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Whores of the Devil: Witch-Hunts and Witch-Trials
Erik Durschmied's book begins with the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, and goes on to discuss the activities of the Inquisition, the views of Martin Luther and England's Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, the fate of the Salem witches in Massachusetts and newly discovered evidence from the University of Tubingen which shows that the witch-hunt was quite literally revived under the Nazis. With its strong narrative and colourful cast of characters, Whores of the Devil is a passionate investigation of some of the greatest cruelities in history.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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124 people want to read
About the author
Erik Durschmied
25 books49 followersis a cinematographer, producer, director and also an author, military history professor and a former war correspondent for BBC, CBS.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 13, 2015
It's interesting to comparing this books to the works of Montague Summers (such as the "The Geography of Witchcraft"). Summers has a strong bias in favor of the actions of the Catholic Church via the Inquisition, while Durschmied has an equally strong bias against the Inquisition.
Now my own personal bias is in agreement with Duschmied. But that does not change the fact that Summers is the better writer. Summers goes back to original source material, albeit highly selective sources. Durschmeid instead tells the stories in highly charged language in his own words with only intermittent scraps of quotes.
Each chapter focuses on a different witchcraft case. While this has the advantage of covering a broad section of history, it sometimes makes the narrative seem disjointed. Perhaps some more connective material to bridge the gap between one chapter and another would help smooth this out.
Both Summers and Durschmeid is an apologist for his own point of view, but at least with Summers I can use the extensive footnotes to go back and read the material for myself. I don't think there is much question that the Inquisition is a hideous tragedy in the history of humankind and a blot on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, but I wish Durschmied had written this book in a way which assumes I can make up my own mind based on the materials, and not spoon feed the history to me. He even alludes to the Johannes Junius letter without giving the name of the author or quoting from the letter!! To me, this is one of the most powerful documents in the history of the Inquisition, and one of the few surviving writings of the accused (see text below). I cannot begin to imagine why he did not include this letter. It is completely baffling.
Perhaps we will yet get a researcher who has the viewpoint of Durschmeid and the writing ability of Summers. If so, please let me know!
----- Johannes Junius letter, written to his daughter -----
Many hundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica. Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must I die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head and - God pity him- bethinks him of something. I will tell you how it has gone with me. When I was the first time put to the torture, Dr. Braun, Dr. Kotzendorffer, and two strange doctors were there. Then Dr. Braun, asks me, "Kinsman, how come you here?", I answer, "Through falsehood, through misfortune." "Hear, you," he says, "you are a witch; will you confess it voluntarily? If not, we'll bring in witnesses and the executioner for you." I said "I am no witch, I have a pure conscience in the matter; if there are a thousand witnesses, I am not anxious, but I'll gladly hear the witnesses." Now the chancellor's son was set before me ... and afterward Hoppfen Elss. She had seen me dance on Haupts-moor ... I answered: "I have never renounced God, and will never do it- God graciously keep me from it. I'll rather bear whatever I must." And then came also- God in highest Heaven have mercy- the executioner, and put the thumb-screws on me, both hands bound together, so that the blood ran out at the nails and everywhere, so that for four weeks I could not use my hands, as you can see from the writing ... Thereafter they first stripped me, bound my hands behind me, and drew me up in the torture. Then I thought heaven and earth were at an end; eight times did they draw me up and let me fall again, so that I suffered terrible agony ....
And this happened on Friday, June 30, and with God's help I had to bear the torture. When at last the executioner led me back into the prison, he said to me: "Sir, I beg you, for God's sake confess something, for you cannot endure the torture which you will be put to; and even if you bear it all, yet you will not escape, not even if you were an earl, but one torture will follow after another until you say you are a witch. Not before that," he said, "will they let you go, as you may see by all their trials, for one is just like another."...
And so I begged, since I was in a wretched plight, to be given one day for thought and a priest. The priest was refused me, but the time for thought was given. Now, my dear child, see what hazard I stood and still stand. I must say that I am a witch, though I am not, - must now renounce God, though I have never done it before. Day and night I was deeply troubled, but a last there came to me a new idea. I would not be anxious, but, since I had been given no priest with whom I could take counsel, I would myself think of something and say it. It were surely better that I just say it with mouth and words, even though I had not really done it'; and afterwards I would confess it to the priest, and let those answer for it who compel me to do it. ... And so I made my confession, as follows; but it was all a lie.
Now follows, dear child, what I confessed in order to escape the great anguish and bitter torture, which it was impossible for me longer to bear.
....
