Geneva witch trials

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Swedish. (May 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Swedish article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Swedish Wikipedia article at [[:sv:Häxprocessen i Genève]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|sv|Häxprocessen i Genève}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Geneva witch trials of 1571 was the biggest witch trial in the Post-Reformation Geneva in present-day Switzerland, as well as the last big one. ^[1]

In 1567, Geneva was struck by a plague. The plague lasted for four years, and in 1571, the frustration over the persistent epidemic caused a witchcraft persecution caused by rumours that the uncommonly long plague had been caused by witches. 29 people were executed, and an additional number of people were banished, judged guilty accused of having made a pact with the Devil, participated in a witches' sabbath and having caused the plague by use of witchcraft.

This was the biggest witch trial in Protestant Geneva. While John Calvin (1509-1564) strongly condemned witches, witch trials were uncommon in Geneva in practice. While 150 witch trials took place in Geneva between the reformation and 1681, the witch hunt peaked already with this trial in 1571, and all witch trials after it was smaller; the last executions were those of Rolette Revilliod (1626) and Michée Chauderon (1652), but most witch trials after 1571 ended in banishments. ^[1]

References[]