Medebach-Düdinghausen, Zum Sürendahl (51.257473 | 8.692625)
I had found Düdinghausen on the Internet under the name "Adventure village for nature and history". This had aroused my curiosity. However, I couldn't imagine much about the "Freistuhl", a courthouse square. Photos only showed two carved stones and I wondered what was so fascinating about it. I meet Horst Frese at the village church. He is the chairman of the local history and tourist association and wants to introduce me to the Freistuhl. Since his retirement, he has been pursuing his favorite pastime: He narrates Düdinghausen.
We stroll past half-timbered houses, many of which are over 100 years old. Frese knows all the house names that have survived over the centuries, even when buildings have been demolished and rebuilt in the same place. He also knows the stories behind the four walls. One of the "Königs" emigrated to America. "Berendes" had a witchcraft dispute with a neighbor around 1600. One street further on, in 1723, the Protestant and Catholic priests went at each other, not with spiritual arguments, but with fence rails. And the "Jägers" of all people acted as poachers: father and son were caught red-handed in the forest in 1735, shot and dishonorably buried next to the cemetery. Frese tells the story from house to house, visibly proud of the historical wealth of the small village.
On the southern edge, we reach the Freistuhl. It belongs to the historic Freigrafschaft Düdinghausen and its eight Saxon villages. A manorial seat made of stone, with a carved star from the coat of arms of the von Waldeck family, to whose Grafschaft the village belonged for a long time. A sword, symbolizing the power of life and death, has been engraved into the surface of the judge's table, which is also made of stone. Next to it is a young lime tree, as they were traditionally planted in court places. From a sober point of view, there are nothing more than two stones, a small tree and a view of a vast farming landscape with meadows and fields.
But as Horst Frese tells the story, a historical drama begins in my head: "The Freigraf sat here on the chair, the Eisenberg castle of the Waldeck counts always in view. He was appointed by them to dispense justice. To his left and right were seven aldermen. These were respected farmers with considerable landholdings. They confidently helped determine the verdicts. Following the Germanic tradition of the 'Thing', the court met in the open air. That is why the chair had to be made of stone. The hearings were open to the public. If the villagers disagreed with the verdict of the free count and the aldermen, the case had to be heard again. This had a democratic character. In addition to the sword, there was sometimes a rope on the table in cases where a death sentence was imminent. That was also carried out immediately."
But mostly the negotiations were about trivial disputes. A boundary stone was secretly moved. A neighbor's cow was injured. Broken glass in a pub brawl. Eight villages were subject to the jurisdiction that emanated from this place. "That was real peace work," explains Horst Frese. It was a matter of constantly re-establishing harmony and concord - important in those times when the villagers depended on each other for better or worse. Judgments were passed on "free goods, paths and footbridges, as well as debts and damages and similar civil matters". Victim-offender mediation was already practiced back then. Anyone who had harmed another had to pay compensation. This even applied to adultery: the rival had to pay compensation to the victim.
A kind of criminal court, the "secret eight", met less frequently and in camera. The Düdinghausen crime scene: On a September day in 1539, a farmhand named Hanns Unland pinned a feud letter to the church door. He declared enmity against the farmer Thiele - to protect his honor. "Dü wol waist why", you know why. He spread the word in the village that Thiele had tried to incite him to kill the new Lutheran pastor. Was the farmer a secret rebel against the lords of Waldeck, under whose protection the pastor stood? Or was someone taking revenge for low wages paid to a servant? When Unland absconded, he was pursued, arrested and brought before the secret eight. The Freigraf had done some research and confronted the servant with his previous "misdeeds, theft and robbery", he is even said to have committed murder. The intrigue did not end well for the servant: He ended up on the branch of an oak tree.
Frese tells of border disputes between the Waldecks and the Electors of Cologne, of the battle for gold that was found nearby, of love affairs and political intrigues. Stories from history touch us because we recognize ourselves in them, our own fears and conflicts, sufferings and joys. Frese tells us about all this while we sit on the Freistuhl in the sunshine, surrounded by bumblebees. With his descriptions, he has transformed two blocks of stone and a small tree into the backdrop for thrillers that captivate me, the listener, to the Freistuhl.
Author: Michael Gleich
Peace to the fields
Peace to the wide valley
Search for truth
Separate, punish or
reconcile, unite.
Independently judging word,
Insight, tolerance, forgiveness
Living together in harmony
and justice
Marlies Strübbe-Tewes
Hikers' parking lot at the church square in Düdinghausen.
For more information, contact the Tourist Information Medebach: Tel: 02982 / 9218610, e-mail: info@medebach-touristik.de
In the 16th century the Freigraf held court twice a year at the Freistuhl Düdinghausen. There everything was negotiated, which gave it in the villages at conflicts. Theft of grain, for example, or if someone had stolen a pottery or a sheet.
Eight villages were subject to the jurisdiction that emanated from this place. It was a matter of establishing harmony again and again - important in those times when the villagers depended on each other for better or worse.