– She protested her innocence under the harshest torture
Elsbetha von Bach is said to have poisoned her husband. But she insists on her innocence. The story of a woman who pushed the Winterthur court to its limits.
Published today at 05:30
The gravestone of Elsbetha von Bach still lies in its original location in the town church and testifies to her wealth.
Photo: Archive of the Winterthur Libraries
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The rumor is spreading all over the country: the noblewoman Elsbetha von Bach poisoned her first husband. What is suspicious is not only that he died unexpectedly early, but also that she married a bourgeois man of a lower class shortly afterwards – which was not appropriate in 1480. On the run, she made it to Winterthur, where the accusations finally caught up with her. But the local court was unable to get past her.
