Margarethe Altenhofen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margarethe Altenhofen (also: Margareta Altenhoven / Aldenhoven / Margaretha Gerhard Aldenhofens housewife ) (* 1596 in Rhens ; † March 7, 1646 there ) was the last victim of the witch trials in Rhens and was executed on March 7, 1646.

Life

Margarethe Altenhofen married Gerhard Altenhofen around 1620. This was mayor, broadcast and court lay judge. The Altenhofen family has been mentioned in Rhens since 1594. In some cases, the church book entries were made at the beginning of the 17th century under the name Becker, as the Altenhofen family belonged to the guild of community bakers.

Margarethe Altenhofen's marriage resulted in at least three children.

  • Margareth (baptized October 8, 1620, died in childhood)
  • Elisabeth (baptized June 22, 1623, died in childhood)
  • Johann Philipp (baptized October 2, 1625).

Heinrich Rosenbaum, husband of Christine Rosenbaum, who was executed in 1646 for alleged witchcraft, is named as the godfather of a child.

Rhens: Scharfer Turm (also called "Hexenturm")

Wave of witch trials from 1645 to 1647

At the wave of witch trials from 1645 to 1647, the witch commissioner Dr. Johannes Möden involved. The incarceration and torture took place in the “Scharfen Turm” (part of the city wall, directly on the Rhine, also called “Hexenturm”). The trials were described in 1929, but the trial files could no longer be found after the Second World War .

Eleven people were charged, two men and nine women. Only one person appears to have escaped conviction, all the others were executed. Only Catharina Herter was acquitted in December 1645, who managed to withstand the torture and did not make a confession. But her further fate was tragic. Her husband refused to take her back. So she was expelled from the city in the last days of December in the winter of 1645 and left to her fate.

The witch trial by Margarethe Altenhofen

The most prominent and last victim of the wave of witch trials was Margarethe Altenhofen, wife of the mayor. She and her husband Gerhard Altenhofen were called as witnesses as early as the 1629 witch trials. During the wave of trials, no fewer than four of the women previously executed as witches accused her of participating in witch dances and other misdeeds. One of them was Barbel (Barbara), the wife of Johann Neudt, whose first husband had been executed as a sorcerer in 1630 in Capellen . Barbel Neudt was executed on February 13, 1646 together with Christina, Heinrich Rosenbaum's widow.

Margarethe Altenhofen tried to escape on February 6, but was caught again the following day. She knew her fate was sealed and admitted everything that was asked of her during the trial. She asked that it should be kept as brief as possible with her so that her husband and children would not incur any unnecessary costs. On the same day with the mayor's wife, Kett, Johann Lützinger's housewife, was arrested and locked in the Scharfen Turm. The charges against her are not apparent from the files. Both women were executed in a double execution on March 7, 1646.

According to the regulations in force, the relatives of the sentenced person had to bear the costs of meals, trial and execution. The cost of Margarethe Altenhofen's husband was 157 florins 12 albus.

After the execution of Margarethe Altenhofen, Gerhard Altenhofen married Johannetta in 1647 and had two children with her:

  • Anna Catharina (baptized June 6, 1650)
  • Johann (baptized September 24, 1651).

Gerhard Altenhofen was buried on November 11, 1657 under Catholic law.

Sources and literature

  • Ingrid Batori: The Rhenser witch trials from 1628 to 1630 , in: Landeskundliche Vierteljahresblätter , 33, 1987, pp. 133–155.
  • Ingrid Batori: Mayor and Witches Committee in Rhens 1628–1632. At the end of a series of trials , in: Gunther Franz /, Franz Irsigler (ed.): Hexenglaube and Hexenprozess im Raum Rhein-Mosel-Saar , Trier 1995, pp. 195–224.
  • Hans Bellinghausen: The Rhenser witch trials , in: Hans Bellinghausen: Rhens on the Rhine and the king chair. A German homeland book . Koblenz 1929, pp. 58-94.
  • Felix Krieger: Severin Hachemer - Schultheiß in Rhens, a hero against the witch craze? Summary of the thesis history. In: Eichendorff-Gymnasium, Koblenz: Annual report . 2008/2009, pp. 117-118.
  • Alexander Ritter, Witch Trials on the Hessian Middle Rhine: previously neglected sources from archives in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate . In: Jahrbuch für Westdeutsche Landesgeschichte , 32 (2006), pp. 197–220.
  • Heike Schlosser: The first phase of the Rhenser witch trials 1628–1630 , in: Mayen-Koblenz: Heimatbuch , 2012, pp. 108–112.
  • Wolfgang Scherhag: Cruelty and Superstition (novel), Wesseling 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.hexenprozess-kurmainz.de/geographie/nachbarterritorien/maas-mosel.html
  2. ^ Hans Bellinghausen: The Rhenser witch trials , in: Hans Bellinghausen: Rhens am Rhein and the king chair. A German homeland book . Koblenz 1929, pp. 58-94.
personal data
SURNAME Altenhofen, Margarethe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Margareta Altenhoven; Margaretha Aldenhoven; Margareth Gerhard Aldenhofen's housewife
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Victims of the witch trials in Rhens
DATE OF BIRTH around 1596
PLACE OF BIRTH Rhens
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1646
Place of death Rhens