Dietrich Flade

Dietrich Flade (c. 1534 – 18 September 1589) was a German lawyer and judge who became one of the best-known victims of the Trier witch trials. He presided over at least eight trials as a judge until he, too, was arrested and executed for witchcraft.

Early life and political career Flade, born around 1534, was the son of Trier's town crier. Trier's governor, Johann Zandt von Merl, quickly viewed Flade as a political rival.

During the early 1580s, Flade used his wealth to loan money to peasant farmers who had experienced crop failures. In 1586, he became rector of the University of Trier.

Accusations of witchcraft Trier experienced financial troubles in the early 1580s, partly due to crop failures and partly due to expenses incurred by the municipality during its suit against Archbishop-Elector Eltz-Rübenach.

In early 1587, a teenage boy named Matthias underwent an exorcism after confessing to sorcery. Some historians posit that Flade was ultimately accused of witchcraft because he imposed more moderate sentences on accused witches than Zandt would have preferred. Nonetheless, in the 1990s, historian Johannes Dillinger found records of trials that Flade presided over which suggest Flade was a "keen witch hunter".

Rumours of Flade's alleged involvement in witchcraft spread throughout Trier, but Flade would not act until April 1588, when a woman named Margarethe von Euren similarly testified that she had encountered him at a Witches' Sabbath. A second attempt to flee was thwarted when a mob followed him and forced him to seek refuge in a Trier cathedral. and was subsequently sentenced to death. after which his body was burnt.