Jakob Bithner, Witch-Hunter of Styria

Jakob Bithner was a Lutheran witch-hunter in the Austrian Habsburg duchy of Styria during the late sixteenth century. In March 1580, Bithner was appointed Landprofos. The Landprofos was in charge of sending regular reports to the duke's court and to the estates, including assessments of the conditions and safety of the duchy's postal routes, bridges, footpaths, and roads. In his new capacity, Bithner sent a series of reports to the Styrian estates outlining his interests in "eradicating all manifestations of magic and superstition, and described his involvement in no fewer than twenty-three of the thirty-nine known cases of witchcraft between 1578 and 1600" (Kern 326).

Bithner took the liberty of expanding his functions as Landprofos to include the routing out of sorcerers and witches. He believed these witches were particularly active among the vagabond groups, saying that "not only did the marauding mercenaries wander from time to time in the land, but so did other dangerous persons, who caused profanation with robbery, sorcery and similar vices, and who gave themselves entirely over to indolence" (Kern 329). The duchy approved of Bithner's self-imposed job description, and an official link was sanctioned between vagabondage and sorcery.

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Jakob Bithner, Witch-Hunter of Styria copyrighted 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.