Margarete von Alertshausen

Wittgenstein Castle

Margarete von Alertshausen , known as Die Große Margarete , (* around 1600, † autumn 1629), was beheaded and burned as a "witch" at Wittgenstein Castle near Laasphe .

Life

Margarete lived in the small village of Alertshausen in the Wittgensteiner Land, which was part of the so-called Unterland of the County of Wittgenstein during the Thirty Years' War .

background

Margarete was suspected of alleged witchcraft because she knew about the manufacture and use of medicines. All herbs were collected and used in the name of God. Pharmacy, superstition and piety mixed up. It was also asserted that Margarete could make people stab-proof. This property was very popular during the Thirty Years War. She is also said to have had the gift of predicting the future and understanding how to pray for health and for death. Her undoing was a jar of ointment contaminated with maggots, which was interpreted as a magic spell .

Witch hunt

On July 21, 1629 Margarete was arrested by soldiers of the count and taken to Wittgenstein Castle in Laasphe. It came to a trial in which several witnesses were heard. The witnesses reported both good and bad deeds of the alleged witch from Alertshausen. By using the torture, she confessed to having had contact with the person incarnate. The devil would have visited her in the most varied of forms and taught her the forbidden arts. She also wants to have received money and food from him after she had given herself completely to him: the devil's allegiance .

Condemnation

In autumn 1629 Margarete von Alertshausen was found guilty of witchcraft. She was beheaded at Wittgenstein Castle and then burned at the stake . There are a total of 61 trials against alleged witches in Wittgenstein on record. Only 23 of them ended with an acquittal.

literature

• Horst Dickel: Word magic in Wittgenstein . In: Wittgenstein . Leaves of the Wittgensteiner Heimatverein e. V., vol. 67, vol. 43, 1979, p. 50 and p. 147 ff.
• Eduard Thielicke: The great Margarethe von Alertshausen . In: Communications of the Wittgenstein Society for History and Folklore, 1913/14, issue 1, p. 22 ff .; Issue 2, p. 14 ff.
• Fritz Vitt: Wittgensteiner Heimatbuch , 1938.
• Lars Womelsdorf: Contributions to the history of the village Alertshausen .