Then I had to tell what people I had seen [at the witch-sabbath]. I said that I had not recognized them. "You old rascal, I must set the executioner at you. Say- was not the Chancellor there?" So I said yes. "Who besides?" I had not recognized anybody. So he said: "Take one street after another; begin at the market, go out on one street and back on the next." I had to name several persons there. Then came the long street. I knew nobody. Had to name eight persons there. Then the Zinkenwert- one person more. Then over the upper bridge to the Georgthor, on both sides. Knew nobody again. Did I know nobody in the castle- whoever it might be, I should speak without fear. And thus continuously they asked me on all the streets, though I could not and would not say more. So they gave me to the executioner, told him to strip me, shave me all over, and put me to the torture. "The rascal knows one on the market-place, is with him daily, and yet won't know him." By that they meant Dietmery: so I had to name him too.
Then I had to tell what crimes I had committed. I said nothing. ..."Draw the rascal up!" So I said that I was to kill my children, but I had killed a horse instead. It did not help. I had also taken a sacred wafer, and had desecrated it. When I had said this, they left me in peace.
Now dear child, here you have all my confession, for which I must die. And they are sheer lies and made-up things, so help me God. For all this I was forced to say through fear of the torture which was threatened beyond what I had already endured. For they never leave off with the torture till one confesses something; be he never so good, he must be a witch. Nobody escapes, though he were an earl. ...
Dear child, keep this letter secret so that people do not find it, else I shall be tortured most piteously and the jailers will be beheaded. So strictly is it forbidden. ...Dear child, pay this man a dollar... I have taken several days to write this: my hands are both lame. I am in a sad plight....
Good night, for your father Johannes Junius will never see you more. July 24, 1628.
[And on the margin of the letter he added:]
Dear child, six have confessed against me at once: the Chancellor, his son, Neudecker, Zaner, Hoffmaisters Ursel, and Hoppfen Else- all false, through compulsion, as they have all told me, and begged my forgiveness in God's name before they were executed. ... They know nothing but good of me. They were forced to say it, just as I myself was.
Now my own personal bias is in agreement with Duschmied. But that does not change the fact that Summers is the better writer. Summers goes back to original source material, albeit highly selective sources. Durschmeid instead tells the stories in highly charged language in his own words with only intermittent scraps of quotes.
Each chapter focuses on a different witchcraft case. While this has the advantage of covering a broad section of history, it sometimes makes the narrative seem disjointed. Perhaps some more connective material to bridge the gap between one chapter and another would help smooth this out.
Both Summers and Durschmeid is an apologist for his own point of view, but at least with Summers I can use the extensive footnotes to go back and read the material for myself. I don't think there is much question that the Inquisition is a hideous tragedy in the history of humankind and a blot on the history of the Roman Catholic Church, but I wish Durschmied had written this book in a way which assumes I can make up my own mind based on the materials, and not spoon feed the history to me. He even alludes to the Johannes Junius letter without giving the name of the author or quoting from the letter!! To me, this is one of the most powerful documents in the history of the Inquisition, and one of the few surviving writings of the accused (see text below). I cannot begin to imagine why he did not include this letter. It is completely baffling.
Perhaps we will yet get a researcher who has the viewpoint of Durschmeid and the writing ability of Summers. If so, please let me know!
----- Johannes Junius letter, written to his daughter -----
Many hundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica. Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must I die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head and - God pity him- bethinks him of something. I will tell you how it has gone with me. When I was the first time put to the torture, Dr. Braun, Dr. Kotzendorffer, and two strange doctors were there. Then Dr. Braun, asks me, "Kinsman, how come you here?", I answer, "Through falsehood, through misfortune." "Hear, you," he says, "you are a witch; will you confess it voluntarily? If not, we'll bring in witnesses and the executioner for you." I said "I am no witch, I have a pure conscience in the matter; if there are a thousand witnesses, I am not anxious, but I'll gladly hear the witnesses." Now the chancellor's son was set before me ... and afterward Hoppfen Elss. She had seen me dance on Haupts-moor ... I answered: "I have never renounced God, and will never do it- God graciously keep me from it. I'll rather bear whatever I must." And then came also- God in highest Heaven have mercy- the executioner, and put the thumb-screws on me, both hands bound together, so that the blood ran out at the nails and everywhere, so that for four weeks I could not use my hands, as you can see from the writing ... Thereafter they first stripped me, bound my hands behind me, and drew me up in the torture. Then I thought heaven and earth were at an end; eight times did they draw me up and let me fall again, so that I suffered terrible agony ....
