Ketterhagergasse

In the Erbbücher (hereditary land registers) of the 14th and 15th centuries, the lane is referred to only as "arta platea versus valvam" (narrow street toward the gate). However, as early as a tax register of 1377/78, the designation "versus valvam keterhagin" appears. As late as 1633, the Erbbuch still names it after the "Ketterhagen Gate." The name was later also corrupted to "Ketterauisches Thor." In an official gazette of 1817, it is also called "Ketterhagische Thorgasse."

Originally, the lane extended only from the Hundegasse (Dog Lane) to the Hintergasse (Back Lane), immediately behind which it was closed off by the gate. This gate, together with its barbican and moats, occupied the space up to the Vorstädtischer Graben (Suburban Moat). Only after the moats were filled in during the 17th century did the section of the lane between the gate and the Vorstädtischer Graben come into existence; its properties are listed in the Erbbuch as "vor dem Ketterhagischen Tore" (before the Ketterhagen Gate). This new part of the lane continued to be called this until the 19th century. The gate itself was demolished in 1836.

The name "Ketterhagen" or "Ketzerhagen" was also used in Danzig itself as late as 1416 for a second location, namely the area at the Haustor (House Gate). The same name appears in other Teutonic Order towns as well, such as Elbing and Marienburg. A common feature of all these lanes is their location near the city wall.

As to their character, there can be no doubt after an account by the chronicler Johann Lindenblatt. He reports that in the year 1401, a wicked man broke into a church at Conradswald, stole a pyx containing the sacrament, and came to Marienburg, where he took up lodging "in den ketczerhayn" among the prostitutes. The lane had the same character in Elbing, where in 1407 the treasurer received 9 marks "von der wibe gelde" (from the women's money — that is, from brothel fees) for construction "in dem hagene."

The name is thus a designation for brothel lanes. The word "Ketzer" (Low German "Ketter"), originally used only in the ecclesiastical sense of "heretic," underwent a broad expansion of meaning at an early date. "Ketzerei" (heresy) also came to mean depravity, and in particular the Middle Dutch expression "kettern" was used in a sense that perfectly matched the locality. Since the Dutch were heavily involved in the colonization of the region, it appears the word, like "Vendet" and "Lastadie," was brought eastward by them.

In Westphalia, instead of the Prussian form "Ketterhagen," the same type of lane is called "Katthagen," which likely shares the same origin. Since the derivation of "Ketzer" from the Waldensian sect of the Cathars had already been forgotten early on, and people could only explain a transgression like heresy through the influence of the devil, the term was associated in various ways with the cat — regarded as the devil's animal. Thus one finds "Katzenmeister" (cat-master) and "Katzenglaube" (cat-faith) instead of "Ketzermeister" and "Ketzerglaube." The same relationship likely exists between "Katthagen" and "Ketterhagen."

Today the street is known as "Mischief Lane" in translation.