Johannes Junius (1573 – 6 August 1628) was the mayor (German: Bürgermeister) of Bamberg, and a victim of the Bamberg witch trials, who wrote a letter to his daughter from jail while he awaited execution for witchcraft.
Arrest
Junius had first entered local politics in 1608 and had held the title of burgomaster in the years 1614, 1617, and 1621, and from the years 1624 to 1628. The Bamberg witch trials, which lasted from 1626 to 1631, were presided over by Prince-Bishop Johann Georg, who was dedicated to spreading the Counter-Reformation. There had been suspicion of Junius being due to his wife having been executed for witchcraft. Another bürgermeister, Georg Neudecker had been accused of witchcraft and, following his imprisonment in April 1628, named Junius as an accomplice, leading to his arrest in June 1628. Junius was also implicated in the confessions of other suspected witches. Court documents describe how Junius at first denied all charges and demanded to confront his witnesses, and continued to deny his involvement in witchcraft after almost a week of torture, which included the application of thumbscrews, leg vises (Beinschrauben), and strappado. He finally confessed on July 5, 1628, in which he claimed that he had renounced God for the Devil and that he had seen twenty-seven of his colleagues at a sabbat. Junius was publicly burned to death one month later.
Confession
In his confession, Junius relates that in 1624, while in a difficult financial state, he was seduced by a woman who later proved to be a succubus and threatened to kill him unless he renounced God. At first Junius refused, but soon more demons materialised and attacked him further, finally convincing him to accept the Devil as his God. He took the witch-name of Krix and was provided with a familiar named Füchsin ("Vixen"), at which point several local townsfolk revealed themselves as similarly allied with Satan and congratulated him. Thereafter he regularly attended witch's sabbats, to which he rode on the back of a monstrous, flying black dog. At one such sabbat he attended a Black Mass at which Beelzebub made an appearance. Although his fellow witches and familiar demons had commanded him to kill his children in their name, he had been unable to perform this sacrifice, for which he was beaten. However, he did admit to having sacrificed his horse and burying a sacred wafer.
Letter to daughter
On July 24, shortly before his execution, Junius managed to write a letter to his daughter, Veronica, which was smuggled out of jail by his guard and successfully delivered. In the letter he defends his innocence, claims that those who testified against him have secretly begged his forgiveness, and recounts the abject horror of his torture (inflicted upon him by his brother-in-law and three others), from which his hands still shake at the time of writing the letter. He also says that at first he attempted to create a confession in which he could not identify the other witches, but was forced to name names under threat of further torture. The letter begins: "Many hundred thousand good-nights, dearly beloved daughter Veronica," and ends "Good night, for your father Johannes Junius will see you no more."