Christina Morhaubt

Christina Morhaubt (the "Morhaubtin", née Merkhlein) († August 4, 1627 in Zeil am Main ) was a victim of the witch hunt in Bamberg under the government of Prince-Bishop Johann Georg II. Fuchs von Dornheim .

Life

Her husband was the councilor and mayor Johann Morhaubt, and her house was on Langen Gasse in Bamberg. Her siblings were the jug maker Paul Merkhlein as well as Hans Merkhlein and Anna Haan. Morhaubt had the sons Hans and Martin.

In connection with a bad harvest in 1626, another wave of witch trials began in Bamberg in search of alleged culprits . Christina Morhaubt was arrested on April 9, 1627. She was u. a. She was tortured with red-hot pliers and then confessed to having been seduced into witchcraft by her mother Dorl Greifin eleven years earlier during her third pregnancy .

Witch trials were opened against several of their maids:

• Kunigunth Weberin (arrested between April 30 and May 7, 1627) incriminated Christina Morhaubt, her son Hans and other people.
• Ellin Helena von Kronach named people from the Bamberg upper class for the first time under torture: the wife of the mayor Georg Neudecker, the wife of the mayor Johannes Junius , Hans Morhaubt, the chancellor Katharina Haan , the wife of the mayor Dietmeyer and others. Presumably the names of the most respected families in Bamberg were given to her by the witch commissioners.

These burdens were increased by Hans Morhaubt, son of Christina Morhaubt. His first interrogation took place on June 12, 1627 in Bamberg. The 14-year-old boy imagined the execution of his alleged witch baptism and named many dignitaries of the city as alleged members of the witch sect, including the family of Chancellor Haan and his younger brother Martin. Then he was transferred to Zeil.

Christina Morhaubt's trial file is only incomplete. Christina Morhaubt was burned in Zeil on August 4, 1627 .

aftermath

Apparently Hans Morhaubt did not understand the consequences of his stories. Because he was such a “useful” witness, he remained in detention for a relatively long time. The people he accused were subsequently arrested, tortured and burned. The judges regularly used the boy Hans Morhaubt as a witness. He was even brought back to Bamberg by Zeil to testify in the trial against Chancellor Haan and her daughter.

On January 19, 1628, the court sentenced him, along with Chancellor Haan and her daughter, to death by fire . It is not known exactly when he was executed . He may have been in custody in Zeil until the beginning of April 1628.

As a result of the execution of such a number of prominent citizens of Bamberg, the prince-bishop and his officials confiscated over 500,000 guilders .

See also

• Drudenhaus
• Dorothea Flock
• Johannes Junius
• Katharina Haan

literature

• Britta Gehm, The persecution of witches in the Bamberg monastery and the intervention of the Reichshof Council (RHR) to end it , Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim, 2000, pp. 136-138; 2nd edition 2011, ISBN 978-3-487-14731-4
• Karin Dengler-Schreiber, Little Bamberg City History , Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg, 2006, p. 82 f.

Web links

• www.bamberga.de: Witch interrogation of 14-year-old Daniel Bittl from Bamberg
• www.eo-bamberg.de: Katharina Haan - when witches were persecuted in the bishopric of Bamberg (17th century)
• Victims of the witch trials in Bamberg (list of the names of the victims of the witch trials) (PDF; 261.82 kB)