ABSTRACT
The peasant traditions of Franconia included a belief in a system of black witchcraft that functioned as a personal and egalitarian judicial system and represented an alternative to the official legal system. It offered justice to all members of the community, independent of social or material power. Since witchery was never aimed at random but was a focused tool used to punish those who wronged, it encouraged people to be honest, polite, and helpful. Hence it contributed to social justice and order and functioned as the salvation of the underdog. The belief that the poor, the destitute, and the aged could, if treated unkindly, retaliate with witchery, was an effective protection for these otherwise powerless members of the community. For a number of reasons, this system of folk justice has almost disappeared from the villages of Franconia (only the elders invest belief and respect in it), and its description is of theoretical and historical value.
