Below Bingen in the middle of the Rhine there is a lonely island on
which a stronghold is to be seen. This tower is called "the
Mouse-Tower." For many centuries a very gloomy tale has been told
about it in connection with Hatto, Archbishop of Mayence, whose evil
deeds were well-known throughout the country.
Hatto is said to have been ambitious, heartless, and perfidious, as
well as cruel towards the poor. He extorted taxes from his people,
tolls were imposed, and new burdens invented only to gratify his
haughty pride and his love of display. On a little island between
Bingen and Rüdesheim he caused a tower to be built, so that all
passing ships could be stopped in the narrow passage, where they were
obliged to pay toll.
Soon after the building of this custom-house there was a very bad
harvest in the country round Mayence. Drought had parched the fields,
and the little seed remaining had been destroyed by hail. The scarcity
was felt all the more, because the bishop had bought up all the stores
of corn that were left from the year before, and had stored them up
safely in his granaries.
A terrible famine now threatened the land, spreading misery among the
poor. The unhappy people implored the cruel bishop to lower the price
of the corn in his store-house, which he wished to sell at such
exorbitant prices that his subjects could not buy it. All their
petitions were in vain. His advisers besought him to have pity on the
deplorable condition of the poor, but Hatto remained unmoved. When
cries of distress and the murmuring voices of the exasperated folk
were raised against their hard-hearted master, the bishop gave free
vent to the wicked thoughts of his soul.
One day a troop of hungry beggars came crowding to the episcopal
palace crying for food. Hatto and his guests were just sitting down to
a luxurious banquet. The bishop had been talking to his companions of
these wretched people, and had expressed his opinion that it would be
a good thing to do away with them altogether in some drastic way.
As the ragged mob of men, women and children, with hollow cheeks and
pale faces threw themselves at his feet crying for bread, a still more
fiendish plan suggested itself. Beckoning to them with hypocritical
kindness he promised them corn, and caused them to be led outside the
town to a barn, where each one was to receive as much corn as he
wished. The unhappy folk hurried forth, their hearts full of
gratitude; but when they were all in the barn, Hatto ordered the doors
to be locked and the barn to be set on fire.
The screams of the poor wretches were heart-rending, and could be
heard even in the bishop's palace.
But cruel Hatto called out scornfully to his advisers, "Listen! how
the mice are squeaking among the corn. This eternal begging is at an
end at last. May the mice bite me if it is not true!"
But the punishment which Heaven sent him was terrible. Thousands of
mice came out of the burning barn, made their way to the palace,
filled every chamber and corner, and at last attacked the bishop
himself. His servants killed them by hundreds, but their numbers
seemed only to increase, as did their ferocity also. The bishop was
seized with horror and, anticipating God's punishment, he fled from
the town and went on board a boat hoping to defend himself from his
terrible pursuers. But the innumerable horde swam in legions after
him, and when he reached his tower on the island thinking at least he
would be safe there, the mice followed him, gnawing the tower and
tearing for themselves an entrance with their sharp teeth, till at
last they reached him whom they sought. The cruel man was devoured by
the mice, which attacked him by scores. In his despair he offered his
soul to the Evil One, if he would release his body from such awful
agony. The Evil Spirit came, freed his body, but took his soul away
for himself.
Thus runs the legend. History however speaks less severely of Hatto,
the imperious prelate.
* * * * *
His great ambition was his desire of power. He was the founder of the
temporal power which the seat of Mayence obtained, and which later on
made it the first bishopric of the kingdom, but he was always hated by
the citizens, who suffered much owing to his proud, despotic
character.
It is true that he was the founder of the toll which ships in olden
times were obliged to pay on the Rhine, so that this fact and many
other cruel exactions of his, have helped to evolve the terrible
legend of the Mouse-Tower.