Dietrich Flade

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Dietrich Flade (* 1534 in Trier ; † September 18, 1589 ibid) was a German lawyer , electoral councilor , judge and city ​​schoolteacher . He was burned as a warlock .

Life

Dietrich Flade was born in Trier as the son of the married couple Johann Flade and Margareta von Längenfeld, a relative of the Electoral Trier council and Koblenz aldermen Otto von Lengenfeld. The Flade family originally came from Sankt Vith .

Dietrich Flade studied in Leuven and Orléans , then worked in Speyer as a doctor of both rights at the Reich Chamber of Commerce there. In 1557 Dietrich Flade became vice mayor of Triers. He married Barbara Reichwein, the widow of the late Trier elector's personal physician Simon Reichwein . She was born Walther and came from an influential Augsburg patrician family.

In 1559 he was elector and archbishop of Trier Johann VI. von der Leyen was appointed electoral councilor and represented his employer at the Reichstag . In 1567 he became mayor of the Dompropstei , in 1571 town mayor in Trier and assessor of the Koblenz court . In 1578 he became a professor at the University of Trier , and in 1586 its rector . He was succeeded by Peter Binsfeld in office. Flade was a lay judge at the Trier High Court and the court of the Free Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin in front of Trier. In 1581 Flade was appointed electoral governor in Trier.

Condemnation as a witcher

In his capacity as judge, Flade had led numerous witch trials and pronounced death sentences. His work fell at a time when the witch hunts were carried out in Kurtrier .

In the Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin, the bailiff Claudius Musiel listed Dietrich Flade as "said" (as accused of witchcraft) in the so-called witch register . When these mentions piled up against him in 1587, he was arrested on July 4, 1588 on the orders of Elector Johann von Schönenberg . The investigations were led by the Trier judge Christoph Faht and the notary Peter Omsdorf.

On October 3, 1588, he and Johann von Eltz , the Commander of the Teutonic Order of Trier, attempted to escape. However, he was brought back on October 12th by the Commander-in-Chief when Johann von Eltz learned that he was helping a “sorcerer”. On October 12, 1588, Flade was back in Trier. Citizens guarded his house. On April 22, 1589, Flade was arrested, confessed to what people wanted to hear from him under repeated torture , and named alleged accomplices.

On September 14th, Dietrich Flade wrote his will with the wish to receive an honorable burial in the churchyard of St. Antonius. On September 18, 1589 he was sentenced to death by fire . A softening of the sentence provided for a prior strangulation and was carried out on the same day at the execution site in what is now Trier's district of Euren .

In his function as witch judge, Flade himself had previously appeared with the utmost severity.

Memorial plaque for the victims of the witch trials in front of the Porta Nigra on the facade of the City Museum Simeonstift from 2015. Inscription on the plaque: “To commemorate innocent women and men - as alleged witches slandered, persecuted, tortured, killed - in Trier. 15th - 17th century. "

Fladescher inheritance

In Flade's time, the city of Trier borrowed 4,000 gold gulden from this as city school , in order to conduct a process on imperial immediacy , which it lost. After the execution, the elector withdrew the promissory note. He obliged the city to pay the interest to the five inner-city parishes from now on - "to improve the pastor's salary". The following sub-item can still be found under item 3700 “Church Affairs” in the budget of the city of Trier: “Obligations from the Fladesches inheritance”. The sum was only adjusted to the respective currency over the centuries. In 2008, it was 362.50 euros, which the city transfers annually to the Liebfrauen parish .

In 2010, the Trier city council had fractions because an application for participatory budget to deal with the suspension of payments to the church. Lord Mayor Klaus Jensen had already had a conversation with the parish of Liebfrauen in February, in which their representatives insisted that the payments should continue. The money would only be used for social purposes, specifically to support beggars. In addition, the payment obligation would be a reminder of the victims of the witch craze. Both Jensen and the CDU parliamentary group therefore saw no need for further action, and the SPD parliamentary group also took the view that no changes could be made without the consent of the parish. Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, on the other hand, advocated that the money should in future go directly to those in need without going through the parish. Incidentally, there are better ways to remember what happened back then.

On April 30, 2014, a memorial event for the victims of the witch persecution took place with Lord Mayor Klaus Jensen. In 2015 a memorial plaque for the victims of the witch trials was unveiled.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Cf. document of January 17, 1502 with appendices in which Dietrich's grandfather Johann Flade and in 1525 a lay judge Otto von Lengefelt are mentioned; Historical archive of the city of Cologne (holdings 1 main document archive, U 3/15040).
  2. ↑ Marcus Stölb: Historical debt. How the Catholic Church in Trier still benefits today from the burning of a witcher . in: Die Zeit , No. 20, May 13, 2008, p. 7; Retrieved September 17, 2012.
  3. ↑ Deletion of the budget title "Obligation from the Fladesches inheritance" without replacement. Proposal by Steffen Ballmann on participatory budgeting , June 21, 2010. Retrieved from the participatory budgeting website on April 22, 2019.

literature

  • The process log as a digitized version on the Cornell University Library website.
  • Franz Xaver Kraus:  Flade, Dietrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 101 f.
  • Emil Zenz : Dr. Dietrich Flade, a victim of the witch craze . In: Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch 2 (1962), pp. 41-69.
  • The case of the Trier City School Dr. Dietrich Flade: From sorcerer to sorcerer . In: Back then. The magazine for history and culture 6, 2002, pp. 14-19.
  • Sandra Ost:  Dietrich Flade. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 25, Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-332-7 , Sp. 421-428.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • George L. Burr: The fate of Dietrich Flade . New York 1891 ( digitized ).
  • Johannes Dillinger : "Bad people". Witch persecutions in Swabian Austria and Kurtrier in comparison . (= Trier witch trials 5) Trier 1999.
  • Richard Laufner: Dr. Dietrich Flade and his world. A contribution to Trier's cultural history at the end of the 16th century . In: LdeskdlVjbll 8. 1962, pp. 43-63.
  • The judge must burn - the fate of the Trier city schoolmaster Dr. Dietrich Flade, executed as a sorcerer on September 18, 1589 - 12 scenes for speakers, choir and orchestra, music: Joachim Reidenbach, text: Rita Voltmer, first performed on September 27, 2005 in the former imperial abbey of St. Maximin, Trier. Strube-Verlag, Munich

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Flat, Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and rector of the University of Trier
DATE OF BIRTH 1534
PLACE OF BIRTH trier
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1589
Place of death trier