Margarete Diepolt
Margarete Diepolt († August 6, 1629 in Erlenbach am Main ) was a victim of the witch hunt in the Electorate of Mainz .
Witch trial
On July 3, 1629, Margarete Diepolt from Erlenbach am Main, the wife of the farmer and winemaker Dieter Diepolt, was arrested on charges of magic . Under torture, she confessed to allegations such as the devil's pact , the devil's allegiance and participation in the witches' sabbath . She was therefore sentenced to death and beheaded and burned on August 6, 1629.
Her husband was a wealthy farmer who owned 31 acres of fields and meadows and 2¼ acres of vineyards. After the execution of his wife he had to pay 53 guilders for the court costs and for her food as well as the room and board of the executioner Jörg Knapp over 15 guilders.
Erlenbach then belonged to the office of Klingenberg and thus to the Electorate of Mainz. There, under Elector Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau, at least 768 executions of alleged witches took place from 1626 to 1629.
Commemoration
The widower Dieter Diepolt also lost his two children Ottilie and Michael three years later, who died of the plague in 1632 . Before his death in 1676, he commissioned a memorial cross that was erected two years later and has been preserved to this day. The three meter high sandstone cross with the crucified is dedicated to the Christian martyrs St. Stephen and St. Sebastian . It is located in Erlenbach on the corner of Altdorfstrasse and Brückenstrasse and bears an inscription by the founder that indicates the great pain he had to endure.
Inscription in the base:
O VOS OMNES QVI TRANSITIS PER VIAM ATTENDITE ET VIDETE SI EST DOLOR SICVT DOLOR MEVS THREN 1 CAP O IHR ALLE DIE (ihr) DEN WEG FÜRÜBERGEHET MERCKET DOCH VND SEHET OB AVCH EIN SCHMERTZEN SEY WIE MEIN SCHMERTZ
(Quoting from the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, chap. 1, verse 12)
CHRISTO DEM GECREVTZIGTEN VND DEN H.H. MARTYREN STEPHANO VND SEBASTIANO ZV EHREN HAT DER EHRSAME DIETHER DIBPOLT DES GERICHTS ZV ERLENBACH DIESES CRVCIFIX AVFRICHTEN LASSEN ANNO DOMINI 1678
literature
- Traudl Kleefeld: Against forgetting. Witch persecution in Franconia - places of remembrance Dettelbach 2016, JH Röll. Pp. 40 ff. ISBN 978-3-89754-484-0
- Reinhold Schröder, Ursula Schiller: People from Erlenbach driftwood of history , Erlenbach am Main 2002, Hermine Marketing
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diepolt, Margarete |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German witch trial victim |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 16th century or 17th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 6, 1629 |
| Place of death | Erlenbach am Main |