Friedrich Spee - Publications

Publications

His 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 (Golden Book of Virtues), a book of devotion highly prized by Leibniz, and the Trutznachtigall, a collection of fifty to sixty sacred songs, which take a prominent place among religious lyrics of the seventeenth century, and have been in recent times repeatedly printed and revised. But the assumption that the author in this work applied the metrical principle independent of Opitz, is doubtful at best.

His principal work, the 'Cautio Criminalis' (Precautions for Prosecutors), is a layout for the prosecution of witchcraft, based on his own experiences in Westphalia. It is thought that he acted for a long time as "witch confessor" in Würzburg, as he seems to have knowledge of what could be considered the private thoughts of the condemned. The work was printed in 1631 at Rinteln without Spee's name or permission. He does not advocate the immediate abolition of trials for witchcraft, but describes with sarcasm the abuses in the prevailing legal proceedings, particularly the use of the rack. He demands measures of reform, such as a new German imperial law on the subject and liability to damages on the part of the judges. If these had been carried out, they would have quickly put an end to the persecution of witches.

Nevertheless, the Cautio Criminalis did bring about the abolition of witch-burning in a number of places, especially at Mainz, and led the way to its gradual suppression. The moral impact created by the publication was considerable. Even in the seventeenth century a number of new editions and German translations appeared. Among the members of Spee's Jesuit order his treatise found a favourable reception. A memorable observation in the book suggests that Germany and England must have more witches and devils than Spain and Italy since there are so many more stake burnings in the former. This may have been a not so subtle criticism of Protestant reform Europe which he believed was guilty of even greater abuses than the Catholic countries. The book is still in print.