The Rhine: legends, traditions, history, from Cologne to Mainz

Preface

. The want of a work which should include all the " legends, traditions, and history" of that most romantic and remarkable portion of the Rhine lying between Cologne and Mainz, has been long felt by the European public. It is quite true that much has been written on these subjects, in various languages, and that a great deal has been done towards elucidating them in several forms : so far the subject is not a new one. But still it is no less true, that the wild and wondrous legends which appertain to each particular castle on that immortal river — the extraordinary traditions which attach themselves to almost every spot on its shores — the spirit-stirring histories connected with its cities, and towns, and hamlets, through the long period when it was, not alone the sole highway of central Europe, but the centre of European civilization, have never as yet been gathered together, nor given in any thing like an entire form and complete shape to the world. The present attempt is made, VI

PREFACE.

. to supply, as far as possible, that desideratum in general literature. To those who have traversed the shores of this noble stream, and to those who intend to travel thither, it is believed that than this work there can be no more acceptable offering. It is pre sumed that it will revive in the minds of the one the dormant beauties of those glorious scenes over which they have heretofore wandered, and fix them more firmly in remembrance, by connecting them with the facts of history or the fictions of romance ; while to the other, it is trusted that it will serve as a stimulant to quicken their apprehension of coming pleasure, by exciting their rea son, their memory, and their imagination. Thus, the recollection of the past, and the anticipation of the future, will, it is fondly hoped, be blended by its means into one bright and harmonious whole.

The various subjects, whether " legend, tradition, or history," treated of in the succeeding pages, have been derived from so many sources, oral as well as written, that merely to quote them would be to swell this preface beyond all reasonable limits ; and as it could serve no useful purposes, either to the scholar who, from the nature of his acquire ments, must know the well-springs whence they have been drawn, without being under obligation

PREFACE.

. VII to any one for the knowledge, or to the mere reader, who has no occasion sot such information, it has been deemed right to make no more than a mere passing allusion to them. Hither and thither in the body of the book, however, will be found references to the historical authorities from which it is in part compiled, as well as to the originals on which many of the legends and traditions to be met with in it are founded ; which, it is believed, will be sufficient for all useful purposes of that description. The author has nothing to add, save that he has endeavoured to make his work as worthy of the public favour as possible ; and that it will not be wholly his fault if it does not succeed. Lnnrfim, June 20th, 1839. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PAGE Preface v Introduction 1 COLOGNE U The Cathedral.— The Plan 19 The Erection 31 The Devil's Stone 37 The Fire-Bell , 37 Conventional Church of St. Ursula.

St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins 40 St. Kordula 46 St. Mary o' the Capitol 47 Herrman Joseph 48 The Painter and the Crucifix 54 The Church of the Apostles. Jost von Buhl, the Wily Merchant 56 The Church of St. Gereon. St. Maternus's Resurrection 01 The Dominican's Church 64 Albertus Magnus, the Magician 65 The Minorites 70 The Rath-Haus. The Burgomaster. — The Archbishop's Lion 71 The Neu Marckt. The Grey Mare in the Garret 81 DEUTZ. The Middle Ages 84 vol. I. l> CONTENTS. X PACE ALTE-BURG. The Kobold 99 WESTHOFEN. The River Fight 107 ZUNDORF. The Water Spirit 121 GODORF. Will-o'-the-Wisp 127 LULSDORF. The Wondrous Harp 129 URSEL. The Water-Wolf 133 UDORF. The Miller's Maid 140 RHEIDT. The Departed 147 BERCHEM. The Onslaught 161 GRAU-RHEINDORF. Sister Eli 165 VILLICH. Harmony Restored 1 70 SCHWARTZ-RHEINDORF.

God's Judgment against Gluttony 171 BONN 178 The Munster. The Vehm-Gerichte, or Secret Tribunal 192 St. Martin's Church. All Souls' Eve 205 POPPELSDORF. Clemensruhe 214 THE KREUTZBERG 214 The Conclave of Corses 220 RAMERSDORF. The Doomed Dancers 225 THE HOCH KREUTZ. A Husband's Vengeance , 228 HEISTERBACH. The Last Abbot 231 GODESBERG. The Bishop's Bride 232 Count Gebhard's Lay _ 236 THE SEVEN MOUNTAINS 237 The Stromberg , _ CONTENTS. XI PAGE The Nonnen-Stromberg 245 Drachenfels 248 Siegfried the Dragon-Killer 249 The Wolkenberg 260 The Fate of the Faithless 261 The Oehlberg 267 God's Love 267 The Hemmerich 276 The Devoted 276 The Lbwenberg 287 NONNENWORTH.— Rolandseck 295 Knight Toggenberg 308 The Death of Roland 311 RHEINBREITBACH. The Mine-Monk 313 ST. APPOLLONARISBERG. The Baron and the Abbot 325 REMAGEN 342 Truth and Treason 343 OKKENFELS 355 A Rash Oath 356 LINZ 364 S1NZIG 364 THE CONVENT OF ST. HELENA 365 The Game at Chess. — The Pfalz-graf and the Princess 366 Theophania 383 Otho the Third 386 DATTENBERG.

The Dead Bride 390 ARGENFELS 396 Faith to the Death 397 RHEINECK 403 HAMMERSTEIN 412 The Emperor Henry the Fourth 415 The Flight 440 ANDERNACH 447 The Merovignians. — Origin 450 Actions 452 Genofeva of Brabant 456 FAHR : THE DEVIL'S HOUSE 476 The Monks at the Ferry 476 Judgment 481 NEUWIED CONTENTS. XII PAGE LAACH 490 The Sunken Castle 492 HOCHE'S MONUMENT 501 ROMERSDORF 501 ENGERS 502 SAYN 502 Just in Time 503 NIEDERWORTH 506 Salvation 506 PLATES IN THE FIRST VOLUME. (directions to the binder.) Illustrated Title-page. Church of the Apostles. — Cologne, \ TheTown Hall, ditto j 56 Exterior of Bonn Cathedral 1/ Interior of ditto J Godesberg 1 The Hock Kreutz J 232 Drachenfels ") Rolandseck. — Nonnenwiirth ....)"'" Hammerstein , .... Y Laach \ 412 Andernach Church V Ruins at Andernach /