Friedrich von Spee (born at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine on February 25, 1591, died at Trier on August 7, 1635) was a German Jesuit and poet, most noted as an opponent of trials for witchcraft. Spee was the first person in his time who spoke strongly and with arguments against torture in general. He may be considered the first who ever gave good arguments why torture is not a way of finding truth while undergoing someone a painful questioning. Kaiserswerth is one of the oldest parts of the City of Düsseldorf, it is in the north of the city, and next to the river Rhine. ... The Rhine canyon (Ruinaulta) in Graubünden in Switzerland Length 1. ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events June - Capture of Zutphen by the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau. ... The city of Trier (Latin: Augusta Treverorum; French: ; Luxembourgish Tréier; Italian: ; Spanish: ) is situated on the western bank of the Moselle River in a valley between low vine-covered hills of ruddy sandstone. ... August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... Events February 10 - The Académie française in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... A poet is some one who writes poetry. ... Devil, one of the main protagonists of the witch trials. ...

On finishing his early education at Cologne, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1610, and, after prolonged studies and activity as a teacher at Trier, Fulda, Würzburg, Speyer, Worms and Mainz, was ordained priest in 1622. He became professor at the University of Paderborn in 1624; from 1626 he taught at Speyer, Wesel, Trier and Cologne, and was preacher at Paderborn, Cologne and Hildesheim. Köln redirects here. ... // Events January 7 - Galileo Galilei discovers the Galilean moons of Jupiter. ... Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (Kreis). ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... Speyer (English formerly Spires) is a city in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate) with approx. ... // Worms (pronounced ) is a city in the southwest of Germany. ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Roman Catholic priests in traditional clerical clothing. ... Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ... A professor giving a lecture The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... The University of Paderborn (German: Universität Paderborn) in Paderborn, Germany, is a university with 13,900 students (as of 2004/07/02). ... Events January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa. ... Events September 30 - Nurhaci, chieftain of the Jurchens and founder of the Qing Dynasty dies and is succeeded by his son Hong Taiji. ... Wesel is a city (population about 61,689 in 2004) in Germany, located at the point where the Lippe River empties into the Rhine. ... Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. ... â–¶ (help· info) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. ...

Life during Thirty Years' War

An attempt to assassinate von Spee was made at Peine in 1629. He resumed his activity as professor and priest at Paderborn and later at Cologne, and in 1633 removed to Trier. During the storming of Trier by the imperial forces in March 1635, he distinguished himself in the care of the suffering, and died soon afterwards from the results of an infection contracted in a hospital. Peine is a town in Lower Saxony, capital of the district Peine. ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ... Events February 13 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. ... Events February 10 - The Académie française in Paris is expanded to become a national academy for the artistic elite. ... An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ...

Publications

His literary activity belongs to the last years of his life, the details of which are little known. Two of his works were not published until after his death: Goldenes Tugendbuch (Golden Book of Virtues), a book of devotion highly prized by Leibniz, and the Trutznachtigall, a collection of fifty to sixty sacred songs, which take a prominent place among religious lyrics of the seventeenth century, and have been in recent times repeatedly printed and revised. But the assumption that the author in this work applied the metrical principle independent of Opitz, is at least doubtful. There are several series of books sharing the title Golden Book, to include Little Golden Books childrens series Golden Book Encyclopedia Codex Aureus (Latin: Golden Book) are several Gospel books from the 9th through 11th centuries that were heavily illuminated with gold leaf Libro dOro (Italian: Golden Book... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...

His principal work, through which he obtained a world-wide reputation, is the Cautio Criminalis, written in Latin. It is an arraignment of trial for witchcraft, based upon his own awful experiences probably principally in Westphalia, for the traditional assumption that he acted for a long time as "witch confessor" in Würzburg has no documentary authority. This work was printed in 1631 at Rinteln without Spee's name or permission, although he was doubtless widely known as its author. He does not advocate the immediate abolition of trials for witchcraft, but describes with sarcasm the horrible abuses in the prevailing legal proceedings, particularly the inhuman use of the rack. He demands measures of reform, such as a new German imperial law on the subject, liability to damages on the part of the judges etc., which, if they had been conscientiously carried out, would have quickly put an end to the persecution of witches. Many a generation passed before witch burning ceased in Germany, the classic land of these outrages; but at all events the Cautio Criminalis brought about its abolition in a number of places, especially at Mainz, and led the way to its gradual suppression. The moral impression created by its publication was very great. Even in the seventeenth century a number of new editions and German translations appeared, Protestants also eagerly assisting in promoting its circulation. Among the members of Spee's order his treatise seems to have usually found a favourable reception, although it was published without official sanction, and its publication led to a correspondence between the general of the Jesuits, the provincial of the order on the Lower Rhine, and Spee himself. Latin is an ancient [[Indo-European languages|Indo-well as the Roman CEuropean language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Westphalia (German: Westfalen) is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, Bielefeld, and Osnabrück and included in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. ... // Events February 5 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston. ... Weser watershed Rinteln is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. ... A torture rack in the Tower of London The rack is a term for certain physical punishment devices. ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... i hate erin saunders ...