The New Student's Reference Work/Bingen

Bingen (bĭng′en), a picturesque old town of Germany, on the Rhine, in the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. Population of the commune, 8,187. Neighboring mountains, crowned with ruins, and an old bridge, dating back to the era of the Romans, increase the beauty of the place. Below the town is the famous Bingerloch or Bingen Hole, where the Rhine narrows into a strait between towering rocks. Above them, rises the Maüsethurm or Mouse-tower in the middle of the river, where, in the 10th century, Bishop Hatto, of Metz, collected toll from all passing vessels, and where he himself was finally eaten alive by mice attracted to the tower by the grain he had stored away in a time of famine. In popular legend it was near Bingen that the treasure of King Nibelung, which gave its name to the Nibelungen-Lied, was sunk in the Rhine.