Highroad to the Stake: A Tale of Witchcraft

by Michael Kunze, William E. Yuill (Translation)

A riveting story of the Pappenheimers, a vagrant family in Germany, 1600, whose lives turned into a nightmare when they were arrested for "crimes" unbeknownst to them.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, Germany

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Heidi Nemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there was a body of more accessible historical work of this caliber.
Most works for non-specialists on history decide either to go for the "gripping tale" at the cost of precision, or end up dry and impenetrable. This one is brutal, engaging, incredibly precise and quite clear (with a couple of exceptions) in its presentation of early modern german culture, government, thought, and customs.

There is stuff in there, direct material from trial transcripts, that still curls my frigging toes. Michael Kunze makes the historical personal, to take a phrase from Qilo, and he does it well.

[DoctorM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing and frightening. Kunze's "Highroad to the Stake" looks at the records of the trial and execution of a hapless family of vagrants in Bavaria at the beginning of the 17th century and follows the doomed family as they're relentlessly, inexorably ground up by the legal system. Simple enough beginning--- the duke of Bavaria, concerned about highway robbery and crime in the rural parishes of the duchy, wants a show trial--- something that will demonstrate the power of the state and its courts to thieves and robbers. Our vagrant family, arrested initially after a local thief implicated them under torture for receiving stolen goods, is subjected to judicial torture and interrogated until their confessions to an escalating series of crimes is obtained. Kunze makes the point that the courts and their officials took it for granted that demonic and devilish forces lurked in the countryside, and that witchcraft was always a possibility where any crime was committed. As the law destroys the Pappenheimer family, Kunze makes his readers aware of the closed, hermetic nature of the legal system and the ways in which the technical skills of the investigators, divorced from any idea that the accused could be innocent, drove them--- in the interests of "justice" ---to send the accused, broken under judicial torture, to the stake. Well-written, well-researched, and shattering.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not thought that the author could milk over 400 pages of smallish print from a single criminal case four centuries old, but he did it. The sad lives and horrific deaths of the Pappenheimer family are recounted here with a jeweler's eye for detail, and without too many digressions or speculations. The book goes a long way towards explaining the way people thought at the time and why they REALLY BELIEVED in the vagrant family's guilt and the justice of the trial, verdict and execution.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly disturbing account of 16th century German family accused of witchcraft. Kunze's research was incredibly detailed and amazing, and included short monographs detailing the theological background of the people involved as well as the motivations of the political figures who wanted to make an example of these poor vagrants. Disturbing because it's all true.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like how in depth Kunze got into the Pappenheimers' story. However, sometimes I got lost in the details and had to reread some sections. The author has this habit of delving far into people's backstory, including characters such as the Duke, who were minimally involved if at all. There were a couple of times I had to go back a few pages to remember who someone was and how they were involved in the case.

[Isobel Lyons]

90:1-10 I swear by this countryside, you are a native settled on this land as well as any parent and whatever he may father. We have created man under stress, Does he reckon that no one can do anything against him? He says: “I have used up piles of money!” Does he consider that no one sees him? Have We not granted him both eyes, a tongue and two lips, and guided him along both highroads?