Witch tower or Witches' Tower (german: Hexenturm) is a common name or description in English and other European languages for a tower that was part of a medieval

town wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, often used as a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

or dungeon.

History

The name is derived from the period of witch trials. Many of these towers were used to incarcerate those suspected or found guilty of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

. Other witch towers were, however, named later, for example in the 19th century when they were simply used as normal prisons or were just ordinary towers in the city walls. Witch towers are found in many German towns and cities such as Aschersleben, Coburg,

Frankenberg (Eder) Frankenberg an der Eder is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district, Hesse, Germany. The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important role under the Franks in th ...

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

Gelnhausen Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one of ...

Geseke ''Geseke'' () is a town in the administrative district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Geseke is situated approximately 12 km south-east of Lippstadt and 20 km south-west of Paderborn. The city is located at the ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Herborn,

Hofheim am Taunus Hofheim (; officially known as Hofheim am Taunus) is the administrative centre of Main-Taunus-Kreis district, in the south of the German state of Hesse. Its population in September 2020 was 39,946. Geography Location The town is located on the so ...

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsche Fachwerkstraße'' ...

Jülich Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

, Kaufbeuren,

Lahnstein Lahnstein () is a ''verband''-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the previou ...

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech) is a town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg am Lech. Overview Landsberg is situated o ...

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

, Markdorf, Memmingen, Olpe, Rheinbach, Rüthen, Treysa, Windecken. Today these towers are sometimes renovated and used to house museums. According to legend, witches were burnt at the stake at the Witches' Tower at the Wildensteiner Burg. With trials from the region of the Upper Danube valley may be seen in the archives. In Babenhausen, a special beer, the ''Hexe'' ("Witch") is brewed which depicts on its label the local witch tower. In

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

there is a witch tower in the city walls dating to the 15th century that was used as a prison and, later, as a store. In 1944 it was destroyed by a bomb and the ruins were torn down. Only a picture on the facade of ''Wolf Dietrich Straße'' and ''

Paris Lodron Paris Lodron or Paris of Lodron (''German'': Paris Graf von Lodron), 13 February 1586 - 15 December 1653, was the Prince-Archbishop of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg from 1619-1653. Early life He was born 13 February 1586 in the Castel ...

Straße'' recalls this building.

Surviving witch towers

* Großes Bollwerk and Hexenturm (Büdingen) * Hexenturm (Burg) * Hexenturm (Calbe) *

Hexenturm (Fulda) Witch tower or Witches' Tower (german: Hexenturm) is a common name or description in English and other European languages for a tower that was part of a medieval town wall or castle, often used as a prison or dungeon. History The name is deriv ...

* Hexenturm in the Old Gaol at

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Is ...

* Hexenturm (Gelnhausen) * Hexenturm (Herborn) *Hexenturm (

) * Hexenturm (Idstein), part of

Idstein Castle Idstein Castle (german: Burg Idstein), later the Renaissance style ''Schloss Idstein'', is located in Idstein in the county of Rheingau-Taunus, Germany. The hill castle was the '' residenz'' of the counts of Nassau-Idstein. The castle's Witche ...

* Hexenturm Jülich * Hexenturm (Memmingen) *

Hexenturm (Oberderdingen) Witch tower or Witches' Tower (german: Hexenturm) is a common name or description in English and other European languages for a tower that was part of a medieval town wall or castle, often used as a prison or dungeon. History The name is deriv ...

* Hexenturm (Rüthen) *

Hexenturm (Sarnen) The Hexenturm is a stone tower in the municipality of Sarnen in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The name (" Witch tower") refers to it being used as a prison for suspected witches ...

* Hexenturm (Stein am Rhein) * Baszta Czarownic (Słupsk)

Lost witch towers

Hexenturm (Munich) Witch tower or Witches' Tower (german: Hexenturm) is a common name or description in English and other European languages for a tower that was part of a medieval town wall or castle, often used as a prison or dungeon. History The name is deriv ...

, a tower in Munich's second city wall * Hexenturm (Salzburg), tower in the former city wall, today on the corner of ''Paris-Lodron-Straße'' and ''Wolf-Dietrich Straße''

Other buildings with the name

* Wildensteiner Burg Hexenturm

Gallery

File:Hexenturm Idstein P1150158 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 fused.jpg, The Hexenturm in Idstein File:Landsberg am Lech Hexenturm.jpg, Witch tower in

File:Heidelberg Hexenturm.JPG, The Witch Tower, surrounded today by the inner courtyard of the New University, is the only remnant of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

town fortifications A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

File:Hexenturm_Schwalmstadt.jpg, Witch tower in Treysa File:Babenhausen Hexenturm 2014.jpg, Witch tower in

Babenhausen (Hesse) Babenhausen () is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. Geography It is situated on the river Gersprenz, 25 km southeast of Frankfurt, and 14 km west of Aschaffenburg. South of its general borders, the mountain ...

External links

Aufsatz zu Justiz und Erinnerung
{{Fortifications ! Fortified towers by type Witch hunting