The historic town hall of Rostock is, along with those of Lübeck and Stralsund, one of the most important brick Gothic buildings in the Baltic Sea region. Built on the Neue Markt (New Market) square, it dates back to the 13th century, when the three parts of the Hanseatic city were merged.
The façade of the medieval town hall is now largely covered by baroque extensions and transformations, and the base building has been expanded several times due to the increasing needs of the administration. In the latest remodeling, municipal archaeologists have come across a shocking find.
"We found something that we should not have found," explains Dr. Jörg Ansorge, a specialist at the University of Greifswald and leader of the excavation. At first it didn't attract much attention. It barely looked like an inconspicuous piece of metal. A piece of rolled lead that was discovered at the bottom of an outhouse located at one end of the property.
But, when the researchers unrolled the piece in the laboratory, some creepy words suddenly appeared written in tiny Gothic letters that were barely visible to the naked eye: “sathanas taleke belzebuk hinrik berith,” read the short sentence engraved on this “cursed tablet.” .
Experts believe that this is a curse directed against a woman named Taleke and a certain Hinrik (Heinrich). “Obviously they were supposed to be dealing with the demons Satan, Beelzebub and Pour (a demonic spirit). Did anyone want to break up the relationship between Taleke and Heinrich? Was it about scorned love and jealousy? “Should we get someone out of the way?” the experts ask in a statement.
“Actually, the cursed tablets have been known since ancient times in Greek and Roman regions, that is, from the period between 800 BC and 600 AD. Our discovery, however, can be dated to the 15th century. This is what makes it a very special find," says Ansorge, who adds that similar finds in the Middle Ages are unknown.
For example, a 1,500-year-old lead tablet inscribed in Greek and found in what is now Israel urges demons to harm a rival dancer, while 2,400-year-old ribbons found in Greece ask the gods of underworld that preys on several tavern keepers.
As happened in Rostock, where the text was placed at the bottom of a latrine, curse tablets in ancient times were placed “where it was difficult or impossible to find them.” In this way, the 'damned' did not know of the impending disaster and harmful magic could develop in peace.
