Hi guys!! I am at an internet cafe right now, got home from my witch hunts field study tour about an hour an a half ago! Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and very informative. I really had no idea what to expect and a lot of people in my class were not very excited. Other classes were going to more glamorous, well known places like Amsterdam and Florence, so I can see why they were hesitant. My witch hunts professor is great though (I attended his office hours a few weeks ago and talk to him for him awhile, he was so helpful and interesting), and I love anything related to history, so I knew it would be a good time. I have so much to write about, so just a warning to those who compare my posts to certain political figure's speeches, this is going to be a looong one! But I don't want to forget anything, so here goes. I think I will try to do day by day posts to keep it organized....
Tuesday- Ok, so I didnt leave until Wednesday, but I have to tell this random story that happened to me. I went to a sketchy gym in Differdange, where the chateau is located (Diff is sadly known as the Bronx of Luxembourg and this gym really brought the comparison to life for me). I got my first time for free, and did the elliptical for half an hour, which felt great. As I was leaving though, the only other girl in the place (all the other exercisers were intense European meat heads which almost sounds like an oxymoron, but trust me they exist), asked me if I went to UVA because of the Virginia sweatshirt I was wearing. I told her I currently went there, and she exclaimed she was an alumni who had graduated in May 2008. We both were very excited to meet a fellow Wahoo, and asked the other what in the world they were doing in Luxembourg! Turns out she is getting her masters and doing an internship here, but she was moving to Belgium the very next day. Such a crazy coincidence that we met, I think Thomas Jefferson decided to look down on the tiny town of Differdange, Luxembourg that day and create a cavalier bonding moment.
Wednesday
We departed on Wednesday afternoon. My class in the morning was cancelled so I was able to sleep in a bit and recover from my previous night at Das Boot (which had been quite fun, both my roommates came and we hung out). I packed up my cute suitcase that my parents had given me, picked up my bagged lunch at the Chateau, and boarded our Mercedes- Benz bus (I am not kidding about this).
Our first stop was Trier, Germany. We had about a two and a half hour bus ride to get there. My grandmother, Nana, and my Aunt Di, had told me great things about Trier, so I was really looking forward to seeing it! Trier is one of the oldest towns in Germany, and was built by the Romans long ago. What is now Germany (it was not unified at the time) had the most violent and numerous witch hunts in all of Europe, and the village of Trier had several particularly harsh hunts that wiped out entire villages. Upon arrival, we met a German historian who gave a brief lecture on the Trier hunts. Some people did not like his straightforward, somewhat brash style, but I thought he was neat. He told us about a very influential demenologist, Peter Binsfeld, whose writings were instrumental in spreading popular stereotypes of witches across the region. Although his theories were quite cruel- he advocated the use of child witnesses and extreme torture during investigations- he had an interesting life and rose from a poor peasant family to become a well educated bishop and town leader. We also learned about Frederich Spee, a brave church leader whose book, Cautio Criminalis, was one of the first to call for an end to the hunts and state they were a fanatical, irrational craze that was resulting in the death of hundreds of innocent people. The historian explained the demographics of the accused, and told us that despite differences in age, gender, and class, all accused witches were troublesome members of society who had somehow violated rules of conduct and were considered the “evil” people of their time. This is a similar perspective to my professor’s own theory behinds the hunts, and seems to fit with what we have been studying. After the lecture, the German historian showed us the old town hall and jail which has been converted to a Protestant Church, as well as the Catholic Cathedral where Shpee is graving. Both buildings were very beautiful and I took many pictures. Then we walked along the main road and square in Trier, and all of us agreed we wish we could have stayed longer. It was adorable, and tons of cute shops and restaurants beckoned us to come in, but our professor (and the great assistant Fanny) called us and we had to head back to the bus. I hope to return to Trier soon so I can experience it (and its supposedly great, cheap shopping) in a less rushed environment.
