Mette Deppe

Mette Deppe (* in Kohlstädt ; † 1586 in Detmold ) was a victim of the witch hunt in snakes and was executed by fire in the fall of 1586 as a magic bullet in Detmold. Her mother was Gertrud Deppe, a widow. She had two brothers who are known by name: Heinrich and Jürgen.

Hunting witches in snakes

The parish of Schlangen (to which Kohlstädt and Oesterholz also belonged) was affected by the persecution of witches from 1586 to 1615. On May 20, 1586, the representatives of the parish drew up a complaint in which they demanded that suspected and notorious women from the communities of Kohlstädt, Oesterholz and Schlangen be brought to justice. Six women were involved in witch trials, at least four of whom were executed; two other cases are likely to be executed:

• Gertrud Deppe from Kohlstädt was to be charged, but escaped in May 1586.
• Her daughter Mette Deppe was tortured and burned in Detmold in the fall of 1586.
• Ilse Rut: Your fate is unknown.
• Her daughter Anneke Rut from Kohlstädt was probably executed.
• Grete Schepers from Schlangen was probably executed.
• Lueke (Luitgard) zu Oesterholz: Your fate is unknown.
• Cathrine (Trine) Bunsen from Schlangen came to Schlangen as a widow from Bad Lippspringe in 1571 and married Johan Bunsen there. It was rumored that this foreign woman had fled because she had killed her first husband with poison spells. She was tortured and had to go to court again in 1589, which sentenced her to death at the stake.

Allegations against Gertrud Deppe

Mette Deppe was the daughter of Gertrud Deppe. In 1565 a dispute arose between the Kohlstadt farmer Wulfkuhle and his neighbor Gertrud Deppe because the Deppe geese had run into the rye field of Wulfkuhle. He complained about the damage to the young seed and demanded compensation, and it uttered curses and curses. This resulted in bitter neighborly hostility. When the farmer Wulfkuhle died 21 years later at an old age, his family was convinced that Gertrud Deppe's curse had killed him. Hermann, the son of Wulfkuhle, took over the farm, but was followed by misfortune. When his horses collapsed while plowing in the field and his dairy cows were attacked by a strange disease, it was clear to him that this was where poison magic was involved. He beat up the idiot and threatened her that if she didn't stop the cattle from dying immediately, he would see to it that she had to burn because of the damage spell . He accused her of sorcery. Gertrud Deppe was afraid of getting involved in a witch trial.

A settlement of this conflict-prone situation by Heinrich, the widow's son, failed. She learned from her daughter-in-law, the wife of her son Jürgen, that Wulfkuhle had auditioned with the building judges and that the community was planning to file a complaint against her with the count's law firm in Detmold. So she decided to flee and left Kohlstädt in May 1586 to save her life. Her further fate is unknown. It is questionable whether she had a chance to start a new life after fleeing abroad.

Witch trial against Mette Deppe

On May 20, 1586, the representatives of the Schlangen parish drew up a complaint in which they named not only Gertrud Deppe, but also her daughter Mette Deppe and other “notorious women suspected of sorcery” from the communities of Kohlstädt, Oesterholz and Schlangen demanded their prosecution.

Mette Deppe was seen as the mother's accomplice, because it was believed that mothers taught daughters the art of magic . Wulfkuhle and other neighbors had overheard Mette accusing her mother of "what she could do, that she had learned from her." Whatever she meant by that, it was clear to the audience that she was from the "magical." Art ”was talking.

Neighborly conflicts also come to light in the allegations against the other women named, Ilse Rut and her daughter Anneke from Kohlstädt, Lueke (Luitgard) zu Oesterholz, Cathrine Bunsen and Grete Schepers from Schlangen:

According to the complaint, Lueke zu Oesterholz had cursed the farmhand from the Meierhof when he seized her cow, which had run into the Meier's field. Grete Schepers is said to have poisoned a pig of her neighbor after he had not kept his promise to give her a sausage in exchange for a borrowed kettle. Cathrine Bunsen came to Schlangen as a widow from Lippspringe in 1571 and married Johan Bunsen there. As a “foreign” she was a suspect in the eyes of some villagers. It was rumored that she had fled Lippspringe because she had killed her husband with poison spells. He complained about that himself on his deathbed.

Because of their complaint against “Die Zauberschen”, the envoys from the Schlangen parish were summoned to an audience at the justice office in Detmold on July 12, 1586. If they cannot prove their allegations, the community would have to pay a fine of 300 thalers to the sovereign. During interrogation on July 18, 1586, the witnesses confirmed the magic rumors about the damaging spell that had been committed. Thereupon the sovereign ordered the arrest of the two main suspects and had Mette Deppe and Cathrine Bunsen fetched from the village and brought to Detmold in prison.

The legal opinion of the lawyers at the University of Marburg recommended no further arrests, but an amicable interrogation of the two women. When Mette Deppe and Cathrine Bunsen assert their innocence, the sovereign orders a confrontation with the witnesses. Only then were Mette Deppe and Trine Bunsen embarrassedly interrogated. Under the pressure of torture, Mette confessed that she and her mother had done magic spells, had allied themselves with the devil and had taken part in the witch's dance. In the autumn of 1586 she was executed by fire in Detmold as a "magic bull".

Under the torture, Cathrine Bunsen confirmed the rumor of having poisoned her husband, but retracted her murder confession at the public court day on the grounds that she had given false testimony under the pressure of torture. When she was temporarily sent back to her husband Johan Bunsen, it sparked outrage in the parish. A petition was drawn up to the count, signed with the phrase "the poor subjects of the whole parish of snakes". They expressed their relief that Mette Deppe had "received and received their devilish forfeiture and misdeeds according to their deserved wages, praise God", but at the same time complained that the count had given them Trine Bunsen, a woman who "suspected Zeuber art for many years and notorious ”, I sent back. They strongly criticized the interrogation methods in prison for being too lenient. The sovereign should act for the pleasure of God and for the good of the poor subjects and free them from the "fiends and wicked women from whom they were ruined".

In a witch trial three years later, Trine Bunsen, following the advice of the Marburg lawyers of April 1, 1589, was sentenced to death by fire. Grete Schepers and Anneke Rut were arrested and "attacked with embarrassing questions" (tortured). It can be assumed that they were also executed. What happened to Lueke zu Oesterholz and Ilse Rut is unclear.

literature

• Ingrid Ahrendt-Schulte : Plunged to ruin by bad women. Neighborhood conflicts and witch trials in the Schlangen parish. In: Heinz Wiemann (ed.): Schlangen, Kohlstädt, Oesterholz, Haustenbeck. Contributions to history. Volume II. Snakes 1999, pp. 83-89

Web links

• Ingrid Ahrendt-Schulte: Plunged to ruin by bad women - neighborhood conflicts in the parish of snakes and witch trials. In: www.schlänger-geschichte.de (magazine about the past of the community of Schlangen. Editor and editor: Heinz Wiemann)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ingrid Ahrendt-Schulte: Plunged into doom by bad women. Neighborhood conflicts and witch trials in the Schlangen parish . In: Heinz Wiemann (ed.): Schlangen, Kohlstädt, Oesterholz, Haustenbeck. Contributions to history , Volume II. Snakes 1999, pp. 83-89.