Johannes Kepler’s Mother Charged with Witchcraft
Be careful who you give birth to
On the night of August 7, 1620, an elderly German woman was torn from her bed and thrust into a linen chest. Terrified and screaming, she was locked inside a small windowless room and charged with witchcraft. The evidence? She was the mother of Johannes Kepler, the controversial mathematician and scientist.
Johannes Kepler’s main contribution to science was his three laws of planetary and satellite motion. During his lifetime he also invented a primitive vacuum cleaner, used logarithms to measure astronomical distances, devised a method for calculating the volume of irregular shapes, and improved the telescope. I’m tired just writing that.
He also authored the first science fiction novel in 1593, “Somnium, Sive Astronomia Lunaris, “Dream on the Astronomy of the Moon,” predicting the future of space travel and a trip to the moon. The book wasn’t published until after Kepler died, but his political, scientific, and/or religious enemies got a copy of the manuscript. Since they couldn’t harm Kepler directly due to his high position at court, they decided to go after his 74-year-old bitch of a mother instead.
Katharina Kepler was, by all accounts, a cantankerous old woman. But she was also an herbalist and gifted her son with a love of the natural world, making a point to show him celestial wonders such as comets and eclipses. So when she was taken from his brother’s home in Leonberg, faced with 49 charges of practicing the “forbidden arts,” Johannes immediately came to her defense.
This very likely saved his own life. While he was in Germany helping out mom, Catholic Church authorities executed 27 Protestant leaders in Kepler’s home of Linz, Austria. If he’d been in residence, it’s almost a given he’d have been among those condemned to die.
Both Johannes and Katharina Kepler were caught in the crossfire of the Thirty Years War. The Catholic/Protestant conflict was fought out in the churches and ignited inevitable social upheaval as scientific discovery vs. biblical teachings battle infiltrated all areas of everyday life.
Mrs. Kepler’s trial dragged on for four years, and the danger was very real. Six women in her town had been burned for witchcraft in 1615 alone. Her son clearly had to tread very carefully as he handled her defense and prepared all her briefs. In the end, it worked, as the evidence against Katharina was declared to be insufficient. But they couldn’t let the poor old woman go without a theatrical demonstration of what could have been her fate.
According to James Connor in his book Kepler’s Witch:
“Early that morning, she was led to the torturer by Aulber, the bailiff of Güglingen, who was accompanied by a scribe for recording her confession, and three court representatives. The torturer, with the bailiff standing to one side, then shouted at her for a long time, commanding her to repent and tell the truth and threatening her if she didn’t. He showed her each instrument and described in detail all that it would do to her body — the prickers, the long needles for picking at the flesh; the hot irons for branding; the pincers for pulling and tearing at the body; the rack; the garrote; and the gallows for hanging, drawing, and quartering. He adjured her to repent, to confess her crimes, so that even if she would not survive in this world, she could at least go to God with a clear conscience.
Katharina remained unmoved and replied:
“Do with me what you want. Even if you were to pull one vein after another out of my body, I would have nothing to admit.’”
The following April, Katharina Kepler gave them all the proverbial finger by dying of natural causes.