We next headed to Nancy, France. We arrived around 8 and immediately went to a nice dinner at an Italian style restaurant. Since our trip saved money by going to somewhat nearby places, we were lucky enough to have almost all of our meals included, which was great! It was a lot of fun to eat at neat restaurants with people in my class, that night I sat at a really interesting table with my teacher and several students and had great conversation. After dinner, a group of us went looking for nightlife, and easily found a fun pub and later discotheque where we did some dancing! The club was right on the town square, which was gorgeous all lit up at night! We all had fun together, and the first day had really set the tone for an exciting, magic-filled trip (sorry I couldn’t resist the pun). Ok, I am exhausted and need to do some reading, so I am going to stop here, but I am going to try to write about the rest of the trip tomorrow sometime while at the Chateau.
Thursday
We woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel in Nancy. Then we headed to a museum that my professor declared, “had almost absolutely nothing to do with the witch
hunts” but would nonetheless be interesting. It focused on the l’ecole du Nancy (or the School of Nancy) an art movement from 1889-1909 that centered in Nancy and created the art noveau style. We had a guided tour of the museum from a very chic French woman who clearly loved the work of the school’s founded Emile Galee. He worked in three mediums: ceramics, furniture, and glass. We saw several rooms decorated in his and other Nancy school artists’ works. Although it was informative, I did not absolutely love the artwork, I actually found it kind of tacky. It was very ornate and sometimes just over the top (the ceramic sparkly cat pushed me over the edge) and sort of reminded me of 60s and 70s Elvis, hippie style. Overall though, it was cool to see and a nice little break from witch hunting. (A random note- they mentioned that Gaudi, an artist whose work is all over Barcelona, was also involved in the same movement….I wonder if we get the word gaudy from his name? It seems like maybe. Jay, the Barcelona expert, can hopefully enlighten us)!
After the museum, we had free time for lunch. Fanny, the administrative assistant who went with us and helped my professor with all the details, pointed us to a street lined with restaurants that were known to have the best food in Nancy. Me and my friend who I had been rooming with and who is going to Italy with me, ducked in a little place with two boys from our trip. The four of us had a great 3 course French meal for 12 euros. It was delicious- I got a salad and cheese tartleete, fish with steamed spinach and rice, and a chocolate banana dessert- and it was all amazing, probably the best meal I have had since being here. After lunch, we went to the Nancy archives to meet another witch hunts expert and see some primary source documents. The librarian in charge of the place mentioned briefly to my teacher that the library had an original document signed by Charlemagne and he asked if we could see it, not expecting us to be able to, but she said “sure!” and immediately went to get it. It was really cool to see such an old document (it dated from before 800) signed by someone so famous in European history. One random sidenote, with all the historians we were able to see very old primary source documents, and it was amazing how little protection surrounded them. Almost nothing, except the Charlemagne thing, was in glass, and we were able to touch it with our bare hands. I guess they just aren’t as paranoid/secure as US museums that have intense protection on their treasures! We even got to take flash pictures of everything, so check facebook for that.
The historian who talked to us at the Nancy archives was very nice and helpful. She took a lot of time to answer a ton of questions and despite most of us being in food comas, managed to keep our attention. The witch hunts in Lorraine were relatively mild compared to places like Trier, but still occurred. She read us several cases from the original archives that provided us with intense details about the accused and their trials, it was pretty sad to hear about the lives and deaths of some of the victims.
After the archives, we had some free time, and almost all of the girl’s took the chance to do some French shopping. There are big sales in this part of Europe in January and early February, and they were still going on, which was quite exciting. Allie (my friend who is going to Italy with me) and I browsed a lot and right before we had to meet went in one last store, where I found adorable black leather heels that were 70% off. Most who shop with me know I am usually indecisivie, but you would be proud to know I made a very quick decision to buy these great shoes. Exciting!
