Blasphemy
The Lästerstein (also Lasterstein , Schandstein , Steinträger , Austrian Bagstein ) is a form of honor punishment by the lower jurisdiction in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period . It was primarily targeted at women who made inappropriate comments about others.
A blasphemous stone was a chain with stone grimaces that was placed around the neck. The weight was often prescribed by the jurisdiction, and values between 25 and 180 pounds (about 9 to 82 kg) have been reported. Carrier of the chain were led by the city or in a public place to the pillory asked. The punishment led to the loss of reputation and respectability and to considerable social and communicative cuts, because the intercourse with those punished was considered disreputable. It served as an instrument for inner-city social discipline and was at the same time a drive for social discrimination .
Above all "quarrelsome women" should be exposed to the scorn and ridicule of the townspeople by carrying the heavy blasphemy stones.
Bottle-carrying in the city of Bautzen was a regional form of shame stone .
literature
- Rolf Süß: Hochgericht and Lasterstein. Legal life in old Freiburg . Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 1980, ISBN 3-7930-0268-3
- Christoph Hinckeldey (Ed.): Justice in old times. (Series of publications by the medieval crime museum Rothenburg od Tauber, Volume VI). Rothenburg 1984.
- Eberhard von Künßberg : About the punishment of carrying stones (Investigations on the German state and legal history, 91st issue). Wroclaw 1907.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Illustration of a blasphemy in Torgau
- Abstract of a lecture at the Historikertag 2010
