Supervision and punishment – The bridge as a legal space
The Rhine Bridge was once not only a 200-metre-long traffic route, but also a setting for the exercise of judiciary power, control and punishment. The town hall and the bridge keeper’s house stood at the Kleinbasel bridgehead. Public punishments involving water were carried out at the bridge’s chapel until the 17th century. This included ‘washing’ adulterers by dragging them under the bridge, from one side to the other, on a rope. Those convicted of witchcraft or infanticide were tied up and cast into the Rhine. This grim practice was last performed in 1634: on Madlen Egerin, who was accused of being a child murderer. The Rheintor gate, notorious for the prison cells within it, stood at the Grossbasel bridgehead.
Bildquelle: Druckgrafik nach einem Aquarell von Constantin Guise, Mitte 19. Jahrhundert, Archives Jura Brüschweiler, Inv. FH-3010-0091