And this happened on Friday, June 30, and with God's help I had to bear the torture. When at last the executioner led me back into the prison, he said to me: "Sir, I beg you, for God's sake confess something, for you cannot endure the torture which you will be put to; and even if you bear it all, yet you will not escape, not even if you were an earl, but one torture will follow after another until you say you are a witch. Not before that," he said, "will they let you go, as you may see by all their trials, for one is just like another."...
And so I begged, since I was in a wretched plight, to be given one day for thought and a priest. The priest was refused me, but the time for thought was given. Now, my dear child, see what hazard I stood and still stand. I must say that I am a witch, though I am not, - must now renounce God, though I have never done it before. Day and night I was deeply troubled, but a last there came to me a new idea. I would not be anxious, but, since I had been given no priest with whom I could take counsel, I would myself think of something and say it. It were surely better that I just say it with mouth and words, even though I had not really done it'; and afterwards I would confess it to the priest, and let those answer for it who compel me to do it. ... And so I made my confession, as follows; but it was all a lie.
Now follows, dear child, what I confessed in order to escape the great anguish and bitter torture, which it was impossible for me longer to bear.
....
Then I had to tell what people I had seen [at the witch-sabbath]. I said that I had not recognized them. "You old rascal, I must set the executioner at you. Say- was not the Chancellor there?" So I said yes. "Who besides?" I had not recognized anybody. So he said: "Take one street after another; begin at the market, go out on one street and back on the next." I had to name several persons there. Then came the long street. I knew nobody. Had to name eight persons there. Then the Zinkenwert- one person more. Then over the upper bridge to the Georgthor, on both sides. Knew nobody again. Did I know nobody in the castle- whoever it might be, I should speak without fear. And thus continuously they asked me on all the streets, though I could not and would not say more. So they gave me to the executioner, told him to strip me, shave me all over, and put me to the torture. "The rascal knows one on the market-place, is with him daily, and yet won't know him." By that they meant Dietmery: so I had to name him too.
Then I had to tell what crimes I had committed. I said nothing. ..."Draw the rascal up!" So I said that I was to kill my children, but I had killed a horse instead. It did not help. I had also taken a sacred wafer, and had desecrated it. When I had said this, they left me in peace.
Now dear child, here you have all my confession, for which I must die. And they are sheer lies and made-up things, so help me God. For all this I was forced to say through fear of the torture which was threatened beyond what I had already endured. For they never leave off with the torture till one confesses something; be he never so good, he must be a witch. Nobody escapes, though he were an earl. ...
Dear child, keep this letter secret so that people do not find it, else I shall be tortured most piteously and the jailers will be beheaded. So strictly is it forbidden. ...Dear child, pay this man a dollar... I have taken several days to write this: my hands are both lame. I am in a sad plight....
Good night, for your father Johannes Junius will never see you more. July 24, 1628.
[And on the margin of the letter he added:]
Dear child, six have confessed against me at once: the Chancellor, his son, Neudecker, Zaner, Hoffmaisters Ursel, and Hoppfen Else- all false, through compulsion, as they have all told me, and begged my forgiveness in God's name before they were executed. ... They know nothing but good of me. They were forced to say it, just as I myself was.
September 11, 2025
So painfully factually incorrect. Matthew Hopkins wasn’t attacked by a mob then “swam” to death, wtf 😂
Also VERY weird to make up such passionate and detailed dialogue between historical figures in an ostensibly non-fiction book??
Also VERY weird to make up such passionate and detailed dialogue between historical figures in an ostensibly non-fiction book??
February 8, 2023
I'm not totally sure that everything in this book is completely factually correct as it reads and feels very much like a series of stories complete with character commentary, which I'm sure is not possible to obtain from the sparse records available. That aside, this is a good read that gives an overarching picture of the different types of people and key people involved in witch hunts and trials, both victims and perpetrators, over the centuries. Durschmied definitely uses artistic licence but it does also mean that the stories are told more realistically with more emotional investment from the reader. The epilogue does bring things into perspective and takes a serious straight to the point tone which does wrap the collection up well. And I did find the links with the Nazi regime quite terrifying, particularly with increasingly polarised attitudes that seem to dominate global politics at the moment.
November 5, 2022
I don't often rate books on here. Literature is so complex, and I have a hard time deciding what constitutes a 3-star book as opposed to a 4-star book. But I know a 1-star book when I see it.
