|
Peter Niers (or Niersch) was a German bandit and reputed serial killer who was executed on 16 September 1581 in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, some 40 km distant from Nuremberg.〔Another source tradition places his execution on 5 March 1581, see for example: ''Gönner, von Löwenthal'' (1805), (footnote, p.155 )〕 Based on confessions extracted from him and his accomplices under torture, he was convicted of 544 murders, including 24 fetuses cut out of pregnant women — allegedly, the fetal remains were to be used in magical rituals (he was believed to be an extremely powerful black magician, with many supernatural abilities) and for acts of cannibalism. Information about Niers is based on the contemporary ballads, "true crime" reports and official warrants circulating, as well as the aforementioned confessions extracted under torture. ==Modus operandi== Peter Niers was one of the leading figures in a loosely-knit network of robber-killers roaming the countrysides, a network constantly changing in its composition — sometimes joining together for major raids, at other times splitting up into smaller groups to pursue robberies and killings on smaller scale over different areas. Historian Joy Wiltenburg writes: This way of operating does not seem to have originated with the gang led by Niers and Sumer; apparently, Niers had a mentor in crime called Martin Stier, who from the 1550s until his arrest and execution in 1572 had led a gang of 49 bandits ostensibly working as shepherds, murdering and robbing their way from the Netherlands to Württemberg.〔''Wiltenburg'' (2012), (p.31 )〕 Wiltenburg adds that, "Shepherds were widely regarded as dishonourable, especially in the thinking of urban guilds." She proffers an example of such thinking from a novel published in 1554, where the young antihero gradually slides down the social scale to that of a herdsman, and finally hits the bottom as a wandering minstrel. "Far from civilized society and alone with the animals, he has time to think over his misdeeds. Members of such a group were unsurprising suspects".〔''Wiltenburg'' (2012), (p.32 )〕 Throughout his career as a murderer (said to have spanned some 15 years according to a folk song〔(Ein Gesang auf Peter Nirsch )〕), Niers was finally found guilty of having murdered 544 individuals, including 24 pregnant women and the fetuses Niers had cut out of their wombs for acts of cannibalism and to use in rituals of magic.〔''Wiltenburg'' (2012), (p.81 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peter Niers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|