When they died, Germany noble families of the 18th century did what the Egyptians had done before them: They had themselves mummified. As an increasing number of such well preserved corpses are found, scientists are trying to find out why.
Baron von Holz had a difficult lot. During the Thirty Years’ War, von Holz fought in the Swedish army as a mercenary, but he was not granted a hero’s death on the battlefield. He was cut down, rather less heroically, at the age of 35 by either the flu or blood poisoning. And it was only in death, that his situation really improved.
His family dressed his mortal remains in precious calf-leather boots with nailed soles. The warrior was then laid out in a kind of luxury crypt under the castle of Sommersdorf near Ansbach, in modern-day Bavaria. In those vaults von Holz’s corpse was privileged with an honor previously reserved primarily for Egyptian pharaohs: His body did not decompose.
More than 370 years after his untimely death, the nobleman still lies in his casket, well preserved. Von Holz was a giant of a man, standing 1.80 meters (around 5’10″), at a time when most humans were far shorter. To this day, his feet are still shod in those smart leather boots that his clan had made for him almost four centuries ago.
Secrets of Mummification
The corpse recently left its burial place in the castle cellar for the very first time so that archeologists from the Reiss Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim could take a close look at the mummy. It quickly became clear that the boot-clad baron had no external injuries and he seems to have been in excellent health when he contracted his fatal infection. What remains unclear is why the aristocratic soldier’s body was mummified in the first place.
Only a handful of scientists take an active interest in the leathery corpses that are recovered from boggy moorlands or cellar vaults in Germany. Every few months, a baron, or a priest, turns up at archeologist Wilfried Rosendahl’s door to report that he has found a corpse under his castle or in his parish church.
Confronted with the ever-increasing number of new discoveries, Rosendahl concedes that: “We are more familiar with the history of the Egyptian mummies than with the bodies slumbering in our tombs.”
Only a few weeks ago, the researcher discovered the superbly preserved bodies of 12 members of an aristocratic family in the district of Illereichen in southern Germany.
Why did German Nobility Dabble in Mummification?
Rosendahl’s colleague Andreas Ströbl is currently examining the remains of an 18th-century nobleman’s clan that was laid to rest in a cellar grave under the 18th century Church of St. John the Baptist in Hannover. “We’ve known that these aristocrats’ crypts existed, but for a long time we didn’t know why,” Ströbl admits.
About 1,000 mummified bodies in German noblemen’s graves have been discovered and cataloged so far. The vaults contain children as well as adults, their clothes are sometimes still in remarkably good condition. Often the tombs also contain burial objects: Combs, spices, coins, and in one case, a shaving brush.
The surprizing number of tombs containing mummified remains leads researchers to the conclusion that it was not random. “For a long time, I believed that mummification was more of an accidental corollary of the way people were buried in those days,” Ströbl says. New evidence suggests something different: In this early modern period did many of the rich and aristocratic deliberately have themselves buried in this way so that their remains would be preserved?
A Mausoleum with Ancient Air Conditioning
There is scant source material — but Ströbl did find a “smoking gun”: In a letter, written in 1710, to the board of the parish church of Berlin, a woman called Catharina Steinkoppen made a request for her deceased granddaughter. Namely, that “the aforementioned corpse should not decay in the vaults below the church.” The girl’s father — a courtier by the name of von Schütz — offered the stately sum of 10 Reichsthalers, the equivalent of a year’s wages for a coachman, for the service.
A total of 140 mummified bodies lie in a crypt below a church near Alexanderplatz in central Berlin. It has been known for some time that this was the exclusive domain of deceased members of rich or highly respected families. But the fact that church leaders in Berlin deliberately set up the biggest mausoleum in Germany is a more recent discovery.
After the discovery of the grandmother’s petition, researchers examined the nobleman’s crypt in the historic center of Berlin. What they found was an extremely effective ventilation system running through the tomb. All the burial chambers were connected to each other by a series of small shafts. As such this underground graveyard was always well ventilated.
Indeed Rosendahl and Ströbl found cleverly conceived ventilation systems in even the smallest of these basement graves. But that wasn’t the only trick that promoted mummification. The undertakers lined the coffins of the departed with sawdust which then soaked up any fluids that leaked out of the body.
Part 2: Embalming in Time For Judgment day
Over the course of time though, many of the carefully created burial sites were destroyed by careless construction work. On more than one occasion, unsuspecting builders bricked up important ventilation shafts. In addition, to deter plunderers and grave robbers many churches bolted shut the windows of their crypts. Often enough, that sealed the fate of these historic tombs. Once the cross ventilation was cut off, the mummies began to rot within weeks.
