Magdalene flood 1342

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High water marks at the Packhof on the floods in Hann. Münden at the confluence of the Werra and Fulda to the Weser . The uppermost mark on July 24, 1342 is the level of the Magdalen flood.

The Magdalen flood of 1342 was a devastating flood catastrophe that struck the surrounding area of ​​numerous rivers in Central Europe in July 1342 . The name goes back to the then common naming of the days according to the saints calendar , here on St. Magdalene's Day on July 22nd . During this event, the highest water levels ever recorded were reached on many rivers. Possibly it was the worst flood of the entire 2nd millennium in the Central European inland.

causes

As with other extreme flood events , for example the Oder flood in 1997 , the Elbe flood in 2002 or the flood in Central Europe in 2013 , the flood was probably triggered by Vb weather conditions . After a cold, snowy winter, the melting of the snow in February had already caused the first flood that had destroyed, among other things, the Judith Bridge , the forerunner of the Charles Bridge , in Prague . After a damp early summer, which kept the rivers at constantly high water levels, a heat wave in July caused the soil to dry out so that it could hardly absorb any water . Then, from around July 19 to 22, a rainy area came from the south-east in a north-westerly direction across Germany, bringing large amounts of precipitation to large areas. In the Main catchment area , precipitation averaged at least 175 mm over four days.

course

For the Rhine-Main area , the course of the flood can be deduced from contemporary sources and from today's model calculations. From the level of 7.85 meters handed down for Frankfurt , a maximum discharge of 3700 m³ / s to 4000 m³ / s can be calculated for the Main, for example. That is almost twice as much as the flood of January 1995. The flood peak lasted around three to four days in Frankfurt. According to model calculations, the discharge only returned to normal values ​​after about four weeks.

A discharge of 3000 to 3600 m³ / s was calculated for Würzburg , although the effects of the impoundment caused by the collapsed bridge are difficult to assess. Due to the lack of high water marks, the height of the flood was determined by historical descriptions (“In the city of Würzburg the current came up to the first stone pillar at the cathedral monument”).

Almost all major floods on the rivers Rhine, Main and Danube occur in the winter half-year between November 1st and April 30th, when snow melt and soil sealing by frost exacerbate the flow rates to be managed. In this respect, too, the Magdalen flood is an exception that can no longer be recorded with statistical methods. The discharge maxima correspond approximately to a statistical return value of 10,000 years (HQ 10,000 ).

Effects

The Rhine , Main, Danube , Moselle , Moldau , Elbe , Weser , Werra and Unstrut rivers were affected . Over 6000 people died in the Danube region alone. The flood is mentioned in the chronicles of numerous cities, such as Würzburg, Frankfurt am Main, Mainz , Cologne , Regensburg , Passau and Vienna . Almost all bridges were destroyed at that time, and rivers changed. In Bamberg the Regnitz tore down a "bridge with a tower". In the Solling , the village of Winnefeld was destroyed. The city of Duisburg developed from a flourishing trading city to an inconspicuous agricultural town due to the silting up of the Old Rhine arm caused by the floods . The topographical consequences of the flood can still be proven today. The mass of the eroded soil was approximately 13 billion tons. This corresponds roughly to the amount that is lost in 2000 years under normal weather conditions.

In the years after the Magdalen floods, cold and wet summers followed, which in connection with the eroded soil led to crop losses . As a result, there were massive famines , which further aggravated the effects of the great European plague epidemic that raged from 1346 to 1353 . There are also indications of heavy rain and soil erosion outside the regions in which floods can be detected , for example on the central Neckar .

From the chronicles

"On the third day before Maria Magdalena bit her day, the Meyn was so big that the water went completely around Sachsenhausen and went to Frankfurt in all the churches and poured"

- Frankfurt am Main

"[Where in the cathedral] the water was up to a man's belt"

- Mainz

“This summer there was such a great inundation of water all over the world in our zone, which was not caused by downpours, but it seemed as if the water was gushing out from everywhere, even from the peaks of the mountains […], and over them Walls of the city of Cologne were driven by barges […], the Danube, the Rhine and the Main carried towers, very solid city walls, bridges, houses and the strongholds of the cities away, and the locks of the sky were open and rain fell on the earth like in the 600th year of Noah's life […], it happened in Würzburg that the Main violently smashed the bridge and forced many people to leave their homes. "

- Curt Weikinn

“On Maria Magdalena Day and the following day an extraordinary downpour fell, which swelled the Main stream so much that it stepped far out of its bed everywhere, destroyed fields and vineyards and tore away many houses and residents. The bridge in Würzburg and the bridges in other Main cities were also shattered by the fury of the water. In the city of Würzburg the river came up to the first stone pillar at the cathedral greden. "

