„Złe kobiety” (czarownice, dzieciobójczynie, stręczycielki, podpalaczki) w wybranych większych miastach Korony w XVI–XVIII w. Wprowadzenie w problematykę
‘Bad Women’ (Witches, Child Killers, Stretchers, Arsonists) in Selected Larger Cities of the Republic of Poland in the 16th–18th Centuries. Introduction to the Issue

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the characteristics of the group of women who were tried by city courts in the 16th–18th centuries for infanticide, pimping, witchcraft and arson. In the light of the legal codes of the time, these were all serious crimes punishable by high penalties. Based on legal sources and court records, a number of cases of these crimes, committed primarily by women from poorer social classes, are discussed. Among them were peasants, representatives of the urban social margin, domestic servants, and sometimes also crafts- women. Most often, during the trials, they admitted to the charges brought against them and, depending on the severity of the court and the circumstances of the crime, they were sentenced to various punishments. Many female infanticides were executed by burying them alive or beheading them, while arsonists and some alleged witches were burned. Of course, there were also lighter punishments (flogging, expulsion from a given city) and acquittals. In the eyes of judges and a large part of the urban community, the accused women were considered bad women who deserved the punishment they deserved. This opinion was not changed by the fact that the services of many prostitutes or alleged witches had been used frequently before.

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