THE ANIMATED WINE-CASKS.
Adalbert, from his castle of Saint Cross, disturbed by robbery the city of Trèves. The city swore vengeance.
A certain brave knight, named Sicco, offered to destroy both Adalbert and his castle by cunning. This offer was gladly accepted, and the clergy blessed the cunning knight.
* * *
On a very hot day, when all within the Saint Cross castle were dozing, a stranger appeared at the gate, and begged the warder to give him a cup of wine, as he had travelled far, being just arrived from Italy, and was on his way to his castle on the Moselle.
The refreshment was given him, and the grateful traveller requested the warder to tell his master that his kindness would not be unrewarded, as he was the owner of a fair vineyard, and when he arrived at home he would send him some casks of his best wine in return for his hospitality.
Before long a troop of peasants were seen approaching the castle, escorting several carts laden with casks, which, however, were filled with armed men instead of strong wine.
The warder challenged the procession, and Sicco, who was disguised as a peasant, said that they were sent by the pilgrim to whom Adalbert had been so hospitable, and who now forwarded them in conformity with his word.
The door was opened, and Adalbert himself conducted the carts into the court-yard; then Sicco drew his sword, and gave the signal to his followers by slaying Adalbert, and the men, being liberated from the casks, rushed on the garrison and slew them all; then the castle was burnt. On the ruins a church was built.
The Crusades gave a new impetus to arts and sciences, bringing the luxury and refinement of the East into contact with the almost barbaric simplicity of the Western nations; and from the eleventh century we find the legends assume a different character, saints and hermits giving place to knights and ladies, and minstrels sing lays of love and pleasure in place of dwelling on the old themes of war and religion. Instead of descriptions of lives passed in deserts, and celestial visions, we have pictures of tournaments and tales of robbers, ghosts, and stirring adventures of all sorts, mingled with dreams of Eastern luxury.
Popular fury having been raised by the preaching of Peter the Hermit and others, it expended itself in the first place on those more immediately within its reach; and in Trèves the Jews were so persecuted that they frequently committed suicide, after slaying their children: multitudes of them also embraced Christianity, only to resume their real faith when the storm had passed.
In the two succeeding centuries many curious laws were enacted to suit the times,—those relating to trial by combat are among the most remarkable; we will merely instance one: If a woman of the lower classes had been violated, but the matter could not be proved, the accused man was buried up to his middle in the earth, and a stick, an ell long, put into his hand; thus he fought the woman, who was armed with a stone tied up in her veil.
Coiners were at this period boiled in kettles.
In addition to courts of law, there were now established courts of love; these were composed of select women and knightly poets, who with extraordinary sagacity gave judgment in love affairs.
The service of the fair formed an essential part of knightly customs. To insult, or in any way injure a woman, was disgraceful. Woman—the ideal of beauty, gentleness, and love—inflamed each knightly bosom with a desire to deserve her favours, by deeds of valour and self-denial. She was worshipped as a protecting divinity, and knights undertook any task, however difficult, at the merest hint that it would be acceptable, even deeming themselves happy to die for her sake, and so win her approbation.
Love became an art, “a knightly study,” and this submission to the gentle yoke of woman, bred in humility and religion, chiefly contributed to humanise and civilise the manners of the age; and we may thank the German element for superseding the grosser and more sensual manner in which woman was regarded previously to the rising of that nation. The historian concludes his remarks on this subject by saying, “Fidelity was the essence of true love; and such were lovers then.”
In the thirteenth century arose an institution immediately allied with the neighbourhood of our river; this was the Fehm-gerichte, or Secret Tribunal. Engelbert, an Archbishop of Cologne, was the first president and founder of this secret court. It was in the first instance composed of a number of honourable men of every class, who joined together for the purpose of judging and punishing all evildoers; its measures were chiefly directed against the licentious nobles and robber-knights; its proceedings were necessarily secret, as, were the names of the judges known, they would have been objects of vengeance to all the turbulent spirits of the day. In the fourteenth century this association numbered a hundred thousand members, all bound by a solemn oath, and known to each other by a secret sign.
No ecclesiastics, except the spiritual lord; no Jews, women, or servants, were admitted as members; nor were these amenable to the court, all accused being judged by their peers. Accusations brought before this court were only such as would not have been received by the more legal tribunals.
The accused was summoned to appear three times; and if he did not then come forward, judgment was passed on him by default, the oath of the accuser being considered sufficient proof of his guilt, and the condemned criminal was secretly and mysteriously deprived of life. His body was always found with a dagger, on which were the letters S. S. G. G.,[4] plunged into it.