Our last stop in Nancy was a walking tour with one of the guides from the Art Noveau museum. She took us around the main square (that we had seen the night before) and the Old Town, and told us about the history of Nancy, and the broader region in France, Lorraine, where we were. It is quite interesting, Lorraine was a grand Duchy (sort of like Luxembourg) that didn’t become a part of France until 1766. A Polish King and the father in law of Louis XV, Duke Stanislaw, ended up in Lorraine by default (basically he was washed up and his son and law needed a place for him), and was the last independent ruler of the Duchy before it became French. Installed in 1737 and relatively old at the time, the deal was that when Stanislaw died, Lorrained would become French (Louis XV thought he was being clever and his father in law would die quickly) but in the end he lived to be 89- very old for those days and rule independently for almost 30 years. I guesss father-in laws always do know best so watch out Tom and Co…
After the walking tour, we boarded the buses and headed into Germany. On the way, we watched a very non-historical but nonetheless entertaining movie, The Witches of Eastwick, which starred Michelle Phieffer, Cher, and Susan Sarandon as witches and Jack Nicholson as the Devil, and was overall just extremely strange. We arrived that night in Speyer around 10:15 and were all pretty exhausted. Allie and I shared a room with two new girls (we had previously been staying with Allie’s roommate Cady) and it was nice to get to know some different people. We didn’t chat for too long though, and all conked out pretty early…
Friday
We woke up in Speyer and since we had not had a legit dinner the day before (we had stopped at McDonalds- ick), we had a lunch organized for 11:30. Before and after, we had some free time to explore the town. Despite having almost no expectations, my friends and I were pleasantly surprised and loved the city! It was pretty small, but the main street was beautiful and just the epitome of a quaint, friendly German town. Everyone in the stores we encountered was so nice and I felt in touch with my German roots. We walked around, did some shopping (I got a few great deals for souvenirs for friends and family), and had lunch with our group in a very authentic German restaurant. The food was great, I had two appetizers- one a plate of roasted peppers, the other a baguette toasted with a delicious cheese spread. It really hit the spot and was fun to sit with a bunch of people from the trip and get to know them a little better.
That afternoon, we experienced the main reason we came to Speyer, a museum exhibit devoted exclusively to the witch hunts. Unfortunately, all the headings were in German, so my six years plus of French, were essentially worthless. But luckily, our teacher, professor Thurston, reads and speaks German and offered to stay with anyone who really wanted to know what everything said. Most rushed ahead to get back to the shops of Speyer, but me and about 5 others stayed with our professor. He was super helpful and it was really neat to hear his interpretation and translation of the exhibit. We saw a ton of neat artifacts that- including bezoars and mandrakes (JK Rowling was not making this up people!!) really tied in with our class and the museum did a neat job of displaying them. The objects of torture were at times hard to stomach, but I felt they did a good job of showing the seriousness of the hunts and did not try to glamourize the pain and death too much (unlike the next museum which did do this). One thing that stood out was a display of how much wood it takes to burn a person alive, and let me tell you it’s a lot. It showed how expensive it could be to try and kill a witch, and therefore how seriously it was taken, people didn’t just burn anyone at the stake on a whim. Maybe I am being too intense or critical, but the museum’s class I am in has really taught me to pay attention to things like lighting, music, arrangement, and placement in museums, and I found it made me much more attentive, aware, and interested going through the museum. After the visit, we had more time to shop before boarding the bus and heading to our last stop- Rothenbug, Germany. We arrived and checked into our hotel- which was very nice and a huge step up from the hostels where most of us spend our weekends- where we would be for two nights. We had a little time, so I changed into my one my dressier outfit that I had brought and got to wear my new high heels, and also checked my email and talked on gchat to a few friends. We had a decent dinner at the hotel restaurant, and then I went out to bars with some of the group. Nightlife was a little sparse in Rothenburg (when one girl asked a local for bars/clubs in the area, she said “ a place for young people in Rothenburg?!” and laughed), but we found a very nice place that had a huge upstairs which we sort of took over. We enjoyed German beers and came in contact with more locals, who were all really nice. Germans are definitely very friendly and excited to meet new people (now I know why the Schmidt family is so fun….)
