Pseudo head of bailiff Peter von Hagenbach

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The mummified pseudo head of Bailiff Peter von Hagenbach has been kept in the Bibliothèque municipale de Colmar since 1796 . Two forearms, partially mummified, belong to the head. The assumption that it was the remains of the Burgundian bailiff Peter von Hagenbach , who was executed on May 9, 1474 in Breisach am Rhein , was refuted in 1844 by the pastor and historian Pantaleon Rosmann . Due to its provenance and as a curiosity, the relic is of cultural-historical and anthropological importance.

Provenance

In 1796 the French revolutionary troops took Freiburg im Breisgau . After the conquest, a number of sacred works of art and artifacts were requisitioned from the churches and brought to Colmar . Among them were a mummified head and two partially mummified forearms, which were thought to be the remains of Bailiff Peter von Hagenbach, who was executed in 1474, due to a misunderstanding. In 1801, after the Treaty of Lunéville , the looted works of art were returned to the Freiburg government, which was under Modenese rule. Only the mummified artefacts remained in the Bibliothèque Communale du Colmar , where they were exhibited as the head of Bailiff Peter von Hagenbach until 1844.

Rosmann clarified the provenance in 1844. After that, if it were the remains of a Malteser- or Johanniter - Orden knight , who at the time of the Crusades fell into Moslem captivity and was killed. The body parts were thrown over the walls of the Christian camp. They were embalmed there and taken to the coming of the order in Freiburg or Heitersheim . Initially, they were kept as relics in a church outside the gates of the city of Freiburg. In 1679 the church and the church were demolished to build the fortifications designed by Vauban . The relics of the church came from there into the care of the Freiburg Minster and were then requisitioned by the French revolutionary troops in 1796.

The anthropologist Eric Boes dated the skull to the 16th or 17th century in 2005. He gives the Order of St. John as the original provenance. Eric Boes refers to the context of the presentation of the skull from 1796 on the French Revolution.

literature

  • Gabrielle Claerr tribe: Pierre de Hagenbach - Le destin tragique d'un chevalier sundgauvien au service de Charles le Téméraire ; Annèxe 7: La pseudotête de Pierre de Hagenbach; Alsagraphic, 2004; Ferette: Sundgau History Association (Société d'histoire du Sundgau), 2004; ISBN 2-908498-16-2 ; Pp. 219-223
  • Claude Champion: Le Musée d'Unterlinden à Colmar: historique du Musée et catalog raisonnë des peintures, sculptures et objets d'art conservés dans la Chapelle d'Unterlinden ; Ed. Musée des Unterlinden, France Musée d'Unterlinden, Floury, 1924; P. 14 ff.
  • E. Boes: La tete dite de pierre de Hagenbach ; in: Histoire (s) de squelettes. Archeology, médecine et anthropologie en Alsace ; 2005.

Web links

E. Boes and P. Georges: Procédés d'embaumement et morcellement du corps au Moyen Age: étude d'une préparation corporelle redécouverte en Alsace