As an instance of the working and rude justice of this tribunal, we read the following:—
“A certain Baron Wolfgang von Cronenburg ravished a nun, and bade defiance to the laws, in his castle; but even here the arm of this secret society reached him, and he was found dead. The nun being pregnant by him was released from her vows, and the possessions of her ravisher bestowed on her and her son.”
An extraordinary pilgrimage was founded about the end of the thirteenth century by an Archbishop of Trèves; the pilgrims were to go to the grave of Saint Willibrod at Epternach, and there join in a general dance in her honour. During this dance the pilgrims of all ranks were linked together; first they advanced, then retired, afterwards ziz-zagging off to the right and left. This custom was kept up for many years, and is still in existence in a modified form.[5]
In 1473, Trèves was selected by Charles the Bold and the Emperor Frederick III. as the place where they should meet and settle the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with Maximilian, the son of Frederick; Charles was on his side to be invested with the rank of King, and receive the title of King of Burgundy.
Frederick arrived, magnificently attended; but Charles, surrounded by his nobles from the rich country of Flanders, outshone the Emperor. The latter invested Charles with the Duchy of Guelders, and a day was fixed for his coronation as King; but before the day arrived Frederick quietly took boat and dropped down the Moselle, being probably instigated by the French emissaries[6] to take this step.
The disgust of Charles defrauded of a crown, and of the towns-people disappointed of a spectacle, must have been excessive.
The abuses of the Romish Church now culminated, and Luther, hurling his bolt against the Roman Bishop, drove the faith of the times into two opposite extremes,—infidelity and superstition. Men’s minds became unhinged; none knew what to believe; fantastic visions of every kind dazzled the eyes of all; the devil seemed to walk on earth, and men who believed in little else sought his protection. Now was the time when people believed that certain charms rendered their bodies invulnerable; and bullets, which never missed, could be cast. Gold was supposed to be obtainable by skill; and above all, the elixir of life, which should enable the possessor to lengthen his term of existence at pleasure, was eagerly sought. One charlatan asserted that gold could be extracted from Jews, and that the ashes of twenty-four of this nation would yield one ounce. In the preceding century a Bishop of Lausanne had believed in the efficacy of a spiritual anathema for driving away grasshoppers and mice, and soon after a Bishop of Coire cursed cockchafers.
The burning of witches formed one of the most remarkable features of the age of the Reformation; it had commenced at an earlier period, but became general in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
In the fourteenth century the Council of Trèves condemned the belief in witches, and declared their supposed nightly expeditions to be a fabulous invention; but in the fifteenth century the belief came suddenly back with fresh force, Pope Innocent VIII., in 1485, affirming the existence of witches.
Old women were more persecuted by the Lutherans than they had been by the Inquisition. They were accused of being in league with the devil, and with his help raising storms, depriving cows of milk, carrying off corn through the air, striking men and cattle dead, or afflicting them with sickness, exciting love by potions, and unnatural hate by spells.
For all these, and many other imaginary crimes, poor old women were dragged from their homes and subjected to different ordeals. Firstly, came the shaving of the head; and if any mole or scar was found, she was proclaimed a witch. Secondly, if no mole or scar, she was usually tried by either water or weight; if the former, her right thumb was tied to her left great toe, and her left thumb to her right great toe, and she was thrown into the water: if she floated, she was a witch; if weight was the test, little shrivelled-up women had no hope, for they were generally declared under weight, and tortured till they confessed. Under these tortures they confessed whatever their persecutors thought fit, and were then burned. There were many other ordeals practised in different places.
The Archbishop of Trèves, in 1589, sentenced so many women to the stake, that in two districts only two women remained. This Archbishop also condemned the Rector of the University of Trèves as a sorcerer.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Trèves suffered much from the different armies that repeatedly traversed her territories; and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, one of its Electors had the temerity to declare war against Louis XIV., without waiting for the decision of the Empire.
Louis determined to seize on the person of the Elector, who he jeeringly named the “Little Curé of Trèves.” For this purpose he despatched a regiment of Hussars from Sarre-Louis, with orders to bring him dead or alive. The Hussars endeavoured to surprise the Elector while hunting; but a certain Postmaster warned him of the plot and he fled to Ehrenbreitstein, closely followed by the Hussars. The Elector rewarded the Postmaster, by ordering that whenever he came to Ehrenbreitstein he should be allowed to eat and drink his fill of whatever he chose, that was in cellar or larder.
In 1803 the spiritual Electorates were abolished, and Trèves included in France. It now forms a portion of Rhenish Prussia.
