vagrants and beggars. Torture were commonly used and when used to make the accused naming their accomplices, the trials could grow to be very large. In contrast to Germany, the witch trials in Austria was at its most severe during the second half of the 17th century. About 1500 people are estimated to have been executed for sorcery in Austria. In the early 18th century, the central government enforced their authority over the local courts, which resulted in a swift decrease in witch trials. By 1730, the witchcraft persecutions in Austria had virtually ended. The execution of Maria Pauer in 1750 was to be the last in Austria. Witch trials were banned by Maria Theresa in 1768. Germany Present-day Germany executed more people for witchcraft than any other area in Europe. There were however great contrasts within Germany, where certain parts hardly experienced witch trials at all, while the most severe witch trials in Europe took place in others. In general, the witchcraft persecutions were much more extensive in Catholic South Germany than Protestant North Germany. There were exceptions: the Protestant Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg executed hundreds of people for witchcraft in but a few years around 1630, and the largest Catholic state in Germany, the Electory of Bavaria, only executed about 271 people for witchcraft, since the Elector introduced a witchcraft law in 1590 which was described as uncommonly mild for its time. Catholic South Germany A number of extremely large mass trials against witchcraft, which took place in the autonomous Catholic Prince Bishop-states in south-western Germany between 1587 and 1639, are estimated to have amounted to a third of all executions for witchcraft in Germany, and a fourth of all executions of witchcraft in all Europe. The mass witch trials which took place in the German Prince Bishoprics could last for years on end and result on hundreds of executions. These enormous trials were infamous in all Europe, and the contemporary Herman Löher described how they affected the population within them: "The Roman Catholic subjects, farmers, winegrowers, and artisans in the episcopal lands are the most terrified people on earth, since the false witch trials affect the German episcopal lands incomparably more than France, Spain, Italy or Protestants." These gigantic trials started with the great Trier witch trials (1587–1593), which resulted in between 500 and 1000 executions. The witch hunt migrated in waves through the villages through village inquisitors