I tried reading the introduction to this book, but it was too heavy on unsubstantiated editorializing and too light on actual information for my taste. I skipped to the first chapter, and somehow things got worse. The chapters are largely self-contained and I wanted to give this book the benefit of the doubt, so I tried to read the second. And then the third. Then I decided to stop punishing myself and put the book down.
When critics say a work of nonfiction "reads like a novel," they usually mean that as a compliment. This book takes that to an unpleasant extreme. At times, Whores of the Devil so strongly resembles a novel that it hardly even counts as nonfiction. Durschmied describes historical events as if he was really there. But he wasn't. So when he describes the way Joan of Arc walked across the room or says that she possessed "an irrepressible aura of goodness and grandeur," he's just making shit up. And yes, that's an actual quote from the book. Unlike Durschmied, I don't make up quotes. If his sources don't provide him with snappy, concise dialogue, he just writes his own. His lavish fabrications of historical moments are probably supposed to make these events feel more immediate, but they make it impossible to take this book seriously.
If you think putting words in the mouths of historical figures seems a bit unfair, this definitely isn't the book for you. Durschmied characterizes everyone as a hero or a villain, without a hint of nuance. If he wants you to view someone as a hypocrite, he doesn't offer an anecdote of them behaving hypocritically. He just calls them a hypocrite. Granted, most of the people he slanders probably have it coming. His depictions of these people would be completely justified if this book were labelled historical fiction, but inventing motivations and dialogue and writing scenes that never happened is irresponsible in this genre.
I don't have a problem with Durschmied's assertion that witch-hunters were bad people. They obviously were. But why read a book that repeatedly states the obvious? I was hoping for a book that would would shed some light on why Europe was so consumed with a moral panic over witchcraft, but I just don't find this book credible. Worst of all, it sullies a legitimate argument by relying on speculation and embellishment in place of actual research.
I tried reading the introduction to this book, but it was too heavy on unsubstantiated editorializing and too light on actual information for my taste. I skipped to the first chapter, and somehow things got worse. The chapters are largely self-contained and I wanted to give this book the benefit of the doubt, so I tried to read the second. And then the third. Then I decided to stop punishing myself and put the book down.
When critics say a work of nonfiction "reads like a novel," they usually mean that as a compliment. This book takes that to an unpleasant extreme. At times, Whores of the Devil so strongly resembles a novel that it hardly even counts as nonfiction. Durschmied describes historical events as if he was really there. But he wasn't. So when he describes the way Joan of Arc walked across the room or says that she possessed "an irrepressible aura of goodness and grandeur," he's just making shit up. And yes, that's an actual quote from the book. Unlike Durschmied, I don't make up quotes. If his sources don't provide him with snappy, concise dialogue, he just writes his own. His lavish fabrications of historical moments are probably supposed to make these events feel more immediate, but they make it impossible to take this book seriously.
If you think putting words in the mouths of historical figures seems a bit unfair, this definitely isn't the book for you. Durschmied characterizes everyone as a hero or a villain, without a hint of nuance. If he wants you to view someone as a hypocrite, he doesn't offer an anecdote of them behaving hypocritically. He just calls them a hypocrite. Granted, most of the people he slanders probably have it coming. His depictions of these people would be completely justified if this book were labelled historical fiction, but inventing motivations and dialogue and writing scenes that never happened is irresponsible in this genre.
I don't have a problem with Durschmied's assertion that witch-hunters were bad people. They obviously were. But why read a book that repeatedly states the obvious? I was hoping for a book that would would shed some light on why Europe was so consumed with a moral panic over witchcraft, but I just don't find this book credible. Worst of all, it sullies a legitimate argument by relying on speculation and embellishment in place of actual research.
May 23, 2024
When i saw this was published in 2004 I was surprised. It felt like the non-fiction published more than a century ago. The ones that didn't really care so much about facts. So much of this book was a creation of the author's imagination. He confused timelines, characters, and the fates of certain historical personages. I felt that most of the topics/people he chose to cover where written about in a way to keep the reader's interest. Sometimes the author was long-winded or disappeared down a rabbit hole, but overall the book kept my interest. The problem for me was that he didn't worry too much about facts or what actually happened. He enjoyed embellishment. If this is your first exposure to these topics, if one strikes you as interesting, I would do some further research.
February 24, 2011
Whores of the Devil / 0-750-94007-7
I own more than a two dozen witch-hunt related books, and have a deep fascination in the subject, but this book is, in my opinion, a complete waste of paper.
