Buttress pulling

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Longwall cat pulling in Hanover
Longwall cat pulling in Lübeck

The Strebkatzenziehen , Low German Strewkattentstrecken , also Luderzug , Katzenstriegel , Auchenomachia , was a late medieval power game that was widespread throughout Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries, but also in the countries of Scandinavia. During the game, the heads of the two opponents, kneeling opposite, were connected to each other by ropes or strips of cloth around their necks. The aim of the game was to pull the opponent's head over the fire burning between the two as possible. In less archaic variants, the winner was the one who managed to pull the opponent three yards in his direction. The game was called pulling the longwall cat , because the opponents sat opposite each other like struggling, reluctant cats. The game is considered to be the forerunner of the tug of war . While the tug of war is all about strength, body weight and technique in the sense of modern sport, the medieval element of chance is still present in the bitch (= mostly pig intestines still filled with faeces ), because the intestine can tear and thus the competitors ( and the nearby spectators) with feces.

In Denmark the game is called Traekke Grin and in Sweden Dra Gränja . In many old cities there are mostly medieval reliefs that indicate this game.

Literature and drama

The Luterisch Strebkatz , 1524

In Germany, the term reflects longwall cat with the advent of the printing press in the 15th century in the literature, so for the first time - though pressure faulty - in Sebastian Brant's Ship of Fools (1494) with the rhyme "it züht the k räbkatz some man | der noch das merteyl noch musz lan ", and is shown as a keyword in the German dictionary with further examples:

One boy was hanging on to the other,
one of them was Mr. Matz,
I have to pull the Strebekatz
so stand opposite each other,
and make the quel vmb your neck
nemet the knot both at the same time
and hold your tears firmly to be
everyone knot to the best.
then kneel down on the earth
and pull, let's see who will win.

Henrici (1595)

The material was also processed dramatically. During the Reformation , the buttress pulling became a symbol of the conflicts of the time. An early example is a scene in the Middle Low German carnival game Claews Bûer (Klaus Bauer) by Magister Bado von Minden from 1523. Little is known about the author; he is considered a student of the Erasmus of Rotterdam . The game clearly criticizes the church's conditions. It is the first pamphlet and pamphlet of Reformation character in Westphalia and was widely used. It had five editions by 1606, including one in Lübeck by Johann Balhorn around 1548. Later, as Karl Goedeke proved, Franciscus Omichius in his play "A newe Comoedia by Dionysii Syracusani and Damonis and Pythiae Brüderschaff" published by Jacob Lucius in 1578 back.

1524 appeared in Worms at the younger Peter Schöffer an anonymous pamphlet The Luterisch longwall Katz in favor of the Reformation . Urbanus Rhegius is believed to be the author . Its satirical title woodcut shows Martin Luther and the Pope pulling the buttocks. Luther, leaning on the cross alone, clearly wins against the Pope and his helpers.

Representations

Steinstrasse 3 in Braunschweig
Breite Strasse in Braunschweig

Insofar as the representations are in the immediate vicinity of town halls, which were also court houses until the early modern period, the reliefs are to be understood as an allusion to the trials negotiated there.

Change of terminology

In the 18th century, a negative term connotation prevailed in northern Germany; the Strebkatz was also applied to unruly women, mostly in a criminal context.

literature

Officer candidates on the Gorch Fock (1968)
  • Erich Ballerstedt: The longwall cat pulling, a power game of the Middle Ages, and its traces in the German language and art. In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter . Vol. 4, 1901, pp. 97-107.
  • Antjekathrin Graßmann : Lübeck Lexicon. Lübeck 2006, p. 338.
  • Carl R. af Ugglas: "Den Lilla Stockholmsrebusens" Lösning. 1937, fornvannen.se (PDF; 2.1 MB).
  • V. Habicht: Depiction of a medieval folk game in Sweden and Germany. In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter . New Series, Vol. 5, 1938, pp. 49-53.
  • Hermann Schaub: Strebkatz and Luderzug as an expression of theological disputes in the 16th century. For the interpretation of a carved picture in the Wiedenbrücker Ratskeller. In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History. Vol. 105, 2009, pp. 45-72.
  • Klaus Mlynek : Luderzug. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, p. 416.
  • Reihard Wortmann: Strebkatzzüge - a late medieval wall painting in the house Engelgasse 4 in Biberach . In: BC - Local history sheets for the Biberach district. 37th year 2014, issue 1, pp. 3–12 ( PDF )

Web links

Commons : Strebkatzenziehen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Strebkatzenziehen in the Lübische Sage "Herr Hermann Bonnus"  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See also the entry Strêbekatze in Adelung - Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect
  2. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Physical exercises up to the 19th century: ritual and record, in: Arnd Krüger & Hans Langenfeld (ed.): Sport in Hanover - from the founding of the city to today. Göttingen: The Workshop 1991, 11-12.
  3. ↑ probably intended: Sträbkatz
  4. ^ Ship of Fools 64, 31
  5. ↑ = towel
  6. ↑ See Karl Goedeke : Grundrisz for the history of German poetry from the sources. Second edition, Volume 2: The Age of Reformation. Dresden: Ehlermann 1886, p. 335f (No. 29)
  7. ^ Digitized from an edition from around 1550 ; Copy from the Herzog August Library
  8. ^ Karl Ernst Hermann Krause:  Omichius, Franciscus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 349.
  9. ↑ Otto Clemen : The Luterisch Strebkatz . In: ARG 2 (1905) pp. 78–93, again in: ders .: Kleine Schriften , Volume 2, 1983, pp. 202–217
  10. ^ H. Edel: The half-timbered houses of the city of Braunschweig. A picture of art and cultural history . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 1928, p. 12.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Schrader: Steinstrasse 3. Short chronicle of an old patrician house. In: Braunschweigische Heimat. Magazine of the Braunschweiger Landesverein für Heimatschutz. 1931, issue 1, 22nd year, p. 18
  12. ↑ The representations from Breiten and Heydenstrasse are in the Städtisches Museum, Braunschweig , s. Paul Jonas Meier and Karl Steinacker : The architectural and art monuments of the city of Braunschweig , 2nd exp. Edition. Braunschweig 1926, p. 83
  13. ↑ destentor.nl  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / m.destentor.nl  
  14. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Physical exercises up to the 19th century: ritual and record, in: Arnd Krüger & Hans Langenfeld (ed.): Sport in Hanover - from the founding of the city to today. Göttingen: The Workshop 1991, 11-12.
  15. ↑ Hans Graeven : The longwall cat pulling on a Lüneburg beischlagwange. In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter 5 (1902), pp. 241-252
  16. ↑ Kindstugatan in the English language Wikipedia
  17. ↑ Carl R. af Ugglas, see literature
  18. ↑ Hermann Schaub: Strebkatz- und Luderzug as an expression of theological disputes in the 16th century: on the interpretation of a carved picture in the Wiedenbrücker Ratskeller. In: Yearbook for Westphalian Church History 105 (2009), pp. 45–72