Atonement Cross
Atonement Cross or Mordkreuz (also Mord- und Atonement Cross ) is the name of a stone floor cross that was erected as atonement for a committed murder or manslaughter. Atonement crosses were mostly on paths and crossroads. Weapons ( crossbow , ax or similar) are carved into some stone crosses , possibly the murder weapon.
background
Hallway crosses were intended to guide passers-by to pray for the deceased, as the deceased suddenly died without being able to receive the last sacraments beforehand . If someone was killed in a dispute or unintentionally, the culprit had to come to an agreement with the victim's family. Atonement agreements under private law were concluded between the parties involved. From 1300 it should have been customary to put up a stone atonement cross at the crime scene or where the relatives wished it. Upper Palatinate and Saxon atonement agreements have been preserved, in which the setting of an atonement cross is expressly agreed.
A complete atonement treaty has been received in Weikersheim from 1463 . For the murder of a son, the relatives and the perpetrator negotiated through two arbitrators as the usual redress : a stone cross, a Holy Mass with two priests, ten pounds of wax for candles, 45 guilders as expenses and compensation, a pair of trousers each to the arbitrators, the bailiff and the bailiff , and two buckets of wine to the followers of both parties. Atonement crosses have not been erected in Protestant areas since 1530.
distribution
Around 7000 stone crosses, which are believed to be atonement crosses, are known throughout Europe today; there are about 4000 in Germany. They are particularly widespread in the Franconian north-east of Baden-Württemberg , in the Upper Palatinate , in Thuringia and Saxony . According to Bernhard Losch, atonement crosses are mainly found in rural areas that have had a consistently agricultural structure since the Middle Ages. In these areas there was no densification of settlement and industry in modern times as in the metropolitan areas, so that these cultural monuments were largely preserved in the open air .
In Mecklenburg were atonement stones erected. 300 atonement crosses are known in Lower Silesia , Poland. An atonement cross from 1325 has been preserved in Berlin . It had to be erected for the provost of Bernau , who was slain by the residents , and is now in front of St. Mary's Church .
Atonement crosses (selection)
Germany
- Baden-Württemberg
- List of murder and atonement crosses in the Main-Tauber district , according to Bernhard Losch the district in Baden-Württemberg with the most atonement crosses
- Bavaria
- Brandenburg
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Saxony
- Saxony-Anhalt
- Thuringia
Poland
See also
Web links
- Sven Gerth (Ed.): Suehnekreuz.de - The specialist portal for land monument research . Atonement crosses and killing stones in Germany and Europe , accessed on June 17, 2016
- Steffen Raßloff : To the atonement cross for a murder near Erfurt in 1323 . In: Thüringer Allgemeine from September 1, 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Bernhard Losch: Atonement and commemoration. Stone crosses in Baden-Württemberg. Commission publisher Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 978-3806207545