- quoted for Würzburg

literature

  • Maike Gauger: Floods and their consequences using the example of the Magdalene flood in 1342 in Hann. Münden . In: Bernd Herrmann, Ulrike Kruse (Hrsg.): Scenes and topics of environmental history: Environmental history mishaps from the graduate college workshop report . Universitätsverlag, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-941875-63-0 , p. 95-106 ( PDF, 7.9 MB [accessed February 15, 2011]).
  • Hans-Rudolf Bork u. a .: Traces of the thousand-year precipitation of 1342 . In: Landscapes of the earth under the influence of humans . Primus, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 978-3-89678-584-8 , pp. 115–120 (archaeological evidence on the effects of the Magdalen flood).
  • Curt Weikinn : Source texts on the history of weather in Europe from the turn of the times to the year 1850. Hydrography part 1 (turn of the time 1500) . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1958.
  • Rüdiger Glaser : Climate history of Central Europe: 1000 years of weather, climate, disasters . Primus, 2001, ISBN 3-89678-405-6 .
  • Hans-Rudolf Bork, Hans-Peter Piorr: Integrated concepts for the protection and sustainable development of Central European landscapes - opportunities and risks, illustrated using the example of soil and water protection . In: Karl-Heinz Erdmann, Thomas J. Mager (eds.): Innovative approaches to protecting nature: Visions for the future . Springer, 2000, ISBN 978-3-540-66667-7 , pp. 69–74 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 15, 2011]).
  • Martin Bauch: The Magdalen flood in 1342 - an underrated millennium event? In: Middle Ages. Interdisciplinary research and reception history, February 4, 2014, online (ISSN 2197-6120).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Lingenhöhl: Middle Ages: Germany's millennium flood. Die Zeit , June 17, 2013, accessed on February 21, 2015 . Hans-Rudolf Bork u. a .: Traces of the thousand-year precipitation of 1342 - landscapes of the earth under the influence of humans . Ed .: Hans-Rudolf Bork. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 978-3-534-17514-7 , pp.
     115-120 .
  2. ↑ a b Hans-Rudolf Bork, Hans-Peter Piorr: Integrated Concepts for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Central European Landscapes - Opportunities and Risks, illustrated using the example of soil and water protection . In: Karl-Heinz Erdmann, Thomas J. Mager (eds.): Innovative approaches to protecting nature: Visions for the future . Springer, 2000, ISBN 978-3-540-66667-7 , pp. 69–74, here 71 + 72 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 15, 2011]).
  3. ↑ Gerd Tetzlaff, Michael Börngen, Manfred Mudelsee: The millennium flood of 1342 on the Main from a meteorological-hydrological point of view. In: water and soil. 2002, p. 43-0951 ( worldcat.org [accessed September 1, 2019]).
  4. ↑ According to the marking on the old drive gate , the water level was "25 feet Rhenish". A corresponding high water mark can be seen today on the Eiserner Steg . According to a Latin inscription in the Weißfrauenkirche , which was destroyed in the Second World War , the water there was "seven shoes" high, which corresponds to about two meters.
  5. ↑ a b The flood of 1342. (PDF, 147 kB) Würzburg Environment Agency, May 17, 2004, archived from the original on January 14, 2006 ; Retrieved July 22, 2017 .
  6. ^ Wilhelm Handke, Johann Kendziora, Jürgen Beckmann: 175 years of the Würzburg gauge . Wasser und Schifffahrtsdirektion Süd, Würzburg 1999 ( proof ).
  7. ↑ a b The darn “Genoa low” . Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 25, 2005
  8. ↑ Jürg Luterbacher: Flood disasters in Central Europe - experienced history and scenarios for the future . In: Armine Wehdorn (Ed.): Threatened Museums: Natural Disasters - Theft - Terror: Lake Constance Symposium in Bregenz, May 19-21, 2003, international symposium of the ICOM national committees of Austria, Germany, Switzerland . ICOM Austria, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-9501882-0-2 , pp. 10–15, especially 13–14 ( PDF, 425 kB ( Memento of December 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) [accessed on February 15, 2011]). Flood disasters in Central Europe - experienced history and scenarios for the future ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.giub.unibe.ch
  9. ^ Rainer Schreg: Soil erosion 1342 - a legal dispute in Esslingen . Archaeologik, January 19, 2013, accessed July 22, 2017.