Blocksberg (mountain)
Blocksberg today is primarily another name for the Brocken in the Harz Mountains . Other surveys in Europe also bear this name. It is used almost exclusively in connection with witches (especially lump witches ) and witch hunts.
Surname
The origin of the name Blocksberg lies in the meaning of the expression "block" or "Klotz" for the witchcraft; there it plays a major role: block, chopping block and block are names of sorceresses; Bockhack and Hackeblock are games that are related to witches. The name Blåkulla in Sweden also has the same meaning.
In the Slavic and German-Slavic regions there were originally numerous elevations that were considered witch mountains and were called Blocksberg. The name was mainly used in Low German for various mountains that were considered a meeting place for witch gatherings.
The name was first mentioned in 1485 in a Lübeck prayer book as "Blokkesberghe".
The synonymous spread of this name for the Brocken originated from the work Blockes-Berg's performance by Johannes Praetorius from 1668. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
In 1717 the name of a remote Flensburg area was first documented, which bears the name Blocksberg .
Development among the witch meeting places
Up until the 16th century, the exact locations of the witches' meetings were rarely given. First places appear like the heather of Baraona , the Landes near Bordeaux or rocks like the Puy de Dôme in France , the Dovrefjell in Norway , the Hekla on Iceland , Kyöpelinvuori in Finland and the sea cliffs Blåkulla ("Blocksberg") in Sweden . In Germany, in the Black Forest , the Kandel , the Heuberg near Rottenburg am Neckar and the Staffelberg in Franconia were considered to be witch mountains. In the 17th century, the Hörselberg in Thuringia and the Bocksberg in Lower Saxony are also mentioned.
At the time of the witch hunt , stories about witches arose among the people, in which various mountains appear as meeting places. In the course of time these stories differed less and less from each other, so that certain mountains developed into supraregional witch mountains. In the second half of the 16th century the Heuberg and the Staffelberg assert themselves alongside the Brocken . In addition, a connection to witches was sometimes drawn at Venusbergen .
The madness subsided
Especially in his Quaestio Nona, the lawyer and diplomat Justus Oldekop, in his pamphlet against Benedict Carpzov 1659, particularly addresses the meeting of the devil and the "corporalem exportationem Veneficorum et sagarum (poisoners and witches) in montem Bructerorum, uffm Blocksberge" and elsewhere, and presents these things - as in earlier writings - as empty fantasy and clumsy superstitions.
Trivia
The children's book character Bibi Blocksberg was named after Blocksberg.
See also
literature
- Eduard Jacobs : The Brocken in History and Legend (= Historical Commission of the Province of Saxony. New Year's Papers . Vol. 3, ZDB -ID 1433506-2 ). Pfeffer, Halle 1879.
- Thomas P. Becker: "The myth of Walpurgis Night, remarks from a historical perspective. " In: ezw-materialdienst 4/2007.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ines Köhler-Zülch : Witches and Walpurgis Night in the Harz. Realized imaginations. In: Gudrun Schwibbe, Regina Bendix (Hrsg.): Night - ways into other worlds. Schmerse, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-926920-35-1 , pp. 157-174.
- ↑ Blåkulla . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 2, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, pp. 1000–1001.
- ↑ The association. In: heuberger-hexen.de. Heuberger Witches 1994 e. V., accessed December 18, 2010 .
- ↑ Flensburg street names . Society for Flensburg City History, Flensburg 2005, ISBN 3-925856-50-1 , article: Finisberg as well as: Writings of the Society for Flensburg City History (ed.): Flensburg in history and present . Flensburg 1972, p 437, entry: Finnisberg
- ↑ Joachim Lehrmann : For and against the madness - witch hunt in the Hochstift Hildesheim , Lehrte 2003, ISBN 978-3-9803642-3-2 , pp. 207ff.
