Bed room

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Hundeloch in Neuendorf Monastery : The field stone substructure of the storage building dated 1561 served as a prison, on the upper floor, among other things, grain was probably dried.

The terms Betzekämmerchen , Hundeloch , Hundestall and Narrenkäfig are regionally varying names for a relic of historical social discipline and the historical penal system . Prayer chambers were widespread up to the early modern period , gradually fell out of use since the Enlightenment and were completely abolished in 1810 within the scope of the Napoleonic Code pénal .

In southern Germany were designated with Betzekämmerchen the located mostly in the town hall or other public building, always publicly accessible space, primarily the display and then the detention of delinquents served, which is a non ehrvernichtende punishment in the sense of discipline to had served, the imposition of which fell within the competence of the lower jurisdiction , which in cities held the mayors .

The synonyms Hundeloch and Hundestall derive in this legal context from the term Hunt or Centenarius , which in the Germanic tribal rights written in Latin refers to the deputy of the Gaugrafen , who as head of a Centena , part of a Gau , was responsible for the lower jurisdiction.

In northern Germany , the purpose was the - mostly on a market place - always free-standing fool's cage . It should be noted here that not only the mentally ill , but also people who indulged in unreasonable acts such as drunkenness, fornication and disturbing the peace at night, were called fools up to modern times. In this case was not about a medical diagnosis of the scale, but rather a most religiously grounded Code of Conduct .

The detention in a Betzekämmerchen carried out mostly by the night watchman or by other law enforcement agencies , and typically without trial , but never had to be placed over the detention in knowledge without the knowledge of the mayor or other competent person to be necessary awakened.

The delinquent was locked in the little bed room open to the public at lunchtime between the field bells or during market hours, so that passers-by were exposed and ridiculed . The usual bars not only made it possible to display, but also protected the detainees from any physical assault.

This form of punishment served - depending on the severity of the offenses - solely for social discipline , but had no honor-destroying character and also no influence on the legal status of the delinquent.

Places where little prayer rooms have been preserved (selection)

literature

  • Satu Lidman: To the spectacle and disgust: Shame and honor punishments as a means of public discipline in Munich around 1600 . Peter Lang, Frankfurt a. M. 2008 ISBN 978-3-631-58123-0 (= Criminal Law and Legal Philosophy in Past and Present , Vol. 4)
  • Franz Joseph Spang: From the fool's house or dog house - also Kommernuss and Kummerturm , in: Heimat-Jahrbuch Kreis Alzey 1968 , pp. 122–125.

See also