Thomas Robisheaux's rich retelling of the last witchcraft trial in Langenburg, Germany, is a microhistorical account in which the sadly commonplace, rather than the exceptional, proves the rule. Experts of the witch trials will not find much new here, but neither will they find much to fault: Robisheaux has steeped himself in the literature on the witch hunts, brought his broad knowledge of early modern German society to bear, and proved once again his capacity to write with eloquence. The result is a book that illustrates beautifully a broad and difficult range of scholarship, focused on a single, tragic case. Here is a book that provides a rigorous yet inviting introduction to early modern society and the European witch hunts.

Robisheaux structures his text on a straightforward narrative framework, following the events from their origins in a Shrovetide death to their culmination at the stake. Within this framework he unfolds the personal histories of each of his principals, providing a unique immersion into all layers of German society, from the rural peasantry through princely courts. Robisheaux seamlessly sews in lessons on German law, medicine, theology, and politics. Understanding witch trials requires a grasp of diverse subjects, from early modern theology and law, through the social dynamics of peasant communities. Properly undertaken, the study of a witchcraft trial can become a kind of total history, focused on a single event. This is what Robisheaux has accomplished with The Last Witch of Langenburg.

The last witch trial in Langenburg began with a gift of Shrovetide cakes, carried by the Eva, a miller's daughter of Hürden, to several of her neighbors. A woman who was recovering from giving birth ate one of the cakes, and later that night the new mother suddenly died. Her friends and family, already suspicious that Anna Schmieg, the miller's wife, was a witch, suspected that she had been killed by poison and witchcraft. Using the depositions of the villagers, Robisheaux immerses his readers in the intimate and contentious community of Hürden, but his focus soon shifts to the court officials of Langenburg. With a suspicious death on their hands, Langenburg's officials had to bring their medical, legal, and theological knowledge to bear to decide how best to proceed.

Robisheaux locates the particular story of this case within a broader legal-historical context, noting that the immediate decision to undertake an autopsy reflected a new interest during the seventeenth century in higher standards of forensic evidence. When the autopsy revealed a significant possibility that the deceased had been poisoned, Langenburg court adviser Tobias Ulrich von Gülchen initiated an official investigation. Robisheaux's detailed descriptions of legal training and pastoral influences provide us with the background necessary to understand the decisions of key judges and officials as the case gets underway. Notably, Robisheaux makes careful distinction between the theory, purpose, and practice of inquisitorial process within seventeenth-century German law. Given that the last major witch hunts in the region took place during the Thirty Years' War a generation earlier, readers will appreciate Robisheaux's work in tracing the history of the intervening years through the lives of the key actors in the trial.

Robisheaux follows the witch trial through its increasingly complex permutations, as it threatened to spiral into a witch hunt. Suspicion and recriminations abounded in the village. Officials who dutifully if carefully pursued accusations of witchcraft when they first arose became reluctant to investigate further after the execution of Anna Schmieg. New accusations were left dangling, loose threads left lying by magistrates who, as Robisheaux puts it, lacked neither for evidence nor belief in witchcraft but “simply wanted to restore order after all of the confusion” (320). If there is any disappointment to be had in this otherwise excellent book it is here. Robisheaux's sources failed him, with none of the key officials having left their thoughts on why they chose not to pursue the lingering accusations. Nonetheless, one had reason to hope for a deeper analysis on this point, even if it were necessarily speculative in part. After all, this was the last witch trial of the region. It was part of a wave of small witch panics that marked the end of the major witch hunt in Europe. Despite Robisheaux's thoroughly researched and masterfully written exposition, we are left wondering why there were no more witch trials in Langenburg.

This one caveat aside, The Last Witch of Langenburg is an excellent book, a pleasure to read, and full of depth and insight. I heartily recommend it for teaching as well as for anyone seeking an enjoyable, scholarly book on witchcraft trials.