My master’s thesis: „Gattenmord im frühneuzeitlichen Kursachsen. Der Fall Dorothea Eleonora Saalbach aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert“ [Murder of one’s husband or wife in early modern Saxony. The case of Dorothea Eleonora Saalbach from the early 18th century]

Preface

My master’s thesis was written between July 2008 and January 2009 at the University of Dresden. Its main source were documents from the state archives in Dresden. They cover the period from January 22nd 1714 to June 19th 1725 and consist of a correspondence between the bailiff of the city of Torgau in Saxony, the administration in Dresden and an ambassador of Saxony in Prague. The main documents and thus most important sources of the case were transcripts of surveys from the so called Leipziger Schöppenstuhl, which only survived by accident.

The murder case

On November 2nd in 1713 the two hunters Gottfried Sachße and Paul Friedrich Rothe went into the heath near Weidenhain. There they waited for David Saalbach the tenant of Roitzsch manor near Torgau. When he rode by on his way from Großwig to Roitzsch Sachße took the horse’s rein and stopped him. Rothe shoot twice and injured Saalbach mortally so he fell off his horse. Afterwards they carried the corpse into the heath and took his clock, his hat, his purse and his shoes. They hid the corpse with fallen leaves and went to Roitzsch manor at midnight where they were already awaited by Dorothea Eleonora Saalbach, the victim’s wife. She gave thirty thaler and a bag with money to them and to Rothe a chemise, a ruff and a handkerchief. After that they left and possibly went to Leipzig.

The further developments

First the two suspects Sachße and Rothe were arrested by the municipal court of Jena in Thuringia. Both were already seen as guilty. What was missing was just there confession. Meanwhile the victim’s wife was also suspected to be involved. A certain Schulze who fled and thus could not be interrogated was supposed to be the lover of Dorothea Saalbach and so a direct connection between adultery and the murder of the husband was established. The missing confessions should be gained partly by using torture. This only succeeded in the case of the young Sachße. Paul Friedrich Rothe and Dorothea Saalbach who meanwhile was able to escape to Bohemia didn’t confess. Consequently Sachße was sentenced to death and his corpse should be broken on the wheel afterwards. Although his relatives entered a petition the sentence was carried out. By contrast Rothe was sentenced to public flagellation and fortification as punishment because of the strong evidence against him. Dorothea Saalbach should be brought into the workhouse in Waldheim but she does not appear in the records there.

Download in German language

You want to learn more about this interesting case? Then please download my complete master’s thesis including bibliography and transcription of the main source for free!

[DOWNLOAD] (1,05 MB)

If you want to quote from my master’s thesis please use the following citation:

Franke, Matthias: Gattenmord im frühneuzeitlichen Kursachsen. Der Fall Dorothea Eleonora Saalbach aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert, Magisterarbeit TU Dresden, 2009, URL: www.der-geschichtsleister.de/downloads/Gattenmord.pdf (last access).