der Mäuseturm

Der Mäuseturm The first place we stopped on our German holiday in May/June 2004 was Bingen.

It is much the poorer relation of Rüdesheim on the opposite bank of the Rhine but nevertheless has some interest because it was the home of one of the great female figures of the European Middle Ages - Hildegard von Bingen.

Between 1141 and 1151, Hildegard wrote her literary masterpiece Scivias which is a visionary description of the world and the relationship between God and mankind. She also produced a two-volume tract on natural sciences and the art of healing. But perhaps her greatest and longest lasting achievement was as a composer. She wrote Ordo Virtutum (which is a musical drama and the earliest known morality play) as well as many other works.

Bingen's best known monument is the one you can see in the photograph. It is der Mäuseturm (Mousetower), a former customs tower on an island in the Rhine in which, according to grisly legend, Archbishop Hatto of Mainz was devoured alive by mice after having burned all the local beggars during a famine.