Hof Melaten

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Replica of the "Cologne" rattle man in the cemetery wall. The original is in the Zeughausmuseum .
The original chapel was consecrated in 1245 by the Archbishop of Cologne, Konrad von Hochstaden . Today's patronage of St. John and St. Mary Magdalene
Hof Melaten west of Cologne. Map of Queckenberg, 1743
Section of the map
Seal stamp of the Leper House, second half of the 16th century.

The Hof zu Melaten was a home for the sick and lepers with leprosy west of Cologne in today's Lindenthal district . In 1243 the "hoff to Malaten" was first mentioned in a document. In 1765 a breeding and work house was set up in Melaten. The Melaten cemetery , which was opened in 1810, was later built on the site .

The chapel of St. Maria Magdalena and Lazarus , which belonged to the court, dates from 1245. To the south, on the other side of Aachener Straße ( Via Belgica ), was the execution site Rabenstein .

history

Melaten was a good kilometer west of the city of Cologne, just across the Bischofsweg , which marked the border between the area of ​​the city and that of the archbishop. Therefore the infirmary belonged to the archbishop's jurisdiction and was therefore in spiritual hands.

One of four Cologne leprosories ( Latin “campus leprosi” ) that were outside the city ​​walls because of the risk of infection was called “Maladen” ( French “malade” , sick ) and has been a donation “in campum leprosi” since 1180. Melaten is first mentioned in a document in the Liber Leprosorum extra Coloniam prope portam Honoris (honor gate), Melaten's oldest rent book. The entry is dated April 25, 1243. The document deals with the reconstruction of Melaten. The previous building was probably the claustrum s. Lazari prope Coloniam called Leprosenheim, which was destroyed in the war between Count Wilhelm IV von Jülich and Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden . On June 27, 1245 Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden granted all benefactors of the Melaten Siechenhof an indulgence. On August 29, 1247, Pope Innocent IV took Melaten under his special protection.

In addition to Melaten, there were three other infirmaries in Cologne. The poor sick people who had little or no wealth lived here. The infirmary south of the Bayenturm was first mentioned in 1376 . There was space for a maximum of 6 sick people. Here was also the house of a man who was sick and provided the leprosarium with income. It gave you a little chapel. A second infirmary existed in Riehl , destroyed in the war in 1474, damaged by floods in 1573 and existed until the 19th century. The third was near the Eigelstein Gate . The fourth infirmary existed on the road to Bonn at the Judenbüchel in front of the Severinstor for a maximum of 5 sick people. There was a place of execution since 1163.

On the stately, completely walled infirmary of Melaten there were seven infirmaries and houses for the maids and servants. In addition, there was a barn, stables, a bakery and a brewery, a wash house and other functional buildings, a chapel which was consecrated by the Archbishop of Cologne on June 6, 1245, a garden and a small cemetery for the deceased patients Century an inn called Offermannhaus . There were also small houses and stalls that also served as accommodation for the lepers. Agriculture was substantial. A herd of 100 sheep is documented for the year 1391. The Siechenhof was financed from alms, foundations and wills. The Leproseries owned numerous properties within Cologne, at the gates of Cologne and in Düren, Bergheim, Bonn, Blatzheim and Deutz, as well as the resulting income. To this end, every patient, provided he was wealthy, had to make an initial payment. The examinations ( lepra show ) whether someone was sick were charged a fee.

The sick on Melaten formed a brotherhood Conventus Claustri S. Lazari , sometimes also called Fraternitas or Congregatio . Each leprosy swore an oath of obedience to the headmaster when he entered. With the entry one acquired a benefice . The numerous non-sick people who belonged to Hof Melaten also belonged to the fraternity organization. Everyone in the house did their job as much as they could. Melaten was supported by a brotherhood of the Holy Spirit.

The estates and the income were administered by voluntary provisional agents ( magistri and provisores ), mostly respected citizens from patrician families, through whom the council could also influence the Siechenhof, at the latest since 1227 . In 1385 there was a provisional, in 1392 there were two, in 1433 three. The provisional staff also made decisions about admitting patients and hired staff. They carried the Siechenhof seal.

In the Middle Ages , Melaten was the largest infirmary in Germany. A document drawn up in 1247 and 1295 mentions 100 residents, including all maids, servants and self-employed people. Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden consecrated the chapel of St. Maria Magdalena and Lazarus in 1245 . In 1342 the name “vulgariter zuo den malaten” (house of the lepers) is found, when Johannes de Cervo gives the sick a mark of interest. The name "Malaten" alone appeared for the first time in 1364 as "hoysz zu Malayten".

Since 1397 there has been a leprosy order for Melaten, in 1404 there is talk of the "hoef der seichen van Melaten". Around 1400 the abbots of the Cologne monasteries St. Martin and St. Pantaleon as well as the dean of St. Aposteln took over the protection of the infirmary and its privileges. Since 1428 there were also beneficiaries who were not ill. The rent books show a total of 16 patients for 1545 and 25 for 1552. From 1614 to 1645 15 sick people are reported.

During the Neuss war between Archbishop Ruprecht and the city of Cologne (Kölner Stiftsfehde) , the Melaten infirmary was put down preventively in 1474. Not only Melaten fell victim to this measure, but also the infirmary at the Judenbüchel , the Sülz farm and the Weiher and Mechtern monasteries . Rebuilt after the end of the war, including the chapel, it was destroyed again in 1499. In the Thirty Years' War Melaten was looted several times during the war of France against Holland in 1686 and 1693 largely destroyed. After only one patient showed symptoms of leprosy in the Leprosy House in 1712, the city closed the Leprosy House in 1767.

