"Heidelberg was once the capital of the Palatinate established here by the Emperor Otto of Germany in the tenth century. The Palatines were sub-rulers, whose duty it was to look after the interests of the emperor. This palatinate, including the northern portion of Baden and a part of Bavaria, became the most powerful in the empire, and was divided into the Upper and Lower Palatinates."
"What does palatinate mean, sir?" asked a student.
"It means merely the territory of a sub-ruler, who was called a palatine, from the Latin word palatium, a palace. When the throne of Germany became elective, these palatines chose the emperor, and for this reason were called electors-palatine, or simply electors. The castle here was the residence of the elector of this division. The town has suffered more from the ravages of war than almost any other in Europe. It has been bombarded five times, burned twice, and captured and pillaged three times.
"The university is one of the most noted in the world, as well as one of the oldest in Germany, having been founded in 1386. It has had at one time nearly nine hundred students, and generally has seven or eight hundred. It employs the most celebrated professors in Europe, especially in the departments of law and medicine. Its library contains some very rare and valuable works, printed and in manuscript."
"What about the duels, sir?" inquired Haven.
"The students here are noted for the duels which take place among them. Four or five have occurred in a single day, and perhaps they average a dozen a week. But I wish to say, in the beginning, that duelling and other vicious practices charged upon the University of Heidelberg are confined to about one fifth of the whole number of students. They are not all duellists, nor all inordinate beer-drinkers. Probably they are no worse than the residents at other universities, though the duels are certainly exceptional. Four fifths of the students here are devoted to their studies, improve their time to the utmost, and never engage in, or even see, a duel.
"These combats—which they are, rather than duels—take place at the Hirschgasse, a lonely hotel on the other side of the Neckar. The fighting and dissipated students form themselves into clubs, called 'chores,' among which a great deal of jealousy and ill feeling prevails. The fights are to avenge insults, to 'see who is the best fellow,' or between representatives of different chores, who battle for the honor of their clubs. The champions fight with blunt swords ground sharp on the two edges. They slash each other, but do not thrust, so that the combats seldom result in mortal wounds.
"In a fight for the honor of the clubs, the parties tie up their necks and right arms in bandages and cushions. When they fight for the satisfaction of an injury or insult, they have no protection. The combat, in all cases, is decided in fifteen minutes; and at the end of this time, the one who has the fewest cuts is declared to be the best fellow. If one of the champions is severely injured in less than fifteen minutes, so that he cannot continue the fight, it is finished up on another occasion. A surgeon is always in attendance to decide whether a wounded contestant is able to go on. The police are on the watch for these fights; but the students station sentinels for some distance from the arena of contest, and the approach of an officer is communicated to them in season to enable the combatants to escape. I need not add, that these duels are brutal and disgraceful. It looks as though the police winked at them.
"In some of these clubs, the ability to drink from a dozen to thirty glasses of beer at a sitting is a necessary qualification for admission. But these beastly and brutal tendencies belong, I repeat, to a minority of the students."
After the lecture, the party started for the castle, Shuffles riding with the earl's family, and Paul with the Arbuckles, while the rest walked. Heidelberg Castle has the reputation of being one of the most imposing and interesting ruins in Europe. The grounds are quite extensive, and full of curious objects. The students wandered through the halls and subterranean vaults till they came to the famous tun, which is thirty-six feet long, and twenty-four feet high, having a capacity of eight hundred hogsheads. It was employed to contain the wine of the vineyards; but it has not been used during the last hundred years. A run to the Königstuhl, or King's Seat,—a high hill behind the castle, which commands a magnificent view of the valleys of the Neckar and the Rhine, and of the mountains in the vicinity,—finished the work of the week.