Echoes From Fulda...

 

Born in 1548, Balthasar von Dernbach was a monk of the Benedictine order from the Fulda monastery in Germany. He was the youngest of fifteen children, and although baptized into the Lutheran church, he was raised Catholic after being sent to live at the monastery in Fulda village at age 12. In 1570, von Dernbach was confirmed as the monastery's Prince Abbot by Pope Pius V. and immediately enacted controversial counter-reformation policies in the region which proved to be incredibly unpopular among the large protestant population. By 1576, von Dernbach was forced to flee Fulda and lived in exile until 1602 when the Aulic Council (essentially the Supreme Court of the Holy Roman Empire) reinstated von Dernbach to his former title as Prince Abbot of Fulda, and this is where the real nightmare began. 

In his exile, von Dernbach befriended an ambitious equerry named Balthasar Nuss, who quickly became the once-and-future Prince Abbot's right hand man. When the Prince Abbot returned to Fulda, Nuss followed. Appointed as chief judge of the Hofbieber municipality, and by extension Fulda village, Nuss became Balthasar von Dernbach's malefizmeister, his witch-finder, and brutal new counter-reformation measures were enacted. Protestant worship was no longer tolerated within Hofbieber municipality, and any crypto-protestants found by the malefizmeister and his cronies were severely punished. In 1603, investigations of witchcraft and devil worship in Fulda were announced by the Prince Abbot, really excuses to target anyone and everyone von Dernbach deemed "undesirable", and these investigations were carried out by his sadistic lackey Balthasar Nuss, who wielded the power of his office to carry out a series of petty vendettas against scores of innocent people whose only crime was, at the very most, calling themselves a Lutheran in private. Many women, including local healers, were targeted and prosecuted for allegedly communing with the devil, imprisoned and tortured until false confessions were torn from their mouths. 

Balthasar von Dernbach saw himself as chosen by the Almighty to cleanse his home of the ungodly, and he would do it by any means necessary. Balthasar Nuss, the Prince Abbot's malefizmeister, had carried out his master's will with particular aplomb, exercising excessive cruelty and working to coax specific names from victims during interrogation sessions in order to better target the Prince Abbot's enemies under the guise of purifying Fulda. Nuss even greatly enriched himself by seizing and liquidating the estates of many of his victims. 

The most notable victim of the Fulda witch trials was Merga Bien, a proud heiress who had recently returned to her home of Fulda with her third husband, Blasius Bien, in tow. Newly pregnant despite being married for fourteen years, whispers among the paranoid upper class spread that she had only conceived this "miraculous child" by consorting with the devil. Between these rumors and her headstrong nature, it was only a matter of time before Merga Bien came under the scrutiny of Balthasar von Dernbach's "holy" crusade. In June of 1603, Merga Bien was arrested and charged by Balthasar Nuss as a witch. She was tortured until she was made to confess to a number of ridiculous charges, from murdering her second husband and their children, to taking part in a black sabbath, to her current pregnancy being the result of a dalliance with the prince of darkness. Blasius protested his wife's innocence before the Reichskammergericht (the other Supreme Court of the Holy Roman Empire), but this injustice could not be stopped. After being convicted and condemned by Balthasar Nuss, Merga Bien was burned at the stake in autumn 1603, along with her unborn child. 

The horrors of the Fulda witch trials would continue until the death of Prince Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach in March of 1606, after which his provincial government was formally dissolved. And whatever happened to Balthasar Nuss? His master, the Prince Abbot, may have escaped earthly justice, but the erstwhile malefizmeister found no such luck. He was arrested shortly after the Prince Abbot's death, having been accused of a number of atrocities. Nuss was imprisoned until his execution by beheading in 1618. Over 200 victims of these horrifying events were officially recorded between 1602 and 1606 in Fulda. Hundreds more fled their homes in terror, lest they become the next to fall prey to the cruel witch finders. 

The rage of the victims of these heinous crimes remains even today, captured brilliantly in the song "Echoes From Fulda" from melodic death metal group Defacing God's debut album, The Resurrection Of Lilith. This Hallowtide, I encourage you to listen to the song and feel a bit of that righteous fury as it boils the blood in your veins. And remember the victims of the Fulda witch trials. Maybe light a candle in remembrance of the hundreds of lives cut tragically short by the cruelty of petty men masquerading as messengers of God. -Max Power