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 ...

or castle, 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, corre ...

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

History

The name is derived from the period of

witch trial A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...

s. 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 ...

. 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 Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Geography Aschersleben lies near the confluence of ...

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

, Frankenberg (Eder), Fulda,

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 o ...

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 th ...

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, Jülich,

Kaufbeuren Kaufbeuren (; Bavarian: ''Kaufbeiren'') is an independent town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia, Bavaria. The town is an enclave within the district of Ostallgäu. Districts Kaufbeuren consists of nine districts: * Kaufbeuren (town core i ...

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 prev ...

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech (river), Lech) is a Town#Germany, 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 (district), Lands ...

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 approxima ...

Markdorf Markdorf is a town in the Bodenseekreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is situated near Lake Constance, 10 km northwest of Friedrichshafen. Georg Riedmann has been the mayor of Markdorf since 2013. Markdorf was first ...

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-W� ...

, Olpe,

Rheinbach Rheinbach is a town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district (Landkreis), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It belongs to the administrative district (Regierungsbezirk) of Cologne. Geography Situated south-west of Bonn and south of Cologne, Rheinbac ...

Rüthen Rüthen () is a town in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Rüthen is situated at the northeastern border of the natural preserve Arnsberger Wald between the Haarstrang and the valley of the river Möhne, appro ...

Treysa Treysa, an independent town until 1970, is the biggest ''Stadtteil'' of the German town Schwalmstadt. It was incorporated into Schwalmstadt in December 1970. The location around Treysa and Schwalmstadt is called Schwalm. The historic city lie ...

Windecken Nidderau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km north of Hanau, and 20 km northeast of Frankfurt. Nidderau was created in the merger of the municipality of Heldenbergen with the tow ...

. 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= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

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 Straße'' recalls this building.

Surviving witch towers

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

* 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 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 (Memmingen) 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 (Oberderdingen) * 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), 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 period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

town fortifications in

File:Hexenturm_Schwalmstadt.jpg, Witch tower in

File:Babenhausen Hexenturm 2014.jpg, Witch tower in Babenhausen (Hesse)

External links

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