The Black Dwarf of Vienna and Other Weird Stories by Catherine Radziwill

Author:Catherine Radziwill [Radziwill, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ramble House
Published: 2024-02-02T04:00:00+00:00

THE BLACK MONK OF THE CASTELLS

The House of Castell Rudenhausen, and Castell Castell, is one of the oldest in Germany; it can trace its foundation to the year 800 after Christ. In the thirteenth century it was still called Castello, and the abbreviated name of Castell was only adopted much later. In the year 1205 the head of the family was one Count Rubertus Castello, who was a great warrior, and whose renown had spread far beyond the frontiers of Franconia and Suabia, He was a ruthless man, one who never hesitated before a deed of violence, when, by committing it, he could gratify one of his wishes or passions. He was the terror of the whole country, and his feudal Castle of Castell became the scene of the wildest revelries. He was rich and powerful, and he had a considerable army of followers and dependants, with the help of whom he robbed and plundered the residences of the other nobles in the country. Cloisters too, which at that time always harboured great riches, were more than once burnt down by him, and their contents carried away. The Emperor himself did not dare to defy him, and he was allowed to go on unchecked in his career of crime without one single voice daring to rise and denounce him to his peers, the other vassals of the empire. He had married one of his cousins, a gentle and lovely lady, whom he made most miserable, and who had to submit to all his caprices without murmuring. For a long time, however, their marriage remained a childless one, and proud Rubertus began to fear that his race would die out with him. He had got no near relatives, and the thought that his wealth might go to strangers after his death began to worry him, until at last he bethought himself as to the means through which he could obtain a divorce from his wife. This, however, was not easy, because the Countess had always been a blameless woman, and he knew that all his vassals would rise up in horror and indignation if he attempted to harm her in any way, because she had inspired great affection in all her people, and public rumour said that she was a saint, whose whole existence was spent in doing good deeds.

Rubertus, however, was not a man to stop before such considerations, yet it is to be doubted whether he would ever have had the courage to attempt anything against his consort, if one evening, as he was returning alone to his Castle after a hard day’s hunting, he had not seen a girl of surpassing beauty sitting under a tree in the forest, and making wreaths out of wild-flowers which she had been gathering. Her loveliness struck him deeply, and he stopped his horse, and asked her who she was, and how it came that he had never met her before. She replied that she was called Matilda von Egerstein, and that

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