But archeologists are still at a loss to explain why Germany’s rich had themselves mummified in the first place. There is, however, one potential clue: Up to 99 percent of the crypt mummies have been found in areas of the country that were Protestant. The finds so far have been in Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg, northern Germany, and Berlin.
Reiner Sörries, the head of the Museum of Sepulchral Culture in Kassel, is making the first attempts to explain the mystery. Sörries is one of the few archeologists in Germany who studies burial culture. He suspects that religious reformer Martin Luther may have triggered the trend for mummification in the modern age. By way of proof, Sörries cites a passage in the Book of Job that Luther translated into common German: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God.”
Maybe wealthy protestants chose this method of mummification out of fear that they might not rise up and go to heaven if their mortal remains rotted away? “There are still many gaps that we can’t fill in,” Sörries admits. “It is conceivable that people simply wanted to play it safe and preserve their bodies until Judgment Day.”
Computer Reconstructions of Dead Nobility
Whatever the answer, superstition undoubtedly played a role. Bereaved families often sealed the coffins of their departed loved ones to prevent the dead rising up. There was fear that zombies could climb out of their crypts and attack the living.
The group of scientists working with Sörries, Rosendahl and Ströbl now wants to look closer at the bizarre burial rite. This involves researching how the mummified dead actually lived. Using computer tomography, the researchers constructed an image of the late Baron von Holz’ face. From this, one sees that the tall warrior must have cut quite a formidable figure. He had the angular skull of a rugby player and remarkably healthy teeth for the period.
Ströbl hopes to be able to come up with similar insights into a potentially criminal case he unearthed in a family tomb in the Wettenbergen neighborhood in Hannover, which mainly contains members of two aristocratic families, von Hansing and von Grone. Strangely, four daughters in one of the families died in four consecutive years. Had the daughters of this household fallen victim to a virus in their youth? Or was it a case of murder? An analysis of the four girls’ internal organs should provide information that could answer this question.
Mummies in Perfectly Preserved Period Costume
Another fascinating insight into the bygone era is provided by 29 very well preserved mummies found in a vault under the church of the Benedictine abbey in the town of Riesa, in the eastern German state of Saxony. Experts consider the church’s crypt a unique historical testament to mummification in Germany. Construction work last fall drew the researchers’ attention to the aristocratic tomb.
While the region was still part of what was formerly communist East Germany, the bare minimum of preservation work was done on the site. Now, however, the local church council is embroiled in a dispute about what to do with this cultural monument. Some want the crypt, which is only accessible down a narrow stairway, opened up to tourists. But the majority of councilors want to put tight restrictions on public entry.
The site is unique for the look it provides at the authentic period costumes worn by wealthy citizens in past centuries. One girl, for instance, is wearing a perfectly preserved silk dress and has a bonnet on her head. Other bodies were adorned with nightcaps, pointed caps, and long robes.
The identity of the 29 corpses is relatively certain. Uncertainty surrounds only the most famous of the crypt’s inhabitants, who may or may not be Ernst Otto Innocenz, Baron von Odeleben, a Saxon officer with close ties to Napoleon.
In 1812, Odeleben supported the French general’s ill-fated Russian campaign, which ended in a fiasco. Subsequently, Odeleben also witnessed the routing of the French army near Leipzig.
Genetic analysis is being used to help clear up this mystery. But in contrast to Baron von Holz, the researchers won’t be looking for battle scars that may have led to his death. The war veteran spent the last decades of his life working as a land surveyor, and he passed away at his desk.
