The Triberg Gallows (german: Triberger Galgen) is a double

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

on the heights known as ''Hochgericht''The local name ''Hochgericht'' ("High Court") does not refer to a high place, but to the High or

Blood Court High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

of a judicial district or territorial lordship. () on the K 5728 county road that runs from Schönwald to Villingen, and in the county of

Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis Schwarzwald-Baar () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Ortenaukreis, Rottweil, Tuttlingen, Constance, the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, and the districts W ...

in the German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. A map from

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Abbey of St. George in the Black Forest indicates that, on the present site of the Blood Court, a gallows was erected in the late 16th century. A historical map known as the ''Pürschgerichtskarte'', which charts the area around the

free imperial town In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

Rottweil Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years. Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 in ...

, shows two wooden gallows on this spot. The present stone gallows replaced its wooden predecessors in 1721. As a symbol of justice of the Anterior Austrian Obervogtei of

Triberg Triberg im Schwarzwald is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the Schwarzwald-Baar district in the Black Forest. In 2020, it had a population of 4,656. Triberg lies in the middle of the Black Forest between 500 and 1038 metres above ...

, the execution site was visible for a long distance. By 1779, 15 executions are recorded, twelve of them for

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 ...

. The gallows consist of two

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

pillars, reinforced with iron bands, and linked by a wooden crossbeam that was added later. The southeastern pillar bears the date 1721, the other one two initials, probably a

mason's mark A mason's mark is an engraved symbol often found on dressed stone in buildings and other public structures. In stonemasonry Regulations issued in Scotland in 1598 by James VI's Master of Works, William Schaw, stated that on admission to the guild ...

. The

Middle Way The Middle Way ( pi, ; sa, ) as well as "teaching the Dharma by the middle" (''majjhena dhammaṃ deseti'') are common Buddhist terms used to refer to two major aspects of the Dharma, that is, the teaching of the Buddha.; my, အလယ်� ...

from

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...

to Waldshut runs by the gallows.

References

Literature

* Michaela Hohkamp: ''Herrschaft in der Herrschaft. Die vorderösterreichische Obervogtei Triberg von 1737 bis 1780'' (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History, Vol. 142), Göttingen, 1998, .

External links

Homepage of the town of Triberg

Schauriges Geschehen am Triberger Galgen
SÜDKURIER Online, 20 August 2011 {{Coord, 48, 05, 52, N, 8, 15, 36.4, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BW, display=title Execution sites Black Forest Buildings and structures in Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis