Witchcraft or Weird? The Basel Rooster Trial of 1474 and the Biblical Creature Known as the Cockatrice
It is the year 1474 in Basel, Switzerland. Basel is a city that lies along the banks of the Rhine River near the Swiss border with both France and Germany. It is a picturesque and cosmopolitan city that today is famous for its many art museums. For centuries Basel has been considered one of the cultural capitals of Europe. However, on this day in August of 1474, the city of Basel is about to be the site of an execution witnessed by a large, blood thirsty and fearful crowd of rural peasants and urban townspeople alike. They have come to see an accused witch burned alive at the stake. The execution is conducted with, “great solemnity as would have been observed in the consigning of a heretic to the flames.” (Evans 1906) Only days before, at the trial of the condemned, the prosecutor in Basel had asserted that, “it was not a case of (the defendant) making a compact with the devil, but that Satan had actually entered into them.” The pub...