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In the small village of Großpörthen, around five kilometres south-east of Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt, there is a tree that has witnessed history over the centuries. The mighty winter lime tree next to the village church is estimated to be between 700 and 900 years old. Its trunk has a girth of about 9.85 metres and it reaches a height of around twelve metres. That probably makes it the thickest known winter lime in Germany.
But it is not just its age that makes the lime tree special. It owes its name to its presumed role as a court and pillory tree. A rusty neck iron is still visible on its trunk today. It is a reminder of a time when public punishments were part of everyday legal practice.
Middle Ages: Punishment by chaining people in neck irons
A neck iron was a metal ring that was placed around the neck of a convicted person and locked. Public pillory punishment using neck irons is documented in German-speaking areas as early as the 14th century.
This type of so-called shame or honour punishment was particularly widespread in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. It continued for several centuries and is attested in German legal sources well into the 18th century. The punishment was primarily intended to expose the offender publicly and thus destroy their reputation, and depending on the place and the verdict it was combined with corporal punishment.
In some cases the offenders were made to wear signs stating their offence.
Historically, pillory punishment was used for a wide range of offences. Sources mention, among other things, petty theft, insults, slander, disturbance of the peace, breaches of moral norms or fraud involving measures and weights.
Court lime tree almost 1,000 years old
The exact age of the lime tree cannot be determined. With trees of this age, precise dating is difficult, not least because the trunk changes over the centuries. The winter lime’s unusual position on a slope has led to pronounced thickening and bulges in the trunk and root area. Experts from the German Dendrological Society estimate its age at between 700 and 900 years.
The tree has also survived serious damage. A large part of the trunk is said to have broken off around the middle of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the lime has recovered and is considered to be in good health.
Germany’s now second-oldest tree stands in Upstedt in Lower Saxony. It recently lost first place to a yew tree roughly 1,100 years old on an Alpine pasture in the Allgäu. The Upstedt tree is also a lime – more precisely a summer lime, which is considered less robust. The historic square in the centre of the village on which it stands was already used as a meeting place in the early second millennium, and in the 13th century the lime became the court tree.
However, there is no evidence that this tree, unlike the winter lime in Großpörthen, was also used as a pillory.