Friedrich Spee was a German Jesuit priest, professor, and poet, most well-known as a forceful opponent of witch trials and one who was an insider writing from the epicenter of the European witch-phobia. Spee argued strongly against the use of torture, and as an eyewitness he gathered a book full of details regarding its cruelty and unreliability. He wrote, "Torture has the power to create witches where none exist."
Life
Spee was born at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. On finishing his early education at Cologne, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1610, and pursued extensive studies and activity as a teacher at Trier, Fulda, Würzburg, Speyer, Worms and Mainz, where he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1622. He became professor at the University of Paderborn in 1624. From 1626 he taught at Speyer, Wesel, Trier and Cologne, and preached at Paderborn, Cologne and Hildesheim. An attempt to assassinate Spee was made at Peine in 1629. He resumed his activity as professor and priest at Paderborn and later at Cologne, and in 1633 removed to Trier. During the storming of the city by the imperial forces in March 1635, he distinguished himself in the care of the suffering, and died soon afterwards of a plague infection contracted while ministering to wounded soldiers in a hospital. His name is often incorrectly cited as "Friedrich von Spee".
Publications
Spee's literary activity was largely confined to the last years of his life, the details of which are relatively obscure. Two of his works were not published until after his death: Goldenes Tugendbuch, a book of devotion highly prized by Leibniz, and Trutznachtigall, a collection of fifty to sixty sacred songs, which take a prominent place among religious lyrics of the 17th century and have been repeatedly printed and updated through the present.
Cautio Criminalis
His principal work Cautio Criminalis is a passionate plea on behalf of those accused of witchcraft. The book was first printed anonymously in 1631 at Rinteln and attributed to an "unknown Roman theologian ." It is based on his own experiences in the time and place that experienced some of the most intense and fatal witch-hunts. Spee was present as a Jesuit confessor during sessions of torture and executions.
"If the reader will allow me to say something here, I confess that I myself have accompanied several women to their deaths in various places over the years and I am now so certain of their innocence that I feel there's no effort that would not be worth my undertaking to try to reveal this truth."
Spee wrote in direct opposition to many of the most well-known witch-phobic writers of his time and, like those works and most others in the witch-phobic lineage going back to the 15th century, Spee also wrote in Latin.
"I pronounce from my soul that for a long time I have not known what trust I can place in those authors, Remy, Binsfeld, Delrio, and others... since virtually every one of their teachings concerning witches is based on no other foundations than fables or confessions extracted through torture."
Spee pleaded for measures of reform, such as a new German imperial law on the subject, and liability to damages on the part of the judges. Cautio Criminalis contains 51 "doubts" which Spee discussed and carefully de-constructed. Amongst his more notable conclusions were:
That the accused should be provided a lawyer and a legal defense, the enormity of the crime making this all the more important.
That most prisoners will confess to anything under torture in order to stop the pain.
Condemning the accused for not confessing under torture is absurd.
That torture does not produce truth, since those who wish to stop their own suffering can stop it with lies.
Documents the barbarous cruelty, and sexual assaults on women, brought on by the practice of strip- searching and fully shaving every part of prisoner's body prior to the first session of torture.
That accusations against alleged accomplices stemming from torture were of little value: either the tortured person was innocent, in which case she had no accomplices, or she was really in league with the Devil, in which case her denunciations could not be trusted either.
Spee was particularly concerned about cases where a person was tortured and forced to denounce accomplices, who were then tortured and forced to denounce more accomplices, until everyone was under suspicion:
Legacy
Cautio Criminalis helped bring an end to witch-hunting. The moral impact created by the publication was considerable. Already within the 17th century, a number of new editions and translations had appeared. Among the members of Spee's Jesuit order, his treatise found a favorable reception. Philipp van Limborch was a Dutch Protestant but his influential History of the Inquisition refers favorably to the work of the Jesuit Spee. Limborch was close with the Englishman John Locke as the two pushed for religious toleration.
Hymns
Spee wrote the lyrics and tunes of dozens of hymns, and is still the most heavily attributed author in German Catholic hymnals today. Although an anonymous hymnist during his lifetime, today he is credited with several popular works including the Advent song "O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf", the Christmas carols "Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt" and "Zu Bethlehem geboren", and the Easter hymn "Lasst uns erfreuen" widely used with the 20th-century English texts "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones" and "All Creatures of Our God and King".
