My 12th Great Grandfather Was a Wizard

Let me introduce to you, Wilhelm Lautenschläger, a man literally charged with Wizardry and Practicing Devilish Arts in the 17^th century; a man who is also my 12^th great grandfather. Wilhelm was born around 1565 in the village of Günterfürst (also known as Gütersbach) near the Odenwald mountains in an area now known as Hessen in Germany. He was known in his village as the “Wise Man of Gütersbach.”

Last year I got myself an Ancestry DNA kit for my birthday which came with a super deal for full access to Ancestry, three months for one dollar. I dove hard into doing genealogy research to make the most of this short time. I found so many interesting connections to history, funny names, and some wild stories.

Of interest to this blog: I found connections to the Salem Witch Trials, the Connecticut Witch Trials, and The Wizard of the Odenwalds. I will detail the Salem and Connecticut trials in future blog posts. When I tried to look further into Wilhelm Lautenschläger, there weren’t many resources aside from the website of Charles F. Kerchner Jr. who had done extensive research into our shared ancestor. Most of this account comes from a German legal book with case histories called Documentation for the Story of the German Criminal Law System at the Time of the German Empire, published in the 1800s in old German black-letter.

According to Kerchner Jr. who worked to get the section on Lautenschläger translated, in a PDF on his site, Lautenschläger was a well-known wise man in his area and was quite popular for his services. He was sought-after for help with finding lost or stolen things, divination, healing livestock that had been affected by witchcraft, but most often for his ability to diagnose illness with just a piece of clothing from the ailing person brought to him by a loved one. He would then create an herbal remedy to send home.

From the descriptions of his abilities it sounds like Lautenschläger may have had some psychic abilities but he was primarily an herbalist. He learned his Wise Man ways from his mother who was a midwife and Wise Woman. In Germany they were likely referred to as Hexenmeister ("witch masters") or Kräuterhexen ("herb witches"). Fun aside: on FamilySearch Wilhelm’s occupation is listed as “Zauberer und Hexenmeister,” (Zauberer, acording to Google Translate means “wizard”). One of Wilhelm’s other skills was to name people who had harmed people or goods. This is what leads to his arrest.

In 1628, Lautenschläger severely injured a man know as the “Old Egg Buyer” after an accusation led to an argument that escalated into a full brawl. This man reportedly spent at least 18 weeks in bed recovering. The local priest was outraged and complained to the authorities about the event and about Lautenschläger’s Wise Man practices. He was arrested and taken to a prison in Michelstadt called the Diebsturm (“thieves tower'“).

In the tower Lautenschläger was extensively questioned about his practices and after a lengthy interrogation he was made to confess that his abilities were superstitious and “from the Devil.” Wilhelm was lucky though, his punishment was not severe. He was made to write an apology:

Wilhelm got off easy. He was convicted in a time when Europe, and Germany in particular, was rampant with witch hunts resulting in the death of tens of thousands. From an article called “The German Witch Trials” by Thomas Robisheaux in the book The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America, Robisheaux writes, “Of the estimated 90,000 individuals prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe, at least 30,000 and possibly as many as 45,000 came from the Germanies, roughly encompassed at the time by the Holy Roman Empire and nearby territories. Approximately 25,000 of an estimated 50,000 legal executions for witchcraft took place within the lands of modern-day Germany.

I, for one, am thankful he wasn’t executed.