Friedrich Von Spee

Friedrich Von Spee
Friedrich Von Spee
    Friedrich Von Spee
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Friedrich Von Spee
    A poet, opponent of trials for witchcraft, born at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, 25 February, 1591; died at Trier 7 August, 1635. On finishing his early education at Cologne, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1610, and, after prolonged studies and activity as a teacher at Trier, Fulda, Würzburg, Speyer, Worms, and Mainz, was ordained priest in 1622. He became professor at the University of Paderborn in 1624; from 1626 he taught at Speyer, Wesel, Trier, and Cologne, and was preacher at Paderborn, Cologne, and Hildesheim. An attempt to assassinate him was made at Peine in 1629. He resumed his activity as professor and priest at Paderborn and later at Cologne, and in 1633 removed to Trier. During the storming of Trier by the imperial forces in March, 1635, he distinguished himself in the care of the suffering, and died soon afterwards from the results of an infection contracted in a hospital. He was one of the noblest and most attractive figures of the awful era of the Thirty Years' War. His literary activity belongs to the last years of his life, the details of which are little known, Two of his works were not published until after his death: "Goldenes Tugendbuch" (Golden Book of Virtues), a book of devotion highly prized by Leibniz, and the "Trutznachtigall", a collection of fifty to sixty sacred songs, which, though not free from the weaknesses of the day, take a prominent place among religious lyrics of the seventeenth century, and have been in recent times repeatedly printed and revised. But the assumption that the author in this work applied the metrical principle independent of Opitz, is at least doubtful. His principal work, through which he obtained a well-deserved and world-wide reputation, is the "Cautio Criminalis", written in admirable Latin. It is an arraignment of trial for witchcraft, based upon his own awful experiences probably principally in Westphalia, for the traditional assumption that he acted for a long time as "witch confessor" in Würzburg has no documentary authority. This work was printed in 1631 at Rinteln without Spee's name or permission, although he was doubtlessly widely known as its author. He does not advocate the immediate abolition of trials for witchcraft, but describes in thrilling language and with cutting sarcasm the horrible abuses in the prevailing legal proceedings, particularly the inhuman use of the rack. He demands measures of reform, such as a new German imperial law on the subject, liability to damages on the part of the judges, etc., which, if they had been conscientiously carried out, would have quickly put an end to the persecution of witches. Many a generation passed before witch burning ceased in Germany, the classic land of these outrages; but at all events the "Cautio Criminals" brought about its abolition in a number of places, especially at Mainz, and led the way to its gradual suppression. The moral impression created by its publication was very great. Even in the seventeenth century a number of new editions and German translations appeared, Protestants (Protestantism) also eagerly assisting in promoting its circulation. Among the members of Spee's order his treatise seems to have usually found a favourable reception, although it was published without official sanction, and its publication led to a correspondence between the general of the Jesuits, the provincial of the order on the Lower Rhine, and Spee himself. The general wished more exact information as to how the printing took place and expressed the suspicion that Spee, even if he, perhaps, did not directly cause it, at least allowed it, and wrote him a mild rebuke.
    The earlier literature is enumerated by CARDAUNS, Friedrich Spee in Frankfurter zeitgemässe Broschüren, V, pt. 4 (1884), where the first exact analysis of the Cautio is given. Since then much new material has appeared in the publications of DUHR, Die Stellung der Jesuiten in den deutschen Hexenprocessen, published by the Görresgesellschaft (1900); DIEL, Friedrich Spee in Sammlung historischer Bildnisse, second edition revised by DUHR (1901). Valuable articles by DUHR have appeared in the Historisehes Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft (1900), 328 sqq.; (1905), 327 sqq. For a good bibliography see the introduction to the latest edition of the Trutznachtigall by WEINRICH (1907), xxxvii sqq.
    HERMANN CARDAUNS.
    Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • Friedrich von Spee — Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld – zeitgenössisches Gemälde Friedrich Spee (auch anachronistisch: Spee von Langenfeld) (* 25. Februar 1591 in Kaiserswerth bei Düsseldorf; † 7. August 1635 in Trier) war ein deutscher Jesuit, der sich als… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich von Spee — (February 25, 1591 August 7, 1635)Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld: Cautio Criminalis, or a Book on Witch Trials , translated by Marcus Hellyer. University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0813921821. The translator s introduction contains many details on… …   Wikipedia

  • Spee, Friedrich Von — • A poet, opponent of trials for witchcraft, born at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, 25 February, 1591; died at Trier 7 August, 1635 Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Grafen von Spee — Stammwappen der von Spee Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld – zeitgenössisches Gemälde Spee ist der Name eines alten rheinischen Adelsgeschlechts aus dem Erzb …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Famille von Spee — Portrait de Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld, sj, 1591 1635. La famille von Spee est une famille de la noblesse allemande catholique de Rhénanie, dont les racines se trouvent dans l ancienne principauté élective de Cologne. Histoire Bruno Spede se… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Stephan von Spee — Stephan Graf von Spee (* 5. August 1866 auf Schloss Linnep; † 29. November 1956 in Obersalwey (heute Eslohe)) war Landrat im Kreis Borken Leben und Wirken Er stammte aus dem rheinischen Uradelsgeschlecht von Spee, das 1739 in den… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Spee — von Langenfeld – zeitgenössisches Gemälde Friedrich Spee (* 25. Februar 1591 in Kaiserswerth bei Düsseldorf; † 7. August 1635 in Trier) war ein deutscher Jesuit, der sich als Moraltheologe, Lyriker und Schriftsteller ausgezeichnet hat. Er wurde… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld — – zeitgenössisches Gemälde Friedrich Spee (auch anachronistisch: Spee von Langenfeld) (* 25. Februar 1591 in Kaiserswerth bei Düsseldorf; † 7. August 1635 in Trier) war ein deutscher Jesuit, der sich als Moraltheologe …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Spee — Retrato de Friedrich Spee Friedrich Spee (Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld) ( Kaiserswerth, 25 de febrero de 1591 Trier, 7 de agosto de 1635)[1] …   Wikipedia Español

  • Stephan Graf von Spee — (* 5. August 1866 auf Schloss Linnep; † 29. November 1956 in Obersalwey, heute Eslohe) war Landrat im Kreis Borken. Leben und Wirken Er stammte aus dem rheinischen Uradelsgeschlecht von Spee, das 1739 in den Reichsgrafenstand erhoben worden war.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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