The Magic of Data Analysis
Analysing documents of witchcraft-trials with MAXqda

Frequency Analysis with Code-Matrix Browser (Who cast the most weather spells?)
The Frequency Analysis shows what kind of magic appears in the „confessions“ (“Urgicht“). The first column shows the trials in Hainburg in 1617/18, a small town near Vienna. The second column shows Rostock, a large trading port in northern Germany.In Hainburg 65 cases of weather magic are mentioned in the documents, whereas in Rostock almost none occure. Instead, in Rostock 117 cases of „damage against people“ (mostly spreading diseases) appear.The kind of spells „confessed to“ by the accused „witches“ reflect the socio-economic context of the trials: Weather spells are feared in a wine growing region (Hainburg), spreading diseases in a big town (Rostock).

Distribution Analysis with Code Matrix Browser (Who is a shepherd and who a beggar?)
The Distribution Analysis shows what spells appear in the    individual documents.  The columns show the „confessions“ (R1 Document 1, R2 document 2...). The lines show the types of spells that are mentioned.
We can see that the confessions R9 to R12 mention more „damage against animals“ than the others. Yet hardly any „damage against people“ appears. Going back into qualitative analysis we notice that the accused probably were shepherds from the city-village of Warnemünde. The other „witches“ were beggars living in the town of Rostock itself.
The distribution of spells in the „confessions“ allows a first insight into the biographies of the accused

Overlap Analysis with Code Relation Browser (Why was the devil’s pact bad news for husbands?)
The Overlap Analysis shows which codings occure together. The lines and rows each show the different delicts confessed in Rostock. The size and colour of the squares show which codings occure together frequently.The „witches gathering“ and the „magic flight“ overlap frequently,       because the witches are imagined to fly to their meetings. More interestingly, „intercourse with the devil“ and „damage against people“ overlap in 15 cases. Going back into qualitative analysis, we can see that in the narratives the devil forces the witch to kill her husband with evil spells.The Overlap Analysis unveils details of the demonological ideas behind the trials in Hainburg and Rostock. The old widows in Rostock were more likely accused of killing their husbands than the younger women in Hainburg.

Structural Analysis with Document Comparison Chart (Why did they all tell the same story?)
The Structural Analysis shows the „hidden“ structure of the documents in Hainburg. Every line represents one document (H1, Confession Nr. 1 etc.). Every column shows one paragraph in the text (paragraph 1, 2, 3 etc.). We see that in paragraph 3 to 6 the pact with the devil (red) is mentioned, in   7 to 9 the magic flight (purple) and the witches gathering (blue), in paragraphs 10 to 15 they mention mostly the use of black magic (black).The Structural Analysis shows that the „confessions“ in Hainburg followed a specific structure. A catalog of questions (“Fragstuck“) was obviously used to structure the documents. We see a very „professional“ judical system being used to create these confession. In Rostock, in contrast, almost no structure appears at all.