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Friedrich Spee (also Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld; February 25, 1591 – August 7, 1635) was a German Jesuit priest, professor, and poet, most well known as a forceful opponent of witch trials and one who was an insider writing from the epicenter of the European witch-phobia. Spee argued strongly against the use of torture, and as an eyewitness he gathered a book full of details regarding its cruelty and unreliability.Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld: Cautio Criminalis, or a Book on Witch Trials (1631), translated by Marcus Hellyer. University of Virginia Press, 2003. . The translator's introduction (pp. vii–xxxvi) contains many details on Spee's life. He wrote, "Torture has the power to create witches where none exist."" vis tormentorum parit Sagas quae non sunt" from Dubium 49 of Cautio Criminalis p. 419.
An attempt to assassinate Spee was made at Peine in 1629. He resumed his activity as professor and priest at Paderborn and later at Cologne, and in 1633 removed to Trier. During the storming of the city by the imperial forces in March 1635 (in the Thirty Years' War), he distinguished himself in the care of the suffering, and died soon afterwards of a plague infection contracted while ministering to wounded soldiers in a hospital.Frank Wegerhoff, Heiko Schäfer, WDR-Fernseh-Dokumentation: Vorfahren gesucht - Wolfgang Niedecken; Rainer Decker, Neue Quellen zu Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld und seiner Familie, in: Westfälische Zeitschrift 165 (2015) S. 160f. His name is often incorrectly cited as "Friedrich von Spee". Friedrich Spee zum 400 Geburtstag. Kolloquium der Friedrich-Spee-Gesellschaft Trier (in German). Paderborn: Gunther Franz, 2001.
"If the reader will allow me to say something here, I confess that I myself have accompanied several women to their deaths in various places over the years and I am now so certain of their innocence that I feel there's no effort that would not be worth my undertaking to try to reveal this truth."Spee, Question (Dubium) XI, Reason (Ratio) III, p. 50. For Hellyer's translation see p.39.
Spee was reportedly brought to this awareness by the Duke of Brunswick, who invited Spee and another famous Jesuit scholar to supervise a continuation of the torture of a confessed witch. The Jesuits had previously carefully studied the issues and 'told the Duke, "The Inquisitors are doing their duty. They are arresting only people who have been implicated by the confession of other witches."' The Duke then led the Jesuits to a woman being stretched on the rack and asked her, "You are a confessed witch. I suspect these two men of being warlocks. What do you say? Another turn of the rack, executioners." "No, no!" screamed the woman. "You are quite right. I have often seen .. . They can turn themselves into goats, wolves, and other animals. ... Several witches have had children by them. ... The children had heads like toads and legs like spiders." The Duke then asked the Jesuits. "Shall I put you to the torture until you confess, my friends?" Spee thanked God he had been led to this insight by a friend, not an enemy.Pinker (2011, pp. 138-139). Mannix (1964, pp. 134-135). McKay ( 2009, p. 320).
Spee wrote in direct opposition to many of the most well-known witch-mongers of his time and, like those works and most others in the demonological lineage going back to the 15th century, Spee also wrote in Latin.
"I pronounce from my soul that for a long time I have not known what trust I can place in those authors, Remy, Peter Binsfeld, Martin Delrio, and others... since virtually every one of their teachings concerning witches is based on no other foundations than fables or confessions extracted through torture."Spee trans Hellyer p. 83Spee pleaded for measures of reform, such as a new German imperial law on the subject, and liability to damages on the part of the judges. Cautio Criminalis contains 51 "doubts" dubiorum which Spee discussed and carefully de-constructed."Dubiorum seu Qaeestionum huius Libri." Cautio Criminalis (1632) see Index. Note, Marcus Hellyer (2003) translates this line in the index as "doubts or questions of this book" but thereafter translates Spee's use of "Dubium" as the somewhat milder choice of "Question" i.e. "Dubium I" becomes "Question I" instead of "Doubt I." Here we are following Gerhard Schormann in leaving it in the Latin i.e. "Dubium 9" see Der Krieg gegen die Hexen (1991) p.178. Amongst his more notable conclusions were:
Spee was particularly concerned about cases where a person was tortured and forced to denounce (accuse) accomplices, who were then tortured and forced to denounce more accomplices, until everyone was under suspicion:
Philipp van Limborch was a Dutch Protestant but his influential History of the Inquisition (1692) refers favorably to the work of the Jesuit Spee.Chapter XXI, p.231 of the Latin edition. For English translation see below. Limborch was close with the Englishman John Locke as the two pushed for religious toleration.1731 English translation of Limborch, see preface p.xi.
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