First and foremost, this book seems less designed to inform and more designed to be as sensational and graphic as possible. There are many graphic descriptions of rape and child molestation in this book, under the guise of narrating what an accused male witch supposedly did to his many and varied victims. These abuses are just presented as fact, which no sourcing and no critical examination of these charges.
Now, I understand completely when a serious author is simply trying to retain historical details, and that these travesties cannot be glossed over and lost in the mists of history. I completely agree that history must not be whitewashed to obscure the evildoers of our past. However, having said that, the book seems to take great pleasure in describing every possible detail surrounding every rape and child molestation it covers. Many of these individualized stories are not "historical" in the sense that we would think of, but are rather historical fictions where the author has taken a historical fact ("Town sacked; women raped.") and has then churned out prosy, lurid rape scenes based on what *probably* happened to someone, somewhere, during this historical incident. The author seems to enjoy churning out these fictionalized scenes, and the reader is lost in the literary equivalent of a film where violence is being recorded purely for violence's sake.
Looking past the serious issues I have with the way in which this graphic content is presented, I have to take even more serious issue with the author's complete and total lack of reliable sources. Much of this book reads as fiction, and many incidents seem apocryphal at best. I could not find anywhere online a confirmation of nor even a passing reference to the related incident detailing Torquemada's beating at the hands of the vengeful gypsies - and my suspicion was further peaked by the author's insistence that Torquemada had all the witnesses to this intriguing incident killed. If all the witnesses were killed, where did this story come from? This is just one example of many, and I simply cannot suppress the feeling that this book is poorly researched and disturbingly obsessed with sexual violence. I cannot recommend this book at all.
~ Ana Mardoll
I own more than a two dozen witch-hunt related books, and have a deep fascination in the subject, but this book is, in my opinion, a complete waste of paper.
First and foremost, this book seems less designed to inform and more designed to be as sensational and graphic as possible. There are many graphic descriptions of rape and child molestation in this book, under the guise of narrating what an accused male witch supposedly did to his many and varied victims. These abuses are just presented as fact, which no sourcing and no critical examination of these charges.
Now, I understand completely when a serious author is simply trying to retain historical details, and that these travesties cannot be glossed over and lost in the mists of history. I completely agree that history must not be whitewashed to obscure the evildoers of our past. However, having said that, the book seems to take great pleasure in describing every possible detail surrounding every rape and child molestation it covers. Many of these individualized stories are not "historical" in the sense that we would think of, but are rather historical fictions where the author has taken a historical fact ("Town sacked; women raped.") and has then churned out prosy, lurid rape scenes based on what *probably* happened to someone, somewhere, during this historical incident. The author seems to enjoy churning out these fictionalized scenes, and the reader is lost in the literary equivalent of a film where violence is being recorded purely for violence's sake.
Looking past the serious issues I have with the way in which this graphic content is presented, I have to take even more serious issue with the author's complete and total lack of reliable sources. Much of this book reads as fiction, and many incidents seem apocryphal at best. I could not find anywhere online a confirmation of nor even a passing reference to the related incident detailing Torquemada's beating at the hands of the vengeful gypsies - and my suspicion was further peaked by the author's insistence that Torquemada had all the witnesses to this intriguing incident killed. If all the witnesses were killed, where did this story come from? This is just one example of many, and I simply cannot suppress the feeling that this book is poorly researched and disturbingly obsessed with sexual violence. I cannot recommend this book at all.
~ Ana Mardoll
December 15, 2012
I didn't even bother finishing this book. The introduction starts off in a very condescending tone, as if the readers know nothing about history, and the tone continues in to the first chapter. Not wanting to be talked down to for the remaining couple hundred pages, I decided to set this one down for good.
August 16, 2015
I've read a few books on witch-hunts and to be honest I'm not really sure what to make of this book. It is supposedly factual, and there are plenty of indications of sources contained within it but I did not like the way the stories were extrapolated upon and presented as fact. I think that this could be misleading in serious study of the subject.
May 19, 2024
This is a non-fiction book chronicling witch-hunts (and witch-hunters) throughout history, and the title should have been my tip-off that it was going to go in a highly sensationalized direction. There was a LOT of editorializing going on as well, with little in terms of overarching structure to tie things together. It’s not good.
October 22, 2012
Very graphic descriptions and almost unbelievable stories, I know this book had a lot of research done but i'd like it to have had more history rather than seemingly sensationalized stories.
August 6, 2015
Boring!! don't bother,, This has to be one of the worst books, I have read!! The author just waffles on and on amd on,,you get the picture!!
April 6, 2013
this is the BEST book I have read about witch delusion.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews