Götz von Berlichingen "of the Iron Hand," born in 1480 of a knightly family in Württemberg, may be called the last of the robber-knights of the Middle Ages. For the first half of his life he played the part of a William of Deloraine with varying fortunes: from 1541 onwards he fought under Charles V in greater wars, first against the Turks (1541) and then against the French (1544). He died in his own castle of Hornberg (1562), leaving an autobiography on which Goethe founded his first play, and from which much of Sir Walter Scott's romantic spirit was indirectly derived. His descendants still flourish in two separate lines.

A PAGE'S QUARREL (A.D. 1497, Götz aged 17.)

I was brought up as a page in the house of the Markgraf [of Ansbach]; on whom, in company with other pages, I must needs wait at table. Now it befel upon a time that I sat at meat beside a Pole, who had waxed his hair with eggs: and by chance I was wearing a long coat of outlandish fashion, which my lord Veit von Lentersheim had let make for me in Namur: so that, when I sprang up from my place beside the aforenamed Pole, I ruffled his fine hair with my skirt; and I was aware, even as I sprang up, that he thrust at me with a breadknife, but missed me. Whereat I waxed wroth, and not without cause: so that, whereas I had both a long and a short blade by my side, yet I drew but the short one, and smote him therewith about the pate: notwithstanding I continued to wait on my wonted service, and stayed that night in the castle. In the morning betimes, the Markgraf went to hear mass at the parish church, as indeed he was a godfearing prince; after which, when we came back to the castle from the church, I found the gates shut behind me, and the Provost-Marshal came up and told me that I must yield myself prisoner. Then I bade him let me alone, for this might not be, and I must needs first get speech of the young Princes; and truly I gave him few gentle words for his pains. But the good man was wiser than I, and let me go; for, had he laid hands on me, I had surely defended myself; and fallen into an evil case. Then I went upstairs to the Princes, and told them of all that had befallen with the Provost-Marshal and this Pole: they were then about to go to table for their morning meal, wherefore they bade me stay where I was; and, if any came, that I should go into their chamber and hide myself in the inner room and lock the door from within. I did as they bade me, and waited till the Princes came back from table and reported how they had spoken on my behalf to the lord their father, and the royal lady their mother (1), and besought them to save me from punishment in the matter of this Pole: but all their words had naught availed, and the old Markgraf might in no wise find peace with his lady, nor the Princes grace in the eyes of their mother, but she must first have assurance that her lord would cause me to be cast into the tower. Yet the two young Princes bade me in no wise resist, for they would not leave me there longer than one quarter of an hour. But I answered: "Wherefore should I to the tower, since the first offence was of the Pole's giving?" Yet they assured me over again that they would not suffer me to lie there but only for the space of a quarter of an hour: whereupon I let myself be persuaded, and was locked in of my own free will. Prince George would have given me a velvet cloak furred with marten and sable skins, to cover me withal: but I asked What should I with this? for in lying down with it, I might as well chance upon a foul spot as upon a clean; yard seeing that my durance was like to be so short, I had no need of the cloak, but would go quietly without it to the tower. The Princes kept their word, for I lay but a bare quarter of an hour in that tower; then came my brave captain, Herr Paul v. Absberg, and set me free again, bidding me tell him again the cause of the whole matter. Then this honest knight brought me before the Council, and spake in my behalf, and excused me: moreover, all the squires and noble pages who were at that time at the Markgraf's court, to the number of fifty or sixty, stood by me: and Herr Paul v. Absberg pleaded vehemently that the Pole also should be locked into the tower: yet here he might not prevail.

(1) The Markgräfin was daughter to King Casimir IV of Poland.

(Coulton II, p.131-133)