Alexander von Haslang

Alexander von Haslang

Memorial plaque with the name “Alex. v. Haslang Bayer. Feldherr ”(in the second line) in the Hall of Fame in Munich

Alexander von Haslang zu Haslangsreut, Grosshausen and Reid (*?; † 1620 ) was a Bavarian general and witch hunter .

Life

Alexander von Haslang belonged to the Bavarian family of the Counts of Haslang (spelling also: von Haßlang , de Haslang , ab Haslang ). He was a famous horse soldier and Regensburg city ​​bishop .

When the strict Roman Catholic Duke Maximilian I came to power in 1597, he had a so-called "council of war" formed shortly afterwards and appointed the "warrior" Alexander von Haslang, who was tried and tested in warfare, as its leader.

Haslang, who also acted as the caretaker of Altmannstein and Abensberg , was subsequently involved in one of the cruelest witch trials in Germany, the "Pappenheim Trial":

Following the arrest in its field of competence of Landfahrer family Pämb (also: Gämperl), called Pappenheimer, he accused her of murder, other crimes and in particular the sorcery in league with the devil. They initially protested their innocence, but confessed to all allegations under Haslang's first " embarrassing questioning " (torture). Haslang - who was probably not particularly interested in the case and wanted to get the matter out of his jurisdiction as soon as possible through the witchcraft indictment - informed the Duke, who wanted to make an example in the course of fighting a wave of crime prevailing in Bavaria at the time, about the case. He then moved the process into his area of ​​responsibility, had the family brought to Munich after a few days , where they were locked in the falcon tower , subjected to further extreme torture by the now responsible Commissioner Wangereck and cruelly executed on July 29, 1600.

In the Munich Hall of Fame , a bust of Alexander von Haslang, created by Peter Schöpf in 1838 (because of his services as a “Bavarian General”), was placed in the Munich Hall of Fame until it was destroyed in World War II ; after 1945 his name was put on a commemorative plaque instead.

A reenactment fencing group from Schrobenhausen is called "Churbaierisches Regiment Alexander von Hasslang 1622".

Literature and Sources

• Hubert Glaser (Ed.): Wittelsbach and Bavaria. Catalog for the exhibition at Trausnitz Castle in Landshut. Volume II, Part 1, Catalog No. 452 (testimony protocol in the process, 1600) and No. 453 (leaflet about the execution).
• Michael Kunze: The Pappenheim process (= Munich University Writings. Faculty of Law. Treatises on basic legal research; 48). R. Gremer, Ebelsbach 1981, ISBN 3-88212-023-1 (also Munich, Univ., Diss., 1980).
• Michael Kunze: Road into the fire. About life and death in the time of the witch madness. Kindler, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-463-00838-6 .
• Carl von Landmann :  Haßlang, Alexander Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 10.
• Alexander Langheiter: Alexander Freiherr von Hasslang (Haslang, Haslanger, Haslinger). In: Jürgen Wurst, Alexander Langheiter (Ed.): Monachia. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-88645-156-9 , p. 132.
• Peter Philipp Wolf (author), Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Breyer (ed.): History of Maximilian I and his time: pragmatically edited from the main sources / Vol. 3: With the portrait of Alexander von Haslang. Lindauer, Munich 1809 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Alexander von Haslang  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Page about the process in English