Holy men who met their unholy ends
Katharina Kepler, mother of famed astronomer Johannes Kepler, suffered over a year of torture following accusations that she was a witch. The elderly woman endured a six-year trial that finally led to her being declared innocent and released.
The fascinating story was revealed after Ulinka Rublack, a professor of early modern history, searched through piles of documents about the trial of Katharina Kepler. Want to learn more about this incredible case? Click through to find out more.
Devastated by the loss of his mother, Johannes was unmoved. He spent the rest of his life annotating his story, ‘The Dream.’
Professor of early modern history, Ulinka Rublack, peeled through documents in Stuttgart, Germany, to uncover Katharina Kepler’s case, revealing a previously unknown story. Pictured is 'The Derenburg Witch Trial' print.
Katharina Kepler, mother of famous astronomer Johannes Kepler, was accused of being a witch. In Rublack’s book ‘The Astronomer And The Witch,’ she outlines how Kepler's famous son found a creative way to save her life.
An estimated 50,000 people were executed in Europe between 1500 and 1700 due to accusations of witchcraft.
The witch hunt spread across Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, devastating families and communities.
In 1615, Katharina Kepler, a widower, was accused of being a witch by her neighbors in Leonberg, Germany. She was 68 years old at the time.
The story goes that Johannes wrote a tale titled ‘The Dream.’ In this story, the narrator, a young astronomer, had a herb doctor for a mother who “conjures up spirits to assist her son in his lunar voyage.”
Katharina was a herb doctor herself, as were many women accused of witchcraft. It’s unclear whether locals were envious of her son’s success and exploited this fact.
The exact circumstances are uncertain, but what followed was a six-year ordeal that changed the family forever.
Katharina's neighbor, Ursula Reinhold, accused the old widow of poisoning her. Reinhold was the local barber’s sister and Katharina considered her a “disavowed friend.”
Her accusation, according to Johannes, was opportunistic, as Reinhold had borrowed money from his mother and never repaid it.
According to the account, Reinhold had also become impregnated by someone other than her husband, which she had shared with Katharina.
In an act of indiscretion, Katharina had shared the story with one of her sons, who then spread the news throughout the community.
Reinhold had sought an abortion to keep her from the shame of the story. A dangerous procedure at the time, she accused Katharina of causing her illness through witchcraft.
Later, a child accused Katharina of hitting her arm, causing increasing pain that led to an immobile finger.
The accusations didn’t stop there. She was also accused of killing animals, infants, and even transforming herself into a cat. In fact, Reinhold convinced 24 other people to accuse Kepler of witchcraft.
Johannes’ ‘The Dream’ was viewed as an autobiographical account of his mother’s witchy ways. Katharina's famous son relocated his family to support his mother’s defense. A brilliant scholar, he was accustomed to spotting inconsistencies.
Rublack describes Johannes' defense as “a rhetorical masterpiece.” He formed spectacular arguments as his mother’s case dragged on for six years
He requested a staggering amount of documentation to assemble his mother’s legal defense, using the scientific method to explain the “supernatural evils” that his mother was accused of.
In the trial, Johannes provided evidence as to how Reinhold had undergone an abortion and how the child had hurt her own arm after carrying a heavy load of bricks.
Despite the evidence in his mother’s favor, prosecutors even tried to use her lack of tears during her arrest as evidence against her at trial.
When Katharina was arrested, she was chained to the floor of her prison cell for 14 months. She was constantly threatened with torture as they pressured her to confess to her witchcraft or face further violence.
Johannes spent years pushing reason against all the superstition that was provided as evidence of his mother’s witchcraft.
At the age of 75, Katharina was finally acquitted. Unfortunately, the damage was too severe; the trauma of the trial was too much for her to bare.
Just a few months following her release, Katharina died, devastating her son. Shortly after, Johannes' classmate wrote to him.
Seeking to expose the abuse of power behind the mass killing of women accused of witchcraft, his colleague, Christoph Besold, procured a decree from Stuttgart prohibiting any other “witchcraft trials unsanctioned by the Supreme Court.”
Besold wrote to his dear friend, “You have rendered an inestimable service to the whole world, and someday your name will be blessed for it.”
Johannes produced over 200 annotations to the text which sought to deconstruct the superstitious interpretations of the text with scientific reasoning.
Despite his success in saving his mother from execution, the torture she underwent and the harrowing accusations she experienced overcame her. His obsessive annotations of ‘The Dream' were likely driven by his desire to posthumously defend her innocence.
Sources: (The Marginalian) (The Guardian)
See also: Signs you'd be considered a witch in the 17th century
How famed astronomer Johannes Kepler saved his mother from Germany's witch trials
Kepler fought his mother's case with innovation
LIFESTYLE Astronomy
Katharina Kepler, mother of famed astronomer Johannes Kepler, suffered over a year of torture following accusations that she was a witch. The elderly woman endured a six-year trial that finally led to her being declared innocent and released.
The fascinating story was revealed after Ulinka Rublack, a professor of early modern history, searched through piles of documents about the trial of Katharina Kepler. Want to learn more about this incredible case? Click through to find out more.