Witchcraft in Slavic & Germanic Europe

Characteristics 

Linda J. Ivantis notes that, in Russia, there does not seem to be a standard appearance for witches (Ivantis 1989). However, S.V. Maksimov claims that the image of Baba Yaga seemed to be the normal construct of the Northern Great Russian witches, whereas, in neighboring parts of the continent, such as southern Ukraine, witches tended to be young, beautiful women (Lenhoff 1984). In Serbia as well, it is thought that a witch always takes the form of an old, ugly woman, but never younger or more attractive women (Vukanovic 1989) In a survey pertaining to beliefs of witchcraft among “real” witches, it was revealed that witches are believed to be of any age, and most often it is not the similarity to Baba Yaga that entices popular Russian imagination but the “unnatural longevity” of older women believed to be witches (Ivantis 1989)

The German theologian and inquisitor Johannes Nider, author of the Formicarius, one of the main publications to detail witchcraft in the 15th century, was one of the few to write of male witches in addition to females, including the infamous Scavius (the scabby man), who supposedly escaped from his enemies on many occassions by transforming into a mouse. Nider writes of a witch named Stadelin who had “killed seven successive infants” in the womb of his wife, as well as the fetuses of sheep. Stadelin had an apprentice, Hoppo, and though both men were able to cast frightening magic that could “cause immense hailstorms and poison winds with lightning,” and “cause sterility in humans and animals,” their physical appearance did not deviate from that of a non-witch (Burr 1897). 

Origins and magic

In the Balkans, there are a number of origin stories explaining the creation of witches. In Slavonija, the Biblical characters of Adam and Eve were said to have been involved; after being exiled from the Garden of Eden, God asked how many children they had conceived. They were ashamed to admit they had twelve children, so they told God they only had six and brought those six forward as proof for God. God, seeing through their dishonesty, declared: “Let there be as many invisible as there are visible.” From then on, those who had been hidden from God literally became invisible elves and witches, explaining the creation of invisible forces thought to be witches, faeries, or the supernatural (Vukanovic 1989). In Slavic beliefs claim that the seventh girl in a family is destined to become a bosorka (witch), while other superstitions say that every third generation of daughters becomes a witch or is granted the powers of a dying witch (Vinogravoda 2000). 

In both the Balkans and Russia, there seems to be a correlation between witches and animals. Many Serbs believed that the soul of a witch could leave her body and transform into butterflies, hens, or even turkeys (Vukanovic 1989). In this form, the witch would travel from house to house to eat people, particularly young children (ibid). In the Russian memorates and fabulates, the witch could take the form of a wide range of animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, magpies, toads. In some cases, they would even transform into inanimate objects such as balls of yarn or sieves (Ivantis 1989).  Linda Ivantis brings particular attention to their form as a magpie in particular because of how seriously the witchcraft association was taken, noting that there were supposedly no magpies in Moscow in the 13th and 14th century because the Metropolitan Aleksei forbade them to fly over the city for fear of witches in disguise (ibid). 

Many witches in Slavic tradition are known for stealing the milk of farmer’s cows. In Bulgaria witches are even said to turn the moon itself into cows, then bring it down from the sky to milk it. This action is one of the reasons witches were generally thought to be responsible for a lunar eclipse (Johns 2004). The witch’s interactions with nature are also commonly observed; the southern Slavic witch is said to be able to control forces of weather such as wind, hail, and clouds. The source of their abilities of flight and shapeshifting have been subject to much speculation, and it is generally thought that they use special-made ointments for both. To fly the witches create an ointment either made by their Kapetanica, or “captain,” from the excrement of a black wine with a special chant or given to them by the Devil. To alter their form, it is believed that the ointment is made from human fat mixed with and cooked in human blood and “certain herbs.” This gives the witches wings of flesh, much like a bat (Vukanovich 1989).

Witchcraft Trials

Like many other parts of Europe, the fear of witchcraft in the Slavic and Germanic regions was great. There were a great number of witchcraft trials as early as the 12th century and lasting all the way into the early 20th century. Listed below are some of the most infamous trials of the region: 

Trier – The cathedral city of Trier in Germany was also home to a number of witch persecutions over the course of twelve years from 1581-93. Under the the jurisdiction of the elector-archbishop of Trier, accusations were made on the basis of reports such as: “…feminine duplicity mocked the public distress by witchcraft; and Satan himself trumped up her another Circe, as it were, to wreak cruel woes on mortals, to bewitch to death the cattle, to ruin the harvests, and to stir up the tempests by her arts.” (Burr 1891)

One of the highest-profile victims was Dietrich Flade, rector of the university and one of the chief judges of the court who was opposed to the trials and the extreme measures taken against the convicted. However, in 1588, after being named by several of the convicted women, Flade was branded a leader of one of the secret witch sects and was captured after trying to flee the city. Flade was imprisoned, tortured, and executed for his crimes (Kors and Peters 2001). 

Zagreb – Zagreb, Croatia was the setting of some of the longest and more horrific witchcraft trials lasting from 1640 to 1752. Targeting women ages 20 to 80, the accused were usually (though not always) brought to court, tortured, and burnt at the stake if found guilty. T.P. Vukanovic notes four categories of charges: denying God and interacting with the Devil in some form; being responsible for causing storms or snow; inflicting sickness or death upon humans or animals; or having stolen milk from the cows of neighboring farmers (Vukanovic 1989). 

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Bibliography

Burr, George Lincoln. The Fate of Dietrich Flade. New York, NY: G.P. Putnams, 1891.

Burr, George Lincoln. The Witchcraft Persecutions. New York, NY: G.P. Putnams, 1897.

Ivantis, Linda J. Russian Folk Belief. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1989.

Johns, Andreas. Baba Yaga: The Ambiguous Mother and Witch of the Russian Folktale. New York: Peter Lang, 2004

Kors, Alan Charles, and Edward Peters, eds. Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700. Second ed. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2001.

Vinogravoda, L. N. Narodnaia demonologiia i mifo-ritual’naia traditsiia slavian. Moscow: Indrik. 2000.

Vukanović, T. P. “Witchcraft in the Central Balkans I: Characteristics of Witches.” Folklore 100, no. 1 (1989): 9-24. 

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Page written and created by Jed E., John L., and Sophia L-N.

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