Memmingen legends
Memminger legends are folk tales from the Upper Swabian town of Memmingen and the surrounding area with fantastic or rather anecdotal content. This includes hiking legends that appear in different versions in different cities. Some legends have also developed a life of their own and belong to the seven landmarks of Memmingen .
The Memminger Mau
The most famous Memminger saga is about the Memminger Mau . It is from her that the city gets its nickname as Mouse City .
Once upon a clear full moon night, a couple of Memmingers walked home from the Golden Lion. Suddenly they saw how the moon, called Mau here, was reflected in one of the large tubs that stood under the eaves of the houses for fire extinguishing purposes. Suddenly the ingenious idea came up to fish out the moon so that the city could have its light at any time. The town fisherman was quickly fetched, he came with nets of all kinds and his servants and began his work. From the windows all around the startled citizens looked down at what was going on down there, and they even came running from the side streets, but… . The story ends here. A close relationship with the shield citizens can be seen.
Another anecdote with the Mau is often told to introduce the backwoodsmen of the small towns at the end of the 18th century. One day a young maid came to Lindau . When she saw the Mau shining late in the evening, she said: “Yes, dr Memminger Mau, does dr z'Lindau seem like?”.
There has been a relatively new story since the first moon landing . The then Lord Mayor Dr. After the first successful moon landing, Johannes Bauer jokingly sent a letter to NASA in which he congratulated on the success and at the same time criticized the fact that one could have asked the Memmingers first whether one could walk around on their mau. He also asked for some moon rock for the exhibition in the city museum, "so that at least part of our Mau is really at home with us". NASA responded promptly with a request for subsequent permission. Moon rocks were promised, but nothing has arrived to this day. On the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in 2019, Mayor Manfred Schilder wrote again to the space agency and recalled the promise made at the time to be given some moon rock.
The horse in the cradle
This is about the story of a seemingly dead wife: a gravedigger wanted to steal the jewelry from a fresh grave. When he took off the lid of the coffin, the woman who had believed dead stood up and asked: "What do you want?" The gravedigger fled in horror. The supposedly dead woman went home. Her husband couldn't believe his eyes and said that she couldn't be his wife, "as little as my horse is in the cradle". The two looked. Lo and behold: The horse was actually in the cradle. The man then let the woman into the house and the two spent more happy years together. As a memento, the man had a painting put on his house depicting the story. It is said that the painting must never fade, otherwise the woman will haunt the house .
This legend is considered a hiking legend, as it also occurs in a similar form in other cities. The picture that is placed under the bay window of the house on Kalchstrasse ( Haus zum Gaul in der Wiege ) is probably much older and is supposed to represent a profession. It is not known what profession it represents. This is how the legend of the horse in the cradle came up.
The blue Saul
The blue Saul is a pillar on the market square, which was probably the first place of execution in the Memmingen judicial district. However, no one can say with certainty why the column is blue. The following story is passed down:
One night after curfew , a councilor went home quite drunk from one of the countless wine bars. His company, whom he needed to find his way home, heard the night watchman on the market square . He leaned the drunken councilor against the pillar to distract the night watchman. When this was done, he picked up the councilor again. However, its blue condition had colored the column blue. The blue Saul is said to have existed since then .
Today it is certain that this corner of the house was a place of justice in the time of the Guelphs. However, over time this knowledge was lost and the story that this pillar was the pillory came up. However, records in the city archives show that the pillory was made of wood. It must also have been mobile, as old council minutes say that the pillory "was driven out of the gate".
The basilisk
The legend of the basilisk is considered a hiking legend , as it occurs in almost unchanged form, especially in northern Germany. He was also up to mischief in Memmingen . He is said to have lived in house number 11 on Hinteren Gerbergasse . It is also called the dragon behind the angel , which can be traced back to the Gasthaus Engel in the Hirschgasse in front of it. It is believed that the petrified basilisk in the city museum was a keystone of the vault in the former Schottenkloster, which was demolished in the 16th century.
