Global InformationBuckriders information
The Buckriders (Dutch: Bokkenrijders, French: Chevaliers du bouc) are a part of Southern Dutch and North-Eastern Belgian folklore. They are witches, who rode through the sky on the back of flying bucks provided to them by the Devil to rob and murder common people and church possessions. The trials against the buckriders differed from 'ordinary' criminal proceedings because in many cases a so-called 'ungodly oath' was involved ("I renounce God and swear submission to the Devil"). Once a year, they would visit their master, the Devil, on the 'Mook Heath.[1]
Throughout the 18th century, groups of thieves and other criminals adopted the belief to frighten the inhabitants of southern Limburg, a province in the southern part of the Netherlands and in parts of what has become since eastern Belgium. Using the name "Bokkenrijders" (buckriders), these criminal bands launched raids across a region that included Limburg, and parts of modern-day Germany. In response to the robberies towns in Limburg started to build defences like moats around them and farms started to develop a closed square building style.
The buckriders were feared and despised by the common people throughout the area because of the ruthlessness and violence the robberies were committed by. The belief existed that the buckriders could travel fast and vast distances through the skies to rob in a widespread area and be home before dawn to remain obscured in their crimes. [2] Commonly, the buckriders raided small communities, parsonages, churches and more remote farms. Hundreds of buckriders were convicted and sentenced to death.
Because of the link to the occult and witchcraft, authorities accused a large number of potentially innocent men of being buckriders and the majority of suspects were tortured and subsequently convicted of crimes they initially denied having committed. The buckriders were considered both criminals and witches that made a pact with the devil. The witch trials and robbery trials can not be seen separately in that sense: the accusations always included both robbery and witchcraft.
It is estimated that about 1200 men were accused and at least between 425 and 468 men were executed between 1743 and 1796 on the conviction of being a Buckrider. The number of deaths might surpass 500 men due to suspects dying under torture when questioned.
- ^ Project, 4. Elements (2 November 2020). The four elements - Air.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Anton Blok, De Bokkenrijders, roversbenden en geheime genootschappen in de Landen van Overmaas (1730-1774). (Prometheus, Amsterdam, 1991) p. 33.