Archbishop Hatto

"They tore the flesh from every limb, for they were sent to punish him!"

- A German legend about Hatto and the mice

Archbishop Hatto is a villainous German Archbishop from Mainz in Germany and he is the antagonist of the story The Mouse Tower. In this story, he is the ruler of Mainz and is scornful of peasants. He is very arrogant, and even blasphemous. He owned a tower on the river Rhine from which he would have gunmen and bowmen to shoot at ships and steal from their crews.

When peasants come to his cathedral begging for food he pretends to help them and tells them to come to a certain barn where he will give them food, causing them to praise him, but when they do come, he slams the doors shut in their faces, and burns them all in the barn, burning them to death. He even laughs at their deaths, and says "Let the mice squeak!"

However, when he goes to the church, he meets an army of mice. They follow him and chase him to the river. He gets over on a raft to the tower, but the mice follow. Many drown but the rest get on the beach. He is ambushed by the mice in the tower and they eat him.

Behind the scenes
Hatto was a real archbishop and may not have been as evil as the story suggests.