Gretken Puttfarken

Gretken Puttfarken (* unknown; † after 1447 ) was a maid .

Live and act

Based on her nickname, it can be assumed that Gretken Puttfarken did not come from Hamburg . She probably came from the country looking for work in the city. After the death of the Hamburg councilor Johann Kletzen in January 1428, she worked as a maid for his wife Geseke Cletzen , who founded the St. Elisabethspital. Puttfarken became the landlady's personal maid. This was extremely unusual, as maidservants usually married men of their class without civil rights and benefited financially from the mistress' dowry . Usually, maids could only advance socially if their husbands were connected.

Gretken Puttfarken accompanied Geseke Cletzen for life and was able to witness the opening of the Elisabeth Hospital in 1429. Geseke Cletzen therefore gave Gretken Puttfarken a modest sum in her will.

literature

• Silke Urbanski : Puttfarken, Gretken . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 3 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0081-4 , p. 301-302 .