In contrast to other institutions, the Leprosy Institute also took in foreigners suffering from leprosy. The patients were not allowed to leave the premises; The holidays were an exception, when they were allowed to go into town accompanied by a bellman and ask for alms. Patients were encouraged consisting a flashy clothes from a knee pants, a jacket , a sick coat to wear a big hat and white gloves and with a rattle in his hand the citizens of its own Middle proclaim. A statue of a bellman erected on Aachener Strasse still reminds us of the leprosy period. The sculpture originally stood in a wall niche in the courtyard at Melaten, after which it was brought to the Cologne City Museum and placed again in the entrance area of ​​the old cemetery chapel in 1989.

It was examined by the sick, and it was only later that the Leprashau took over the medical faculty of the university . Since 1478, the judgment of the university medical faculty has been the final authority in assessing cases of leprosy. When assessing whether someone suffered from leprosy at all, the patients themselves were also consulted. They ordered a test or trial master. The strict rules for a so-called Lepra Show were written down between 1540 and 1580 in an order of the provisional at Groß Melaten outside Cologne . In the Middle Ages, Melaten was the final authority in the Rhineland for decisions about leprosy suspects. The records of 179 examinations between 1491 and 1664 by the medical faculty have survived. The dominant position of Melaten for the west of the empire is confirmed by numerous sources in the city accounts.

For the 16th century, a composition of the committee of test masters from the oldest benefactors of the infirmary has been handed down, three men and three women each. It became known that some inspectors earned extra income by issuing forged letters of sickness.

In addition, members of the Große Siechenbande , a band of robbers operating from leprosy establishments in the Rhineland, used the Cologne leper home as a place of retreat and living space. After the infirmary was repeatedly involved in criminal cases in this way and investigations found that most of the inmates had no leprosy at all, a breeding and workhouse was set up in Melaten in 1765. In 1766 the council devoted the still considerable income to the construction of a breeding and work house in Wahlengasse (today Waisenhausgasse), which orphans moved into in 1801.

Creation of the Melatenfriedhof

During the French occupation of Cologne, which began on October 6, 1794, the funeral system changed through an imperial decree on burials ("Décret sur les sépultures"), issued by Napoleon on June 12, 1804. For hygienic reasons in particular, it banned funerals inside cities, villages and closed buildings.

The city administration therefore bought a piece of land on the site of the former leper asylum and had most of the buildings demolished. The chapel of the leper home was integrated into the cemetery. Ferdinand Franz Wallraf was commissioned to design the cemetery , who took the Paris Père Lachaise cemetery as a model.

literature

  • Irmgart Hort: Lepers in Melaten: Rules for diagnosing illness, around 1540/1580. In: Joachim Deeters, Johannes Helmrath (ed.): Sources for the history of the city of Cologne. Volume 2: Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (1396–1794) - Bachem Cologne 1996, pp. 168–173 ISBN 3-7616-1285-0
  • Franz Irsigler , Arnold Lassotta: Beggar and Gaukler, Dirnen und Henker , dtv Munich, 9th edition 2001, especially the chapter "Lepers", pp. 69–86 ISBN 3-423-30075-2
  • GH Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne , Leverkusen 1966
  • Martin Uhrmacher : So we find you as an eynen sick and seichen manne ... Cologne as the center of the Lepra Show for the Rhineland in the Middle Ages and early modern times. In: Die Klapper. Journal of the Society for Leprosy, Volume 8, 2000 ( online )

Web links

Commons : Melaten-Friedhof  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn, Der Aussatz in Cologne , 1966, p. 48 f.
  2. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne. 1966, p. 26 ff.
  3. ^ Leonard Ennen (Ed.): Sources for the history of the city of Cologne. Volume 2, Cologne 1863, No. 240
  4. ^ Leonard Ennen (Ed.): Sources for the history of the city of Cologne. Volume 2, Cologne 1863, No. 261
  5. Franz Irsigler, Arnold Lassotta: beggars and jugglers, prostitutes and executioner, marginalized and outsiders in Cologne from 1300 to 1600. 1984, p. 77
  6. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne. 1966, p. 53ff.
  7. Irsigler, Lassotta, Bettler, p. 69.
  8. ^ Ludwig Röhrscheid: Rheinisches Archiv. Volume 103, 1977, p. 158
  9. Hartmut Zückert: Commons and repeal of commons. Stuttgart 2003, p. 82.
  10. ^ Rebekka von Mallinckrodt : Structure and collective obstinacy, Cologne lay brotherhoods in the age of denominationalization. Göttingen 2005, p. 61.
  11. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn, Der Aussatz in Köln , 1966, pp. 43f.
  12. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne. 1966, p. 51.
  13. ^ Johannes Asen: The Leprosenhaus Melaten near Cologne. , 1908, p. 23
  14. ^ Adolph Thomas: History of the parish St. Mauritius in Cologne. Weiher Monastery , 1878, p. 49
  15. ^ Hermann Keussen : Topography of the City of Cologne in the Middle Ages. Volume I, 1910, p. 187
  16. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne. 1966, p. 47 ff.
  17. Paul Fuchs (ed.), Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln , Volume 2, 1991, p. 95.
  18. ^ Gregor Heinrich Klövekorn: The leprosy in Cologne. 1966, p. 31 ff.
  19. https://www.nrw-stiftung.de/projekte/projekt.php?pid=710
  20. Martin Uhrmacher: So we find out about you as eynen sick and seichen manne ... - Cologne as the center of the leprosy show for the Rhineland in the Middle Ages and early modern times. In: Die Klapper 8, 2000, pp. 4-6

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '13.3 "  N , 6 ° 55' 0.4"  E