Drudenhaus
Illustration and floor plan of the Drudenhaus
Map
Coordinates49°53′36.28″N 10°53′28.46″E / 49.8934111°N 10.8912389°E / 49.8934111; 10.8912389
Security classSpecial prison for people accused of witchcraft
Population20 (as of April 1631)
Opened1627
Closed1632
CityBamberg
CountryGermany

The Drudenhaus (also known as Malefizhaus, Trudenhaus, Hexenhaus, and Hexengefängnis) was a famous special prison for people accused during the Bamberg witch trials. The prison was constructed in 1627 on the order of Johann Georg Fuchs von Dornheim, Prince Bishop of Bamberg, and closed in 1632.

History

The Bamberg Drudenhaus was not unique: smaller Drudenhäuser of the same kind were built also in Zeil am Main, Hallstadt and Kronach, but it was the biggest and most famous. The prison was constructed during the Bamberg witch trials, which began in 1626, and the Drudenhaus was used through the duration of the witch trials, which lasted until the closure of the prison.

The building contained 26 single cells, as well as two larger cells for groups of people. An inscription on the portal read: Discite justitiam moniti ET NON TEMNERE Divos (from Vergil's Aeneid: "Let it be a reminder of justice from which the gods cannot ignore"). Walls on the inside of the building were decorated with text from the Bible. People were placed in the Drudenhaus under the accusation of witchcraft and remained until their verdict. Torture was used inside the premises. In April 1631, 20 people were kept in the prison.[1] During this time, about 300 people from the city of Bamberg and about 900 from the area were executed during the ongoing Bamberg witch trials, among them Johannes Junius, Georg Haan and Dorothea Flock.

On 11 February 1632, when the Swedish army marched toward Bamberg to take the city during the Thirty Years' War, officials closed the prison and released the prisoners of the Drudenhaus on condition that they agreed to keep silent about the torture inflicted upon them during their imprisonment.[2]

The building itself was torn down in 1635.

References

  1. ^ Der „Cathalogus“ findet sich abgedruckt bei Friedrich Leitschuh: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens in Franken, Bamberg 1883, S. 55–58
  2. ^ Vgl. Tagebuch der Dominikanernonne Maria Anna Junius, abgedruckt in: 52. Bericht über Bestand und Wirken des Historischen Vereins Bamberg für das Jahr 1890, S. 7–223, hier: S. 14
.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}@media all and (max-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{width:auto!important;clear:none!important;float:none!important))You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (February 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,897 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Drudenhaus]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template ((Translated|de|Drudenhaus)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Categories