Sold at $3200 (£1790) was a group of six autograph documents of 1613 relating to charges against Lorenz Nuppemou of Arnsfelde in Pomerania (now Gostomia in Poland), who was said to have met the Devil in the Lübeck woods. He said to have engaged in sexual improprieties with certain local women, some of whom became his accomplices in poisoning livestock and bewitching the locals, and who had the ability to transform themselves into werewolves.
Bid to $2600 (£1455) was a 1665 manuscript transcript of the inquisitorial proceedings against two women from the village of Grinau in Schleswig-Holstein.
One woman, named Steffens, had the misfortune to come from a family already tainted with witchcraft – her mother had been burned at the stake – and to have unusually large birthmarks on her back and other marks to her face and body that were recognised as the result of beatings by the Devil. Torture with thumbscrews and ‘Spanish Boots’ brought a corroborating confession from the poor girl.
Witches and witchfinders of Lübeck
TWO records of witchcraft trials in 17th century Lübeck were among the more successful lots in an April 19 sale held by Swanns of New York.
