The Legend of Bingen’s Mouse Tower

On a small island in the Rhine river, outside Bingen am Rhein, in Germany, stands a 10th century stone tower with a macabre legend associated with it. The story goes that in the year 970, there was a terrible famine in Germany, so severe that people devoured cats and dogs just to stay alive , yet thousands died of starvation. At this time, the archbishop of Mainz was a cruel and wicked ruler named Hatto II, a despicable miser, whose dominant idea in life was to increase his treasures by fair means or foul. Photo credit: Arcalino/Wikimedia Hatto II had his barn full, but he did not spare a single grain for the starving poor, instead tried to sell them at such inflated prices that most could not afford it. The peasants became angry and were planning to rebel, so Hatto II devised a cruel trick. He promised to feed the hungry people and told them to assemble at an empty barn and wait for him to come with food. The peasants were overjoyed and made their way to the barn to await his coming. Once the barn was full, Hatto II ordered the barn's doors shut and locked, and then set the barn on fire. When Hatto II returned to his castle, he was immediately besieged by an army of mice. To escape the rodents, the bishop fled his castle and sought refuge in the tower that stands on an island on the Rhine, hoping that the mice could not swim. But the mice followed him, pouring into the river by the thousands, and while many drowned even more reached the island. The swarm ate through the tower’s doors and crawled up to the top floor, where they found Hatto II and ate him alive. Since then, the tower has been known as the “Mouse Tower” or Mäuseturm. The apocryphal story that has maligned the poor Bishop has no historical evidence. Bishop Hatto II was by no means a hard-hearted and wicked ruler.