The legend has a true core. The lavatory pits in the basement of all houses had to be cleaned every three to four years. But this was often neglected by the residents of the houses. Due to the gases that formed, people often died due to “mysterious circumstances”. It can be assumed that the gases were the causes of death attributed to the basilisk.
Saint Hildegard
Saint Hildegard is a portrait by Bernhard Strigel on the tower of St. Martin . It was originally intended to depict the last Hohenstaufen king Conradin of Sicily, who was executed in Naples by Charles I of Anjou in 1268 . However, the citizens did not recognize him, but said that it represented St. Hildegard. The townspeople at that time had a connection to the saint, who was very venerated in Swabia and Allgäu, rather than to the last Staufer, who was never seen.
The Seven Swabians
According to legend, one of the Seven Swabians , the Spiegelschwab, came from Memmingen. He wiped his nose with his sleeve until it became a smooth, reflective surface.
Hexed coins
In Memmingen, at the age when the children received the body of the Lord for the first time, a girl found a button-sized, shiny silver coin on the church path. It picked it up and tucked it into the hem of its skirt. Shortly after getting home, the child was suddenly paralyzed on both legs. Neither doctor nor Bader, whom one called, knew what to do. The executioner was called in. He took the skirt straight away from the frame, took the silver button out of the hem, threw it a few times on the table and said with a laugh: "Lose what the silver sounds like!" But that was ridiculous, because every time the coin hits the table touched, it sounded like rolling thunder through the house, and everyone was frightened. But the executioner asked for a file, turned the coin into shavings, and let the sick girl drink it in a glass of wine. Immediately a little black snake crept out of the paralyzed man's body. The executioner beat them to death and threw them into the fire. From the same moment the child could walk again and was healthy as before. The executioner now advised him to look out for the person in the church who had bandaged his head and hands; it is from this that the witchcraft comes. But now she was left with wounds from burning the snake. How amazed the girl was when she saw her own cousin in this outfit in church the next day. When people wanted to thank the executioner and reward him, he refused. It is better to pray an Our Father for him and his victim every time he has to cut off the head of a poor sinner.
This legend is no longer too present in people's minds, but still shows the worry and fear of witches at that time. Under this premise one has to see this legend. Especially during the time of the burning of witches, such legends came up in many German cities, so that this legend also belongs to the genus of hiking legend.
Piper in the plague pit
During the great plague that struck the city of Memmingen in 1503, many dead were placed in mass graves in the cemetery near Sankt Martin, because burials could no longer cope. During this time it happened that a piper at the Red Ox got so drunk that he missed the way home and finally lay down on the bench in front of a house to sleep off his intoxication. In the night, however, the gravedigger came, who collected the plague dead who had died in the city during the day and who at that time were unceremoniously placed in front of the houses until they were picked up. The grave diggers, who were always in a hurry back then, thought the sleeper was a corpse and therefore invited him to join others on their cart. In the churchyard they laid it with the dead in the big pit, and because it wasn't quite full, they covered the hole with boards for the time being. When the musician woke up and realized that he was lying with a lot of dead people, he was very shocked. He took his pipe out of the sack and, more out of fear than lust, played one piece at a time. When the people went to early mass, they were not a little frightened because everyone believed that down there in the pit a ghost was playing on a dead leg. At last three brave men dared to go out of the church, took the boards away and pulled the poor little piper out.
This legend is based on a true story and has survived the centuries. It is mentioned in various council minutes in the city archives. What happened to the piper later is unknown.
A similar motif is also from Vienna from love Augustin known.
Key maiden
From the linden color in Lindentorstrasse to Dickenreis, the key maiden once had her “walk” at night. The ghost, clad in snow-white, got its name from the fact that it always carried a bunch of keys with it, but it only appeared at holy times. Once a servant wanted to redeem the maiden from the pale but could not do it. The virgin is said to have shed bitter tears about this. It is said that the spirit was later redeemed by a young man who asked the virgin if he could help with the keys. The virgin replied that now she was redeemed, for now the keys had their strength again. But no one could say what this speech meant.
This legend is also a hiking legend, as it occurs in different places in a modified form. Here, too, the great fear of dying and the persecution of witches in the late Middle Ages is evident.
