Katharina Kepler
Encyclopedia
Katharina Kepler born Katharina Guldenmann, was an alleged German
witch from Stuttgart
, Württemberg, and the mother of the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler
.
Katharina Kepler was married to Heinrich Kepler and had one daughter and three sons; one of them was Johannes Kepler. In 1615, a witch trial was initiated by Lutherus Einhorn who in his reign as Vogt of Leonberg (1613 - 1629) accused 15 women of sorcery and executed 8 of them. He acted in accordance with the will of the government and the public, which had asked for an investigation of sorcery, and issued an arrest of Katharina Kepler in 1615. Ursula Reinbold had accused Katharina Kepler of giving her a potion after an argument which had made her sick. Johannes Kepler defended his mother himself, with the assistance of his university in Tübingen. One of his student friends, Christopher Besoldus
, assisted her juridically.
Her son took her away to Linz
in December 1616. When she returned to Leonberg in the summer of 1620, she was arrested and imprisoned for fourteen months. She was told how she would be tortured, as a means of frightening her, but she refused to confess anything.
In October 1621, Kepler was able to effect her release. Katharina Kepler died the following year.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
witch from Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Württemberg, and the mother of the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
.
Katharina Kepler was married to Heinrich Kepler and had one daughter and three sons; one of them was Johannes Kepler. In 1615, a witch trial was initiated by Lutherus Einhorn who in his reign as Vogt of Leonberg (1613 - 1629) accused 15 women of sorcery and executed 8 of them. He acted in accordance with the will of the government and the public, which had asked for an investigation of sorcery, and issued an arrest of Katharina Kepler in 1615. Ursula Reinbold had accused Katharina Kepler of giving her a potion after an argument which had made her sick. Johannes Kepler defended his mother himself, with the assistance of his university in Tübingen. One of his student friends, Christopher Besoldus
Christopher Besoldus
Christopher Besoldus was a German jurist and publicist whose writing is seen as important for the history of the causes of the Thirty Years' War.-Life:...
, assisted her juridically.
Her son took her away to Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
in December 1616. When she returned to Leonberg in the summer of 1620, she was arrested and imprisoned for fourteen months. She was told how she would be tortured, as a means of frightening her, but she refused to confess anything.
In October 1621, Kepler was able to effect her release. Katharina Kepler died the following year.
See also
- Walpurga HausmanninWalpurga HausmanninWalpurga Hausmännin was an Austrian midwife executed for witchcraft, vampirism, and child murder. The confession she made under torture exemplifies the classical relationship between witch and devil later commonly used in several witch trials....
- Merga BienMerga BienMerga Bien was an alleged German witch, perhaps the most famous of the many victims in the great mass Fulda witch trials in Germany in 1603–1605....
- Katharina HenotKatharina HenotKatharina Henot, , was a German postmaster and an alleged witch, burned at the stake for sorcery in Cologne in Germany. She is one of the more known German victims of the witch hunt, and the most known case in Cologne. She was also the likely first female postmaster in Germany.-Biography:Katharina...
- Pappenheimer FamilyPappenheimer FamilyThe Pappenheimer Family was a family tried and executed for witchcraft in Bavaria, Germany. Their trial and execution is considered to be one of the worst to have ever taken place in Europe...