Saturday
Our last real day of the trip was spent in Rothenburg. In the morning, I went for a jog with my roommates (we managed to work out 2 of the 4 mornings and were pretty proud of ourselves), and we got to see the town in the early morning fog which was nice. Just a little background, Rothenburg is a city in Bavaria, somewhat close to Munich. It was an imperial city, and therefore independent, for much of its history. The old center was a walled city, and most of the wall still exists, I actually walked on it later that day. Witch hunts occurred in the villages surrounding Rothenburg, but not as much in the city. The authorities were quite restrained, and only 3 persons were actually executed in the area. A local council of 12 men presided over witch trials. The division of power in this system between so many gave them a sense of responsibility and prevented one crazy witch hunter from causing an irrational frenzy. This town council was directly responsible only to the Emperor, and they wanted to prevent him from getting overly involved in their affairs. They tried to avoid cases that may be appealed to him and basically just didn’t want to give him any reason to trespass on their sovereignty. They were very cautious as a result (this is in stark contrast to Trier, where specific witch hunts committees of legally untrained, uneducated citizens were given a great deal of power to accuse fellow villagers and had little or no control from above), and all the 3 who were executed as witches were convicted of other, quite serious crimes including poisoning and infanticide. It turned out witchcraft was sort of tacked on as an additional charge, not as the primary one.
The historian who told us all of this was a women from England, who flew in for the occasion! She was an expert and had essentially read and analyzed all the legal records from the region for a 200 year period. She was great and showed us the old legal books she worked with. She also gave us a tour where we walked through the path an accused witch would take through town. We started in a jail cell, then moved to the torture chamber, then headed to the town hall where we would have stood trial and likely repeated our confession that had been obtained under intense pressure and pain during torture. The torture chamber and jail cell were really scary, and made you realize how harsh and out of hands these hunts could be! After this tour and more questions and answer, we broke for lunch, I went to another great German place with a group of girls. Then we went to a Medieval Crime Museum, which to be honest, was not my favorite. Lunch was not sitting well, and the main focus of the museum was instruments of torture, which just added to my stomach discomfort. I felt like the museum was far less organized than the one in Speyer, and going more for the gross-out effect rather than being informative. There were some interesting objects, but I made my visit relatively brief. My friends and I did some browsing in the stores to make ourselves feel better and tried one of the local pastry specialities (a snowball, but very unlike the ones I pawned at Snoasis for many years) which was delicious. Allie and I were tired, and traveling with such a large group with many interesting, loud characters, was getting to us a bit, so we decided to walk around alone for awhile (sadly the stores all closed super early- like 3 pm, so we couldn’t do much shopping). We had a really nice talk about sometimes getting homesick, and walked on the town’s fortifying wall which was pretty neat and gave us great views of the city. We stopped in a restaurant and tried a German pretzel and had some tea, and it really helped me feel better. We then went back to the hotel where I was able to call my Mom, email Kyle, and take a bath, which all provided a further cure for my funky, exhausted mood. Feeling much better, we headed down to dinner in the hotel restaurant again. After dinner, me and about 6 other girls stayed in the hotel bar and split some wine and just chatted. It was nice to just unwind and reflect on our trip a bit. We headed to bed around midnight and the next day left Rothenburg after breakfast. On the bus ride, we watched The Crucible, a far more serious movie about the hunts in Salem, Mass, which was more depressing and less bizarre then the other movie, but really good. We got home around 4, and I hit up an internet café and was able to Skype and catch up with everyone. I have a ton to do this week, but look for another post about more reflections if you can stand it. Sorry this is so long, feel free to skim, I am just trying to keep doing this so I don’t forget anything. I think I will be glad to have such detailed accounts when I go home, otherwise I know everything will just be a blur!! Love you all and hope the white death that has overtaken my home city and school has not killed you yet…
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