The Nuremberg funnel
The citizens of Memmingen wanted the Nuremberg funnel , in which one could pour knowledge through a hole in the head, for their mayor from the Nuremberg people . But the Nuremberg only gave them a useless duplicate. But because the Reutlingers now believed that the Memmingen had the funnel, they stole it from Memmingen.
The Schlorggahans
One of the lesser-known sagas takes place in the vicinity of the children's teaching church and the Antonierhaus - formerly known as the "Zur Eintracht" house because of the good relationship between its residents. A traveling merchant stopped to rest with his heavily pregnant wife when labor began. However, the mother and child died shortly after birth and were buried in the St. Martin cemetery. The widower, a broken man, stayed behind in Memmingen. Long after he himself died, his shuffling (throbbing) steps could be heard, and he was busy in the washroom and at the fountain of the house "Zur Eintracht", which now houses the city library. Again and again one could hear a clear gurgling from there, as if someone was pumping water there. Apart from that, he seems to have been a very peaceful ghost who did not harm anyone, although for a long time it was used as "Schlorggahans" or "Schlorgghans" as a threat to naughty children.
This legend is again a hiking legend, which is told in an almost identical form in Kaufbeuren. There, however, the "Schlorgger" has no name, but is also haunted around the St. Martins Church and in the adjacent cemetery. This legend connects two former free imperial cities with one another in a very vivid way.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uli and Walter Braun: One hour for Memmingen - not to mention the surrounding area . VI. Edition. Verlag der Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1982, p. 51 f .
- ^ Memmingen City Archives: Astronauts on the MM Mau. Retrieved April 7, 2019 .
- ^ Memmingen City Archives: Astronauts on the MM Mau. Retrieved April 7, 2019 .
- ↑ According to the Memmingen Historical Association
- ↑ Memmingen reaches for the moon! Which is why NASA now got mail from the Allgäu. Retrieved April 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Uli Braun: From the Green Devil and Saint Hildegard . II edition. Verlag der Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1994, ISBN 3-927003-14-X , p. 71 ff .
- ↑ Uli Braun: From the Green Devil and Saint Hildegard . II edition. Verlag der Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1994, ISBN 3-927003-14-X , p. 23 ff .
- ↑ Uli Braun: From the Green Devil and Saint Hildegard . II edition. Verlag der Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1994, ISBN 3-927003-14-X , p. 1 ff .
- ↑ Uli Braun: From the Green Devil and Saint Hildegard . II edition. Verlag der Memminger Zeitung, Memmingen 1994, ISBN 3-927003-14-X , p. 11 ff .
- ↑ Ludwig Aurbacher : Adventure of the seven Swabians and the Spiegelschwaben in the Gutenberg-DE project
- ↑ Der Spiegelschwab, Die Heimatbeilage of the Memminger Zeitung, year 1966 number 4, folk tales from the Memmingen area - "The bewitched coins" (Uli Braun) [1] ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically saved as marked defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 844 kB)
- ↑ Der Spiegelschwab, Die Heimatbeilage of the Memminger Zeitung, year 1958 number 7, Das Pfeiferlein in der Pestgrube - An old story from Memmingen (Walter Braun) [2] ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically saved as marked defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 844 kB)
- ^ Doctor Christoph Schorer's Memminger Chronik, Memmingen, 1660, pages 58-59.
- ↑ Allgäuer Sagen, from KA Reiser's "Sagen, Gebräuche und Sprichwort des Allgäu" selected by Hulda Eggart, Kempten and Munich 1914, No. 231, p. 243f. online at [3]
- ↑ Allgäu sagas: Selected from KA Reiser's "Sagen, Customs and Proverbs of the Allgäu". by Hulda Eggart, page 243 Table of Contents
- ↑ How the Reutlingers got the Nuremberg funnel C. Schnerring-Crailsheim. From the Nuremberg district archive.
- ↑ The tailor from Ulm Max Eyth
- ↑ KA Reiser's "Legends, Customs and Proverbs of the Allgäu"