while the former exPresident of Mexico 1961, he were just realized that in the country from America, they were changing from president, then he made it a phone call,
to the country from the United States of America, in were they change in every four years, from president power, on that first day from December1961, the country from the United States of America, they were changing of power, also they were changing of political power, the power from the aristocratic party, those in before the December from 1961, they were to change, to the Democratic party, that after December 1961,
and the expresident of Mexico 1961, he made a telephone call, to the new american expresident 1961, in the United States of America, then he did ask , if he, the new american expresident 1961, he were ready to approve a loan from him, for the mexican expresident 1961, plus the expresident of Mexico1961, he recall for the new american expresident 1961 to notice, that he had already talk, and asked help for a loan, with the other U.S. expresident outgoing before december 1961,
the new American expresident 1961, he answer back for the Mexican expresident 1961, that he were first occupying the American presidency in December first from 1961, then he recall for the mexican expresident 1961, for him to wait it that please, then to wait until he knew, of that as súpose adoption of the international World Bank loan, as to be approve, by the country of the United States of America, and for the mexican country to spend, then to be “pay”, by the same mexicans but noting for some body else, shortly after, the Mexico’s expresident, he did call again, and again to the U.S expresident 1961, to remind it, in about an approval of the mexican`s loan, the U.S. expresident 1961, he suggested it, to the former expresident of Mexico 1961,
that they were going to approve that loan, but that the World Bank they urged to the country of Mexico, to pay in each and every year, a billion dollars prepay, without any fault or delay, that to avoid any conflict, after the mexicans they got, that loan, the country of Mexico, they began to build billionar`s dollar buildings, for they own government and for they public, after reaching one year, the expresident of North America 1962, he called to the expresident of Mexico 1962, and he did asking, how he had paid the billion? dollar for the World`s International Bank?, the former exPresident of Mexico 1962, he answer back to the former expresident 1962, from the United States of America and he said by phone call, that he not yet paid that billion dollar, inmediately the expresident from the United States of America, 1962, he answered back to the expresident of Mexico 1962, by telephone, that he needed to explain, that after passing a period of one year, those interest will growed, and that the debt will go up, and he did said, that he must immediately to pay the billion dollar, to the World International Bank, because the world international bank, they are calling for he to make notice then to make care of that, plus they are charging that billion dólar, to be pay at the U.S.government, then the expresident of Mexico 1962, he hung up, that phone call, with out any other answer back, for the expresident from the U.S. 1962,
so much it seems, that those germans plus the mexicans, they were already had planned to rob at the government from the United States of America, it because from the early 1962, there were many movements, from inside the U.S. government, various Mexican and German Spies, they were making instale inside, in the new American expresidency 1962, and after passed the Christmas holidays from 1961, the new American expresident, he command it, to make a meeting in the room, in the house of the U.S. government, for he to meet, all the leaders and generals from the us goverment, but a little time before in that same year of 1961, before the december first 1st, from the 1961, had happened a big crime, there were fighting and killing, that at a general, under name Jeorge MacNamara, a blond race man, he was asesínated, to can change, his power, to be ocupad by a Mexican older person, a janitor whom were worked very closely, next to the truth american general george macnamra, but that mexican janitor, he did stole the personal offcial`s identity cards, from the truth american general, after killed the real general MacNamara inside an office of the Ford Motor Car Company, time after on the day of the meeting, the new U.S. expresident 1962, he was knowing and asking, for they rank and name, from each general and chef, the Germans they had already install Spies inside the meeting room, on that day, from the meeting, the new American expresident 1962, he got aboard with words by his same personal secretary, he recall at the new American expresident 1962, that he was a german spy, plus he identify himself at the expresident 1962, as a German spy, plus the personal exsecretary, also he did demanded respect, to the new American expresident 1962, plus that personal exsecretary 1962, he did accused at the U.S. government, that they were how less and inferior public, plus he blame at the american`s staff, from the U.S expresident 1962,.that German spy, he demanded at the new expresident 1962, to do every thing as the german spy command it that, in that meeting there were German Spies, trying to uncover, the real identity of the mexican identity, the as supose general, that Mexican murderer whom had stole, the identity from the truth General George MacNamara, the german spy working inside the house from the us goverment,
they said for the new american expresident 1962, that the as supose General McNamara, he could not, go to that meeting, but the former U.S. expresident 1962, he recall that it was a felony to disobey, for a president, plus he demanded, that he wanted to meet, to George MacNamara, and somebody called, for the pseudo general MacNamara, to have talk, with the new expresident 1962, when the pseudo Mexican general person, with those stolid, official idenity id cards, he were making false identifing, as the general George McNamara, at the new us expresident 1962, but the new american expresident 1962, he assure, that mexican brown person, saying as a general, he was lying, because he already knew before, to the other general George Macnamara, and they discussed it that, he the expresident 1962, command it to leave, that general`s position, to that mexican janitor person, plus to obey the exchange, but many German Spies they were defending how much to Mexican pseudo general, then the german`s Spies they recall for power, inside the house of the U.S. government, because that janitor person, that Mexican murderer , he does it a very powerful black magic witch, and the Germans and mexicans want on his help, for latter then he dresses in black robes, in one of those occasion, that Mexican black magic wicth person, he were inside the house of the U.S. government, in a date were the July 28, from 1962, there were visiting, the house from the american goverment, the young son from Mr. Howard Hughes , a four-year-age, old child, with his own name, ludovicci hughes , and latter then, the Mexican Black magic withc, he aboard with Word, plus he command for the young child to obey, plus to accompany him, it to a secret room, then the the Mexican witch, he did dress in Black magic robes, then he told at the young child, that he would to be, all bewitch it, with all the power from his world, at the same child, to can robe him, his Money.
