Reloslav Witch Trials
The Reloslav Witch Trials (Venadian: Релославские ведьминские процессы, transcript: Reloslavskiye Ved'minskiye Protsessy) took place largely in Ishiralsk and Biroslov in Reloslava between 1683 to 1684. The most prominent mass-trial was the Witch Trials of Ishiralsk in 1683 wherein twenty-one accused witches were found guilty and executed. A total of 104 individuals are estimated to have been found guilty, of which 81 were executed, largely by beheading but six were burned at the stake in Biroslov in 1684. 54 of the executed were women. The Witch Trials largely took place in the rural areas of Reloslav, with only a single trial held in the capital of Armasnoy wherein three witches were found guilty, then had their sentences commutted by the Bishop of Armasnoy.
The Reloslav Witch Trials marks the last extensive witch trials in Venadia, although the Liga Witch Trial of 1732 would be held in Belavenadia later on. The Witch Trials caused the Great Veche to outlaw executing individuals for real or imagined practice of witchcraft.
Background
A series of bad harvests had plagued the Reloslav between 1680-1683, caused by unusually bad storms in the territory followed by long periods of draught. The Great Veche failed to respond, and the Reloslav famine is estimated to have killed tens of thousands.
Gagarin
In 1683, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder Gagarin arrived in Reloslav, blaming witchcraft for the storms and draughts. He oversaw the first witch trial in Reloslav, the Polevichi Witch Trial, wherein three sisters (Zykova, Prokhorova and Mamina Pavlovna) were found guilty and beheaded. Gagarin is estimated to be personally responsible for a dozen of the Reloslav Witch Trials, and roughly 41 of the executions. Gagarin was himself executed by the Bishop of Armasnoy in 1685.
Gagarin continued to travel in rural Reloslav until December 1684 when men sent by the Bishop of Armasnoy captured him and his entourage in the village of Goretsk. Gagarin surrendered willingly upon seeing the seal of the Bishop, and during his trial in Armasnoy in February 1685, he defended his actions as being as God commanded. Regardless, he was found guilty of heresy and murder, and was executed by beheading in March, his head put on stake outside the gates of Armasnoy.
Notable trials and confessions
The most notable trial and execution of the Reloslav Witch Trials was the Trial of Boyar Petukhov Pavlov and Kolosova Pavlova in Birokhov, wherein both were found guilty and executed. While this was by no means the most extensive execution or trial during the Reloslav Witch Trials, it was the only one where members of the nobility were charged and executed. It is believed that the witch trials themselves were excuses, as Petukhov and Kolosova were deeply unpopular among their peasants and were lax in their religious duties.
The majority of the ones found guilty confessed to their 'crimes' after being subjected to torture. A number of the confessions were written down, but the majority are lost to history as the majority of witch trials took place in rural areas where illiteracy was the norm. The confession of Yeltsova of Armasnoy is one of the few recorded (her sentence was commuted by the Bishop of Armasnoy):
"I confess to having taken the shape of a wild goat and been ravished by Satan every full-moon, and to have gathered herbs and plants with which to lead men to ruin and despair, as well as to poison the pious."
Another notable recorded confession is that of Anishin, a freeman of Ishiralsk, whose confession was written down by Gagarin:
"I confess to the most heinous and blasphemous of deeds, to have sacrificed children for the glory of Satan, to have resurrected the spirit of the Whoremonger of Babylon Traidenis so he could cannibalize baptized children and to have brought about storms and drought on this land with the aid of my dark coven."
Aftermath
The Archbishop of Venagorod, once he heard of the trials, took the matter to the Great Veche who promptly outlawed the execution of confessed practicers of witchcraft barring a decision by the Veches themselves. The Archbishop issued a bounty for the capture of the by now infamous Gagarin, as well as other prominent accusers, and had them executed in 1685 for heresy and murder.
The Reloslav Witch Trials have a long legacy in Venadia, and is generally used as a shorthand for the evils of mob justice and fanaticism. The popular view of the Witch Trials, however, are different from what actually took place. The movie Ishiralsk portrays the Church as having been one of the primary proponents of the trials (while some priests took part, the Church as a whole did not), while the popular view of the trials tend to involve the majority having been burned at the stake (in truth, only six were) and that it was more extensive than it was (the Vesan Oppression of Priestesses in Venadia claims more than a thousand individuals were executed). While a majority of the ones executed were women, roughly a third were men, while the popular view tend to involve the vast majority or all of the ones accused to have been women.
Gagarin is generally considered to have been a significant culprit of the Reloslav Witch Trials, and the trials died following his capture. Gagarin is generally considered one of history's villains in his home country, but in Breheim he attained some note due to the country's fervent anti-sorcery attitudes. The Breheimian Universal Church canonized Gagarin as Saint Gagarin in 1866, but remains the only congregation to recognize Gagarin's sainthood.