Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1675-1690 · 15 years · show in timeline

Archbishopric of Salzburg 1675 to 1690: Zauberer Jackl trials, a rare mass trial of children; two thirds of the accused were children or youths from the beggar stratum, and most were executed

The Zauberer Jackl trials in the Archbishopric of Salzburg from 1675 to 1690 were among the few mass witch trials with children as the accused. Roughly two thirds of the accused were children or young adults from the beggar stratum, and most were executed. The search was for the alleged sorcerer Jackl, believed to be Jakob Koller, who was never captured. Archbishop and prince from 1668 was Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg.

Period
1675-1690 (15 years)
Country
Austria
Institutions
Archbishopric of Salzburg
Category
Persecution
Level of evidence
B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?
Persons
Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg (Archbishop and Prince of Salzburg)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. According to the dissertation by Nifl Heim, roughly two thirds of the accused were children or young adults from the beggar stratum, and most were executed.
    Evidence: Universität des Saarlandes (SciDok), Abstract
    „roughly two thirds of the accused were either children or young adults from the beggar stratum, and most of them were executed“
    Nordian Nifl Heim, Flights of (in)fancy: the child-witches of Salzburg, Dissertation Universität des Saarlandes 2010 (Abstract), Abstract. Original

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. The proceedings aimed at the alleged archmagus Zauberer Jackl, said to have apprenticed the children to the devil. Contemporaries believed him to be Jakob Koller, son of a beggar woman; he was never captured. The interrogations took place at local courts of the archbishopric and at the Grand Aulic Court in Salzburg.
    Evidence: Universität des Saarlandes (SciDok), Abstract
    „reputed for having apprenticed the children to the devil“
    Nordian Nifl Heim, Flights of (in)fancy: the child-witches of Salzburg, Dissertation Universität des Saarlandes 2010 (Abstract), Abstract. Original
    Evidence: Universität des Saarlandes (SciDok), Abstract
    „at the local archbishopric courts and at the Grand Aulic Court in Salzburg“
    Nordian Nifl Heim, Flights of (in)fancy: the child-witches of Salzburg, Dissertation Universität des Saarlandes 2010 (Abstract), Abstract. Original

Background

Response of the Church

  1. Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg was elected Archbishop and Prince of Salzburg on 28 June 1668 and ruled during most of the period of the trials.
    Evidence: Constant von Wurzbach (Wikisource), Artikel Kuenburg, Maximilian Gandolph
    „Am 28. Juni 1668 wurde er zum Erzbischof und Fürsten von Salzburg erwählt“
    Kuenburg, Maximilian Gandolph, in: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, Bd. 13 (1865), Artikel Kuenburg, Maximilian Gandolph. Original

See also

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Scholarly literature
    Universität des Saarlandes (SciDok): Nordian Nifl Heim, Flights of (in)fancy: the child-witches of Salzburg, Dissertation Universität des Saarlandes 2010 (Abstract), 1 January 2010. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
  2. Reference work
    Constant von Wurzbach (Wikisource): Kuenburg, Maximilian Gandolph, in: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, Bd. 13 (1865), 1 January 1865. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
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Last changed on 31 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.