Johannes Junius

Johannes Junius (1573 – August 6, 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.

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 were presided over by a prince-bishop 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 burgomaster, 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, and was publicly burned to death one month later.

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.

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