In 1615 Katharina Kepler, illiterate mother of the astronomer Johannes Kepler, was accused of being a witch.

At that time in Germany, there was a witch ‘craze’. Over half of the c.50,000 executions in Europe for witchcraft between 1500 and 1700 took place in Germany. During the next 6 years Katharina fought her accusation.

The astronomer took over her legal defence in 1620. This lecture explores this astonishing story, and asks how the witch craze affected people’s lives.

A lecture by Ulinka Rublack FBA

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/keplers-mother

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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