the american expresident 1962, he recall that he never, allowed to any odd man, of another race, to worked inside with his own military power, from his country, but the many German spies and Mexicans they began to make fun at the power from the new American expresident 1962, for latter after the new american expresident 1962,
he did realized, that he had fallen into a trap, that from the Germans and Mexicans,
it because he did, that passing and the aprove, of billions of dollar, debts from hundreds of billions dollar, from the World International bank , inmediately the new american expresident 1962, he called for the U.S. Congress, to approve it, a conflict against the country of Mexico and at the German , and immediately he recall, plus asked, to pay then to close the many U.S. factories, plus asked them, to leave those public buildings, but the Germans and Mexicans they began to make fun of his commanding, and at the power from the new American expresident 1962, plus the Germans and mexicans, those assured at him, that how he were as commanding, that will to teach at the World`s public a lack of humanity, that plus those other countries will not obey. Because the Mexicans and Germans they are going to start, bad-mouthing at the american expresident 1962, plus the germans and mexicans they say at the american expresident 1962, that they were going to accuse him, of an inhuman person, in the entire World, plus that the Germans they were already making they own defending, that with the poor appearance of the public, of the country of Mexico, that for the germans and mexicans, to can stole, at the World International Bank,
in that phone call, to recall the billion paid, from the new american expresident 1962, for the Mexican expresident 1962, the Mexican expresident 1962, he recall at the american expresident 1962, that he the mexican express, he had more political power, because the former Mexican and german band, they were doing a political powerfull band, inside, the house of government of the United States of America, time in the past, after the 1947, the Germans they grew, in power, until the 1963, from inside the Mexico country, the country of Mexico they gave criminal asylum, to the Nazi war criminals, inside the country of Mexico, that after the final ending of second world conflict, the Nazis power they were experimenting, with cybernetic arms, from human control, within the body, with the help of the people of Mexico, the Mexican military began to give pay of money at the U.S. military persons, and the Mexican they were earning military power, the Mexican they were and they are paying money, to stole from foreign factories and industries in mexico and arround the World, but those factories and industries, they are legally own by foringe Business people, and under the International laws care, by American Business persons, they the american business persons they don`t know why ? the mexicans they had to aboard and kidnapping those foringe factories and industries in the 1963, using of the militar mexican power, under german monitoring and using as nazi strategies, that start in the 1963 year, plus those mexicans they were to much saying, that under the communisism power,
those billionaire foringe factories, allegedly been kidnapped in Mexico since the 1963 year, that under the German power and the Mexican Communist power, and those germans and mexicans they start to pay to the some of the U.S.generals, in the starting from the 1962 year, and still, to sabotage the aproved and commanded conflict, from the new american u.s expresident 1962, at the mexicans, plus at that International band, the new american expresident 1962, he did command at the Germans, don`t to were stole, at the Volkswagen car factory in Mexico, which it is the most they want it to steal, they also demanded that no to robe the technology, the U.S. expresident 1962 he did travel to the german`s country in 1962, then he ask, for the German president 1962, not to steal, plus he ask for peace, plus he ask they, not to do band with the Mexicans, upon they want to fight, they will make military move, and the 1962 German expresident, he assured him, that the Germany, would begin they battle with the power of the television, branded Telefunken, and the germans they start to sabotage all the news broadcasts from the Americans in the world, that starting in the 1962, the Germans and Mexicans they began to rely on they power as homosexuals,
not as the man power, with antique wepon power, with bullet and guns, as the inferior americans, the germans they recall for superiority, because they battle, it was to be done, by cybernetic german`s weapon control, the Germans and Mexicans they start to use small batteries in the figthing, they start to use within metalisc pills, with uranium inside the human body, to gain power, at a fight, the U.S. expresident in 1962,
he says that he got into a trap of the Mexican expresident 1962, plus he did say, that all of those liying, they were all, for those Mexicans, to can robe it, at the World international bank, then with that help of the Germans inside the American power, the Mexicans and Germans they began secretly to fight at all the countries exfriend, from inside the United States gob, that start in the 1963,
then the former united states.expresident 1962. he asked, plus he recall for military justice, from the United Nations. At those guilty people and countries, the american expresident from the december first from 1961, he demand for respect, from his public and political friend people around the World, then he said that he never did like it, the inhuman care, from those mexicans and germans spy, inside the american goberment, in his presidencial period, that it is very truth, that the international police, with the help from the United Nations International power, they must to stop the gang band, of the Mexican and German, because they are and steall killing around the world, and that the power of the united nations should, they must allow the military justice system, against the country of Germany and Mexico and any other guilty people and countries. .