David Clauss the Elder

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David Clauss the Elder (* around 1628 in Lemgo ; † August 9, 1696 ibid) was an executioner in Lippe and, like hardly anyone else in his profession, was involved in the execution of the victims of the Lemgo witch trials . He carried out the death penalty with the sword, which was considered a "pardon" because the condemned were usually burned at the stake .

biography

David Clauss the Elder was born in the Hanseatic city of Lemgo in late 1628 or early 1629. There was practically no other career path open to the sons of executioners, and so executioner dynasties were formed, which for centuries always performed the same job. It was the same with the ancestors of Clauss, who had held this office since 1566. His father Dietrich Clauss died early and his mother Anna Margaretha Struck, an executioner's daughter from Höxter , married Henrich Unverzagt, who took over the job in Lemgo. In 1647 David Claus became an executioner in Lemgo and a year later in the entire county of Lippe. He married Agnesa Bröcker from Schüttorf , whose father he was presumably an apprentice. Executioner Jürgen Bröcker had an excellent reputation as a surgeon, because executioners traditionally had good anatomical knowledge and used this to secure an additional income through small surgical activities.

Clauss bought a stately home from Count zur Lippe in 1661 in Papenstrasse and acquired the privileges to practice surgery without hindrance and to sell animal skins from the concealing shop . The considerable funds required for this apparently came from his wife's assets. This marriage had eight children, four sons and four daughters. After the death of his first wife, Clauss married the executioner's daughter Agnesa Gertrud Muth from Lübbecke in 1678 , but the second marriage remained childless.

David Clauss not only experienced two waves of trials in Lemgo from 1653 and 1665, but also half of all other witch trials in Lippe. Executioners often experienced social exclusion when they were seen as overly willing executors. Not so in the case of David Clauss, who has achieved respect and esteem as a person over the course of almost fifty years of service.

The executioner and his family were integrated into the neighborhood, which meant mutual help with birth, baptism, marriage, illness and death. Most of the slander and gossip about witchcraft and sorcery that did not stop at the door of the executioner also arose from neighborly relations . His family members were accused of magic damage and his wife was accused of being a witch, but this was without consequences. In the church of St. Nicolai he bought several pews and participated in pious foundations. Not even the relatives of those who were executed resented his work as a convict. However, his assistants who worked as skinners experienced social exclusion.

David Clauss was said to share the criticism of the witch trials, but there are no corresponding statements from himself. By 1673 at the latest, however, he must have fallen out of favor with the Lemgo authorities, according to documents. However, it is unclear whether this was caused by his criticism of the conduct of the witch trials. After almost fifty years of activity as an executioner, during which he beheaded over 100 convicts with the sword, he died on August 9, 1696 at the age of 68.

Artistic reception

In the historical novel Der Henker von Lemgo , published in 2011, David Clauss (here: Claussen) is the eponymous figure and is portrayed in fictitious references to other Lemgo personalities of his time such as Maria Rampendahl and Hermann Cothmann .

literature

Non-fiction

  • Karl Meier-Lemgo : History of the city of Lemgo. Verlag FL Wagener, Lemgo 1952.
  • Karl Meier-Lemgo: witches, executioners and tyrants. The last bloodiest witch hunt in Lemgo 1665–1681 . Verlag FL Wagener, Lemgo 1949.
  • Gisela Wilbertz : The estate of the executioner family Clauss / Clausen in Lemgo . In: Silke Urbanski et al. (Ed.): Law and everyday life in the Hanseatic region. Gerhard Theuerkauf on his 60th birthday. Deutsches Salzmuseum, Lüneburg 1993, ISBN 3-925476-03-2 , ( De Sulte 4), pp. 439-461.

Fiction

Web links

Wikisource: The Cost of an Execution, 1654

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d David Clauss d. Ä., Executioner
  2. ^ A b Karl Meier-Lemgo: History of the City of Lemgo, page 105f. Verlag FL Wagener, Lemgo 1952.
  3. ↑ Hans Weimann: People love, torture and murder. In: DeWeZet .de. November 21, 2011, accessed January 3, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Clauss, David the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Executioner in the county of Lippe
DATE OF BIRTH around 1628
PLACE OF BIRTH Lemgo
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1696
Place of death Lemgo