* * *
Having touched on the leading historical events connected with Trèves, from the earliest times to the present century, we will take a survey of the city as it now exists.
Formerly Trèves occupied a large space on both sides of the Moselle, but it has in later years been confined to the right bank of the river; indeed, it cannot properly be said to be on the Moselle at all, for the principal part of the town is at some distance inland, and everywhere walls shut it out from the stream, only a few detached houses appearing on the banks.
Completely modernised, Trèves yet possesses a certain look of age, owing probably to its walls with avenues of trees surrounding, and an air of decay visible throughout its streets and squares. The later style of houses are of the time of Louis XV., and many of them are good specimens of sufficiently ornamented dwellings.
The Market-place presents a most animated appearance on the great market-days; and it is with difficulty we can force our way through the crowd on those days, owing to a fashion the women have of wearing their baskets on their backs; which unwieldy things are unmercifully pushed into the ribs of the passer-by, and while he tries to recover his breath after the concussion his incautious foot probably receives a solid sabot on its tenderest part. In the Market-place stands an elegant fountain, opposite to which is the Rothen Haus, formerly the town-hall: this building is now a comfortable inn, well placed for studying costumes and customs.
Within sight of the Market-place is the famous Porta Nigra; what its original use was is a matter of vague conjecture, the learned in such subjects not being able to agree in their opinions. During the middle ages it was used for ecclesiastical purposes, and was fitted up as two churches, one above the other, in which service was regularly performed: the Prussian authorities have restored it to its original state, and it is very well preserved, and is certainly quite one of the most interesting Roman buildings extant.
There are (as we stated at the commencement of this chapter) many other reminiscences of the Roman rule to be seen in Trèves, the principal of which are the bridge, the amphitheatre, and the baths: of the latter a considerable portion still remains, but of the amphitheatre only the form is left, with a mere fragment of wall at the entrance. It, in common with the other ruins in Trèves, is well kept and preserved.
The old palace of the Archbishops is now a barrack, and only interesting from its associations.
The Liebfrauen Kirche is a beautiful Gothic edifice, with noble arches of extreme lightness and delicacy of appearance; the doorway is richly carved; and, altogether, this church is as beautiful a specimen of its order of architecture as can be found.
The Cathedral is a fine building and stands side by side with the Liebfrauen Kirche, which it far exceeds in size but to which it is inferior in beauty; it is, nevertheless, a good specimen of the Byzantine style, and from its proximity to the Liebfrauen Kirche we are able, at a glance, to contrast the different orders of architecture.
In this Cathedral is deposited the coat of our Saviour, “woven without seam from top to the bottom;” and here flocked, so lately as 1844, no less than one million one hundred thousand persons to gaze on the wonderful garment, which was exhibited to the faithful for eight weeks and then returned to its coffer.
There are many other churches in and around Trèves, one of which the commissionaires think very grand, and accordingly march their slaves, the sight-seers, off to visit it, and expect them to fall into raptures with a whitewashed, high-roofed ball-room, covered with tawdry, coarsely-painted arabesques, and indifferent pictures; the slaves generally gratify their tyrants by falling into unbounded raptures, and nearly twist their necks off to get a look at the paintings on the ceiling: latterly, little looking-glasses have been provided, to save them from getting cricks in their necks.
About six miles from Trèves, on the Luxembourg road, is a village called Igel. Here is preserved a very curious stone obelisk, covered with carvings of figures and inscriptions: as usual, there is a considerable dispute as to its origin and purpose, but it undoubtedly is a very curious relic of bygone days, and is not without beauty in design and execution.
Luxembourg is a very strong place, so scientifically fortified that it is most difficult for an uninitiated person to find his way into it; and having done so, the town is so wretchedly stupid and dull that the visitor generally comes to the conclusion that he has taken a good deal of trouble for nothing, and hastens to make his way out: which task he finds not less difficult than the entry. From the walls very striking views might be seen, only the sentries order you off immediately, especially if you have so deadly an implement as a sketch-book in your hand; however, we have no particular cause to expatiate on Luxembourg, as it is only one small feeder of our river.
Roman Monument in Igel.
[1] The foundation of this legend is, that portions of canals have been found between Trèves and Cologne, but it is supposed they were separate canals, not portions of one large one; therefore, perhaps, the duck did not swim all the way from Trèves.
[2] Cathedral.
[3] Grimm supposes Eigel and Orendel to be Ulysses and Laertes.
[4] Stock (stick), Stein (stone), Gras (grass), Grun (green).
[5] As the author was informed at Trèves.
[6] Query, Was this the origin of taking French leave?