Bardowicker buttocks homage

Citizens Bardowicks "pay homage" to Heinrich the lion by showing the other side

The Bardowick buttocks homage is a legend about the town of Bardowick in Lower Saxony and about Heinrich the Lion .

Historical background

In the 12th century , Bardowick competed with important trading centers such as Lüneburg and was one of the largest cities in northern Germany. Also as a political and intellectual center, the place acquired great importance in its border position to the neighboring Slavs , which today is almost only reminiscent of the Bardowick Cathedral . The city began to lose its dominant position when Henry the Lion became Duke of Saxony in 1142 . For political reasons, this promoted the development of Lübeck and Schwerin : the former city had access to the Baltic Sea and provided the prerequisite for consolidating Christian dominance in the border area with the Slavs. For this reason Heinrich privileged the Lübeck merchants from 1134. In 1160 he conquered an existing settlement of the Slavic Abodrites and founded today's Schwerin in the same place, to which he soon granted city and market rights in order to expand the influence of Christianity in the area of ​​today's Mecklenburg. After the falling out with Emperor Barbarossa , Heinrich was exiled to England for three years to live with his brother-in-law Richard the Lionheart in 1182 . But even his exile did nothing to change the rise of these cities to the disadvantage of Bardowick.

Contemporary depiction of Henry the Lion

The buttocks homage

It is historically documented that on the way to exile, Heinrich the Lion was refused admission and overnight stays in the city in protest against his policies - which from the point of view of its residents began to ruin Bardowick. The legend according to which the citizens of the city paid homage to Heinrich in their own way is not documented: humbly, as the etiquette required, they bowed deeply to the duke on the city wall and along the streets as he passed through. However, they leaned upside down towards the nobleman with bare buttocks. Or to put it more drastically:

“The city gates remain closed for Henry the Lion. The citizens of Bardowick sit on top of the city wall and show Heinrich the lion their bare asses. "

- Erwin Thomasius

View of the buttocks homage on the monument in Schwerin

consequences

In turn, it is documented that Henry the Lion besieged the city from October 26, 1189, after the end of his exile, and dragged it down to the cathedral and a few other buildings after three days . There is also a legend about the conquest of Bardowick: A lost ox appeared in the Guelph camp . On the way back to his stable in Bardowick, he showed the soldiers a ford in the Ilmenau. So the troops could easily cross this and take the city. In many cases, the destruction of the city, which then finally slipped into relative political and economic insignificance, is viewed as Heinrich's revenge for the homage. It is not clear whether this assumption does justice to the historical facts or whether power-political aspects played the decisive role.

Lion monument on the market in Schwerin

reception

On the occasion of the millennium celebration of Mecklenburg and the 800th anniversary of the death of the city's founder, Heinrich the Lion, a memorial was created in 1995 on the Schwerin market square by the sculptor Peter Lenk . It is a square pillar with a grinning lion on it. On the sides there are scenes from the life of Henry the Lion. In addition to skulls over which a horse with an erect penis rears up, the Bardowick buttocks homage is also authentically carved in stone. Even in advance, when the first plans for the design became known, a dispute broke out among the population about this representation, which many perceived as obscenity . As an artist, Lenk is known for his ironic provocations. In Schwerin he wanted to use his memorial to draw attention to the many facets of Heinrich, both as a city founder and city destroyer, as a proud ruler and apocalyptic rider. Knowing full well that it would spark a controversy that has, however, subsided over the years, and that the monument is not missing from any city tour today.

literature

• State capital Schwerin (ed.): City guide. Data, facts, figures and a street directory. 4th edition, 2006
• The lion monument on the website of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Tourism Association e. V., accessed on February 17, 2019
• History of the city of Bardowick based on “Vom Bardengau zum Landkreis Lüneburg”, reproduced on bardowick.com, accessed on February 17, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the trail of the Middle Ages in Bardowick. Northern German Radio. October 13, 2015, accessed February 17, 2019 . 
2. ↑ The Bardowick buttocks homage. www.thomasius.de. Retrieved February 17, 2019 . 
3. ↑ The Bardowick Cathedral. Lüneburg planner of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Retrieved February 17, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Archaeologists on the trail of Henry the Lion. National newspaper. January 2, 2017, accessed February 17, 2019 . 
5. ↑ The bare bottom. The daily newspaper. June 29, 2013, accessed February 17, 2019 . 
6. ^ The sculptures of Peter Lenk. The world. Retrieved February 17, 2019 . 
7. ^ The Bardowick buttocks homage: "Obscene!" Www.myheimat.de. 2010, accessed February 17, 2019 .