents the patterns of persecution, and the different strategies chosen by men and women indicted for witchcraft: in this case, Nicholaus protests that he is innocent until he is tortured and...

Scope and Contents

Four documents from the hearings of 8 year old orphan girl named Regina Wendel, who was supposedly under the influence of the devil. Includes a report of the preliminary hearing, the examination of the defendant and witnesses, and a final decision made by a judge of Öttingen (Bavaria), who acquitted her.

Scope and Contents

Advice given by the Luxembourg [Lutzemburg] government officials for the torture and execution of a woman who was deprived of her possessions and burned after strangulation "wegen bekannten Zauberlaster und Zauberthaten."

Scope and Contents

Typewritten letter signed to Proffessor [sic] George L. Burr, Cornell University, discussing the contents and purchase of the records of the witchcraft trial of Maria Renata Sänger of Unterzell/Mossau.

Scope and Contents

Typewritten letter signed to Professor George L. Burr, Cornell University, discussing the purchase of witchcraft trial records (Bamberg?).

Scope and Contents

Extracts made in 1888 by future historians George L. Burr and Earl Barnes [who would receive his M.S. from Cornell in 1891] from the compilation of manuscripts and print known as "Wickiana," 24 volumes kept in the Zürich Zentralbibliothek. With annotations and descriptions of illustrations by Burr.