Tempel Anneke: Witchcraft Accusations and Trial in 1663 Germany

In late December 1663, a grim event unfolded in a small village south of Hamburg, Germany. A woman known as Tempel Anneke met her fate at the hands of an executioner, who first beheaded her and then burned her remains.

Months earlier, the residents of Harxbüttel had accused Tempel Anneke of witchcraft. Allegations ranged from Hans Tiehmann, a roofer, who claimed she used magic to steal from him, to another villager who blamed her for causing leg pain through sorcery. Even her own brother accused her of casting spells on his cattle, causing them to fall ill.

Initially, Tempel Anneke refuted these charges, calling upon God for deliverance. However, her stance shifted dramatically once subjected to torture.

In October, according to the detailed records in The Trial of Tempel Anneke: Records of a Witchcraft Trial in Brunswick, Germany, 1663, she was taken to a “deep cellar” in Brunswick. There, she endured the first full application of torture, which led to her confession of witchcraft.

Erin Lambert, an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia, has integrated the case of Tempel Anneke into her curriculum since 2014 in a course titled “Supernatural Europe, 1500-1800.” She describes Anneke’s narrative as emblematic of the witch hunts of the era.

“The starting point for the class is that we generally, today, don’t believe things like witches and magic and alchemy are real. But in 1500, people unquestionably did,” Lambert explained. “The big overarching question for the course is: ‘Why did people believe in these things in 1500, and why did those beliefs change and perhaps go away over time?’”

The straightforward explanation is that people perceived witches as real due to their belief in the devil and magic as influencing forces in their lives. Illnesses, misfortunes, and neighborhood disputes were often interpreted through this lens.

Why were women mainly accused?

Lambert noted that a “very strong majority” of accused individuals were women. This was partly because society already envisioned witches as female and believed women were more susceptible to the devil’s seduction and more likely to forge pacts with him.

Suspicions of witchcraft were frequently tied to women’s daily activities, such as childcare, household management, and the use of herbal remedies. As Lambert pointed out, concocting a potion could easily resemble “cooking a stew,” making women’s domestic responsibilities potential grounds for witchcraft accusations.

“So she was a very stereotypical accused witch in a lot of ways,” Lambert remarked about Tempel Anneke. “She’s a widow. She’s an older woman, just kind of trying to get by.”

Historically, she was also regarded as a contentious figure in her community—”somebody who had a lot of conflicts with her neighbors, which is also really typical of a lot of accused witches,” Lambert added.