She was arrested on Tuesday, September 9th, and was amicably interrogated the next day. Möden signed the arrest warrant for Anna Katharina Spee on Septemin Erpel. In addition, there were rumors about the rich widow's allegedly immoral lifestyle. Most of the accusations against Anna Katharina related to her property and the outstanding position of the Spee family. The late husband Robert Spee would also have been a "colonel" (devil). At the beginning of September 1631, among others, Baw Jans Gritten zu Orsberg and Margarete Faßbender zu Unkel declared that they had seen Anna Katharina dancing as a witch queen in stately clothes with a sumptuous meal. Among others, the accused Els Istfels said her godmother Anna Katharina Spee as a "witch". In these witch trials rumors about Anna Katharina Spee reappeared in the erfolterten statements already accused women. In spring 1631, witch trials began in Erpel with at least 20 executions: including 18 women and 2 men under the witch commissioner Dr. The neighbors also spread the rumor that Anna Katharina Spee had a child from her brother-in-law Robert a long time ago. It was said that she married Konrad Cron against the children's wishes. Soon the villagers accused her of immoral behavior during the marriage, including fornication - also with clergy. About a year after the death of her husband, the rich widow married the groom Konrad Cron. The 40-year-old Anna Katharina Spee inherited two houses in Rheinbreitbach and Sohlscheid, vineyards and fields in Ariendorf, Erbrenten in the Asbach parish and estates in Nieder- and Oberbreitbach from her husband Robert. Robert Spee's grave slab is now on the outside wall of the church but the writing can hardly be read. Spee's coat of arms can still be seen on the keystone in the choir: a red rooster on a silver background. Robert Spee died on Januat the age of 70 and was buried in the choir of the Bruchhausen Church. The Spee couple had five children: Johann Jakob and Agnes and three daughters living in the monastery: Susanna in Neuss, Margaretha and Gertrud in Linz. From around 1609/10 he lived in the Spee-Burg von Bruchhausen (today: Waldstrasse 28). Her husband Robert Spee von Langenfeld, who came from Kaiserswerth, became an official of the Cologne cathedral chapter after studying law in Dole / Burgundy. Friedrich Spee had published his book Cautio Criminalis against the witch trials in May 1631. Nurenberg was obviously in economic trouble.Īnna Katharina married in Rheinbrohl around 1610 Robert Spee, who was about 30 years her senior, a half-brother or cousin of the Jesuit father Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld. Von Sayn-Sayn +1606 Lutheran, then under Lothar von Metternich Elector and Archbishop of Trier Catholic again). 1584) and from 1607 electoral trier bailiff in Rheinbrohl, so he has the denominational fronts (Rheinbrohl under Count Heinrich IV. Apollinarius Nurenberg was saynian between 15 (LHAK 56 No. LifeĪnna Katharina was born around 1590 as the youngest daughter of Bailiff Apollonarius Nurenberg (first names also Anlis, Naliß or Nalis, last name also Neurberg, Nürnberg or Nurnbergh) and his second wife Margaretha Homberg, daughter of the old-time rent master Mathias Homberg in Rheinbrohl. Burning of three witches in Derneburg, 1555, leaflet, 16th centuryĪnna Katharina Spee, née Anna Katharina Nürberg (* 1590 in Rheinbrohl † shortly after Septemin Erpel ) lived in Bruchhausen and was a victim of witch persecution.