Katharina Henot or Henoth (1570 – 19 May 1627) was a German
postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
and an alleged
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
, burned at the stake for sorcery in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. She is one of the best-known German victims of the witch hunt, and the best known case in Cologne. She was probably also the first female postmaster in Germany.
Biography
Katharina Henot was a well-known and influential citizen in Cologne, and was married to Heinrich Neuden. Together with her brother, Hartger Henot (1571–1637), she had inherited the postal office from her father Jacob and worked as perhaps the first female
postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...
in Germany. They were in a conflict in the Imperial court with Count Leonhard II von Taxis, who wished to create a central
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
. From 1626 to 1631, a great witch trial was held in the city of Cologne. In 1627, a
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
in the convent in the city had become "obsessed". Rumors pointed out Henot, and the commission of the archbishop arrested both Henot and her brother in January 1627 and accused them of having caused several cases of death and sickness in the convent by use of magic. She was imprisoned and denied bail and protection.
Henot refused to admit anything, even after being severely injured and sick from
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
. She was in spite of this judged guilty and sentenced to be burned alive at the stake for sorcery. Her brother Hartger Henot tried to get her freed by appealing directly to the Imperial court, but did not succeed. The trial against her is considered to have been juridically incorrect even according to the law of the time. Later research has established the opinion that Henot was the victim of a conspiracy by the authorities of the city. Her brother tried to get her name cleared after her execution, but in 1629, he was himself pointed out as a witch by Christina Plum, one of the victims of the 1626–31 Cologne witch trials. He was arrested in 1631 together with a number of other influential citizens, but the witch trial was interrupted soon after by intervention.
The City Council of Cologne issued a resolution on 28 June 2012 to exonerate Katharina Henot and the other victims of the persecution of witches in Cologne.
See also
*
Gese Wechel Gese Wechel (born in Hamburg, died in Lübeck 1645), was the managing director of the Swedish Post Office, ''Postverket'' from 1637 until 1642. She was the second director of the Swedish Post Office, and the first female postmaster in Sweden, entitl ...
, Swedish equivalent
*
Dorothea Krag
Dorothea Krag (27 September 1675–10 October 1754) was a Danish Postmaster General and noble.
Dorothea was married first to count Jens Juel in 1694, and second to the king's illegitimate half brother Christian Gyldenløve in 1701. As the widow ...
, Danish equivalent
*
Alexandrine von Taxis
Alexandrine von Taxis (1 August 1589 – 26 December 1666), was a German noblewoman who served as Imperial General Postmaster of the ''Kaiserliche Reichspost'', the General Post Office of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Post Master of the ...
, Imperial equivalent
References
* Engelbert Goller, Jakob Henot, Inaugural-Dissertation, Bonn 1910
* Friedrich Wilhelm Siebel, Die Hexenverfolgung in Köln, Juristische Dissertation, Bonn 1959
*
Artikel von Thomas Becker (Historicum.net)
Aufsatz von Gerd Schwerhoff (MS Word)
Katharina Henoth wird als Hexe verbranntSendung "ZeitZeichen" 19 May 2007 auf den Seiten des
WDR 5
WDR 5 is a German public radio station owned and operated by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).
History
WDR 5 went on air on October 7, 1991 on the former frequencies of WDR 1
WDR 1 was a German public radio station owned and operated by the ...
weitere Darstellung
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henot, Katharina
1570 births
Executed German people
People executed for witchcraft
People from Cologne
Executed German women
German postmasters
17th-century German people
1627 deaths
16th-century German people
16th-century German women
17th-century German women
People executed in the Holy Roman Empire by burning
Witch trials in Germany
17th-century executions in the Holy Roman Empire