Elisabeth Plainacher
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Elisabeth Plainacher, or Elsa Plainacher (c. 1513 – 27 September 1583), was an alleged witch. She was the only person executed for sorcery in the city of Vienna.
Elsa Plainacher's parents operated a mill in Pielamund by the Danube. She was married three times and had children. When her daughter Margaret died, she became the guardian of her four grandchildren by her. Three of them soon died, and only one, Anna, was left. Anna suffered from epilepsy, which was seen as a sign of the Devil. Elsa was seen as responsible for the sickness of Anna and also for the deaths of her husband and three other grandchildren. Elsa was arrested and taken to Vienna, where her case was overseen by the Jesuit inquisitor Georg Scherer. During the interrogations, she confessed to anything under torture. She was judged guilty and sentenced to be executed by burning.
Elsa Plainacher was born around 1513 as Elisabeth Holtzgassner in Pielamund, a small settlement near the town of Melk in Lower Austria, at the confluence of the Pielach River and the Danube.
Her parents operated a mill on the right bank of the Pielach on behalf of the lordship. The original location of this mill is now silted up and no longer exists. She had several siblings, but only the "Shipman" Vitus Holtzgassner is known by name, who later lived in Melk.
Elsa had an illegitimate child at a very young age with a mill helper named Hoisl, which is a common family name but could also be a variation of a first name. As the child does not appear in her later life story, it is likely that it died early. Child mortality was very high at that time.
Elsa married a miller, about whom nothing else is known except the family name Paumgartner. It is likely that he died early, as divorce was not allowed at that time, and Elsa married a second time. From this marriage, at least two known children were born: Achatius, who took over his father's mill and became wealthy, and Margareth. Elsa married a third time, to a cottager named Plainacher, who probably worked a noble estate as a destitute. This estate was most likely the Gschwendthof in the municipality of Rammersdorf in Lower Austria near St. Pölten. Her landlord was Georg Achaz Mattseber zu Goldegg, and she herself was under the jurisdiction of the Volkert, Freiherr von Auersperg court administration.
Around 1550, her daughter Margareth married farmer Georg Schlutterbauer from Strannersdorf in the municipality of Mank. Margareth and Georg first had three children in succession: Catharina, Ursula and Hensel (Hans). After that, they may not have planned any more children, since there had now been a period of about 10 years without births. Then Anna was born. The mother Margareth died in childbirth. Even before her death, she made her mother promise to take care of the girl, as Georg Schlutterbauer increasingly turned to drinking and became violent. From that point on, a typical mother-in-law-son-in-law conflict probably arose. The three Schlutterbauer children all died (allegedly) in their sleep in the same year. Only Anna, who now lived with her grandmother, survived.
