The witch trials in Poland started later than in most of Europe, beginning in earnest in Poland until the second half of the 17th century, but also lasted longer than elsewhere. Despite being formally banned in 1776, the law was not evenly enforced for the next half a century even after the witch trials had ended or became a rarity in the rest of Europe. It is estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 people have been executed for sorcery in Poland.
History
Early history
The first known witchcraft case in Poland is the one included in a heresy trial against Damian of Borków by Bishop Jakub von Płock (r. 1396–1425), but the exact date is unknown. In 1476 a woman, Dorota of Zakrzew was sentenced to be burned for sorcery in Poznań but the verdict was repealed, and the first confirmed execution for witchcraft in Poland took place when a woman whose name is lost was executed in Waliszew in 1511.
Chronology
During the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, 49 women and 19 men were condemned for witchcraft in Poland, mostly in the areas close to the Holy Roman Empire, particularly Poznań. The biggest witchcraft persecution, however, did not reach Poland until the second half of the 17th-century, and the most intense period of witch hunt in Poland took place in the period between 1670 and 1730. The witch hunt in Poland lasted to a later period than most other countries in Europe and continued during the entire 18th century, despite several law reforms to first limit and then ban them.
The witch trials
Witch trials in Poland could be conducted by three different authorities: by the secular city courts, by the clerical courts of the church, and in the private courts of the noble landlords' estates. Initially, witch trials was reserved for the clerical courts in accordance with a law from 1543, but in the following century, secular city courts handled them as well. On 17 July 1672, in accordance with a decree issued from Mikołaj Prażmowski (1663–1673) and archbishop Michał Radziejowski (1688–1705), local courts could manage witch trials only if they had been transformed to them by the church or a high court, and death sentenced were banned unless confirmed by a high court. This law was issued after a local court in Kłodawa had burned a group of women after severe torture and a trial with dubious legality. However, this law was commonly ignored, and local courts continued to arrest, trial and execute people for sorcery so much that the law had to be repeated without effect several times until 1713. The Central High Court interrupted witch trials in local courts and stopped executions on several occasions, such as in Łęczyca 1702 and Przemyśl 1756.
The most intense period of the Polish witch hunt took place in a period in which Poland was pillaged and devastated by war, rebellions, famine and plague, and the public was in search of explanations for what was commonly viewed as an apocalyptic time for Poland. The typical Polish witch trial was conducted in a rural village or a small town against a woman accused by her neighbors for having used magic to cause suffering and harm to humans, animals, property and entire villages in a period of some catastrophe. The peasantry seldom included accusations about a Pact with Satan and participation in a Witches' Sabbath, but their accusation was transformed to this interpretation by the authorities by the Catholic church and local courts, in order to make the case fit the description of Christian demonology witchcraft handbooks. In Poland, the majority of those executed for sorcery were women: of 116 executed in Wielkopolska and Kujawy between 1624 and 1700, only five were men.
An example of a rural trial which culminated in a conviction for witchcraft was the one in Kasina Wielka, in 1634.