![In the night of 24 June 1507, the statue of the Virgin Mary in the Dominican monastery in Bern cried bloody tears. It later emerged that the friars had painted them on.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-blutweinende-marienstatue-300x225.jpg)
The Jetzer Affair
A story of deception, fraud and torture that ends at the stake. The Jetzer Affair in Bern was an out-and-out scandal worthy of a modern-day thriller. Its protagonist was a young tailor's assistant who experienced mysterious spiritual apparitions in 1507. As it turned out, they were much more earthly visions.
![The ghost in Jetzer’s cell. Its hand is at Jetzer's throat, while on the right a devil is up to no good. Jetzer is ringing for help with his right hand. Wood carving by Urs Graf, 1509.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/der-geist-in-jetzers-zelle-300x169.jpg)
![Saint Barbara in Jetzer’s cell. She is recognisable by her attribute, the tower. Wood carving by Urs Graf, 1509.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-heilige-barbara-in-jetzers-zelle-300x173.jpg)
![Preparations for the Passion Play: a friar administers a draught while two others give Jetzer stigmata.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/vorbereitungen-zum-passionsspiel-199x300.jpg)
![The rood screen at the Dominican church (now the French Church) in Bern, decorated by frescoes by the Bernese Carnation Masters.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/der-lettner-in-der-dominikanerkirche-heute-franzosische-kirche-in-bern-269x300.jpg)
![Two of the Kleine Rat’s henchmen take Hans Jetzer to prison.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/zwei-berner-ratsknechte-fuhren-hans-jetzer-ins-gefangnis-300x230.jpg)
The Jetzer Trials
![The Bishops of Sion and Lausanne preside over the Dominican monks involved in the Jetzer Affair.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-bischofe-von-sitten-und-lausanne-sitzen-uber-die-in-den-jetzerhandel-verstrickten-berner-dominikaner-zu-gericht-294x300.jpg)
![The four Dominicans are defrocked and handed over to the secular branch of the justice system on 23 May 1509 on Kreuzgasse in Bern (the tower of the famous Zytglogge is seen in the background).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-degradierung-und-ubergabe-der-vier-dominikaner-an-den-weltlichen-arm-190x300.jpg)
The question of guilt
![The condemned superiors are burned at the stake on 31 May 1509. Wood carving by Urs Graf, 1509.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/scheiterhaufen-1509-300x167.jpg)
In her book on the subject, Warum Maria blutige Tränen weinte. Der Jetzerhandel und die Jetzerprozesse in Bern (1507-1509), Kathrin Utz Tremp offers a detailed examination of the Jetzer Affair and the Jetzer Trials. It was published in 2022 as part of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica series from the Harrassowitz Verlag.