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The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village (review)

The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village (review) Reviews thomas robisheaux. The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Pp. 427. On Shrove Tuesday in 1672 a young woman called Eva Kustner indulged ¨ in the customary ritual of distributing Shrovetide cakes to neighboring women in Hurden, a village in the County of Hohenlohe in southern Ger¨ many. Eva was the daughter of Hans Schmieg, the miller of Hurden; the ¨ cakes had been baked by her mother, Anna Schmieg. This apparently innocuous event, which forms the starting point for Robisheaux's The Last Witch of Langenburg, had dramatic repercussions for those involved. Anna Fessler, who was one of the few women to actually eat a cake, suddenly became ill and died in agony the next day; the idea that she had been poisoned was confirmed by Andreas Thym, the municipal physician of Schwabisch Hall, ¨ who was called in specially to perform an autopsy on her. The finger of suspicion turned rapidly toward the woman who had baked the cakes--the miller's wife, Anna Schmieg, who was around sixty years old in 1672. Schmieg had a bad reputation in Hurden for cursing, quarreling, brawling, ¨ http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft University of Pennsylvania Press

The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village (review)

Rowlands, Alison.
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft , Volume 7 (1) – May 12, 2012
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Abstract

Reviews thomas robisheaux. The Last Witch of Langenburg: Murder in a German Village. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Pp. 427. On Shrove Tuesday in 1672 a young woman called Eva Kustner indulged ¨ in the customary ritual of distributing Shrovetide cakes to neighboring women in Hurden, a village in the County of Hohenlohe in southern Ger¨ many. Eva was the daughter of Hans Schmieg, the miller of Hurden; the ¨ cakes had been baked by her mother, Anna Schmieg. This apparently innocuous event, which forms the starting point for Robisheaux's The Last Witch of Langenburg, had dramatic repercussions for those involved. Anna Fessler, who was one of the few women to actually eat a cake, suddenly became ill and died in agony the next day; the idea that she had been poisoned was confirmed by Andreas Thym, the municipal physician of Schwabisch Hall, ¨ who was called in specially to perform an autopsy on her. The finger of suspicion turned rapidly toward the woman who had baked the cakes--the miller's wife, Anna Schmieg, who was around sixty years old in 1672. Schmieg had a bad reputation in Hurden for cursing, quarreling, brawling, ¨

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Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft – University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: May 12, 2012

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