hilts

Thanks to his conclusions, changes in the ecological system in the late sixteenth century can now be identified and placed in precise context. Apparently unrelated reports of catastrophes by contemporaries, such as constant f100ding after 1560, were part of an overall pattern of increased rainfall, and damage to mountain forests and pastures was exacerbated by clearing and cattle grazing necessitated by increased grain cultivation in valleys. Erosion, soil exhaustion, and the tillage of marginal lands in continental Europe led to declining yields, both in agriculture and livestock, the latter evidenced by falling milk production. Cold wet years resulted in meagre late harvests and the need to stall feed livestock for longer periods on reduced quantities of fodder. Low temperatures also increased demand for kindling and caloric intake. A monostructure of consumables enhanced human vulnerability to fluctuations in crop yields. The common people's fear of hail storms, regularly attributed to the activity of witches, derived primarily from the threat to subsistence agriculture rather than from religious reasons. Pfister applies the term 'Grindelwald fluctuation' to describe the decisive years 1570-1630 within the 'Little Ice Age', because data on the Grindelwald Glacier in the Alps near Bern indicates particularly significant changes relevant to perceptions of ecological catastrophe in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries;41 although we should keep in mind that glacial growth occurs only years after actual climatic change. By 1562, a heavy increase in wet weather was already apparent. Extreme cases, such as the freezing of Lake Constance, the largest

all their power, not just against the fruit of the fields and livestock, but yes, not even sparing kinsfolk and close blood-relatives, who are killed in great numbers ... old people are bent, lamed and suffer painful illnesses ending in death, and they direct all their industry in order that all kinds of woe and dearth arise among the peopleY

the field ... but are even more l·()ncern~'d with their pli~ht ... , as the Almighty has allowed them to be so sorely afflicted hv th~' evil encmy and hi~ damnable a!!.~'nls ('Werckhzeug'), and we order that you should sel·retly pay dnse attentioll to evil persons and witches and in case any should corne untler suftkient sllspicion, vou should stealthfully nab them and immediately search their lodgings. dll'sts, hed and containers with all industry to discover if ~\lspicious magical affects. such as salves, wicked powders, concoctions, wax images stuck wilh rill .... human limbs or legs, charms. insignia or other equally wich'd (,bjerts can be found. <:

Explicit reference is made to a common characteristic of major witch-hunts. the public demand for persecutions from a comlllunity whose harvest. i.e. their source of livelihood, imh:ed of their very exisk'nce. had been destroyed by inclement weather. The Idter also revcais that this was not Herwarth's first report of suspected witchcraft: In particular. wc recall that yllU recently mentioned thc ... ighting of a woman by two goodmen in a wood not far from Pei .. 'enherg followed shortly thereafter by a storm. You should investigate this incitknt industriollsly and. if eirclIlllstantial evidence is pre!'cnt. make arrests and immediatdy lhereafter inform the executioner from Biberach that he should examine thc woman's entirt' hodv to l!etermine whether signs. notes or marks of the type the evil enemy lIses to mark his savants are present on her, and ask the executioner how to recognize till' witches, and. according to your findings, to report back to us and, if neces,",.-y. to accompany the report pcrsonal!y.