The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-05-29
A Real Tragedy.
The story of the Unfortunate Agnes Ser.
nauer.

|
nauer.
How many of the readers have ever
! heard the tragic story of Agnes Ber-
nauer? 1t is such tale of deep, earn
est love, of brave devotion, OF fierce
persecution and of fiendish cruelty as is
often found in the pages of romance,
but rarely, we are glad to say, in au-
thentlc form in history. The records
OF the Middle Ages do certainly contain
accounts terribly enough of mans in
humanity to those of his own kind, but
there are few of the legends which have
come down to us from those turbulent
and troubled times, with an assurance
of truthfulness, in which two true lovers
appear as the victims of such dreadful
brutality, excited merely by their fer
vent passion for each other.
In the fifteenth century the present
Kingdom of Bavaria was dukedom.
1t was while Duke Ernst was at the
head of the government that Apnes
bernauers sutferings won Tor her i'm
mortailty:, Duke Ernst had an only son
named Alhrecht. He was young, hand
soIie and chivalrous, and he seems to
have been man of most generous i'm
pulses and capable of the loftiest self
sacrifice. There was grand tourna-
ment at Augsburg, given by the duke
and attended bya the nobility and geii-
tryof the country. There were hundreds
OF knights, in all their glittering para
phernalla, curvetting about the arena
upon their magnifcently -caparisoned
horses, while around them were seated
thousands of ladies in gorgeous attire,
attended by brilliantly gentle
men. Besides these, the common folk
attended in vast multitudes, and crowd
ed into the space left for them by the
noble glver of the entertainment.
Among the knights the dukes son was
most conspicuous, not only for the
splendor OF his attire, but for the beauty
OF MS countenance, his manly bearing
and his gallant achievements in the
combat with the other knights. While
sitting upon his horse conversing with
his attendants, he was attracted by the
sweet lace of II young girl who was
standing in the crowd of the humbled
and untitled, which pushed and iostled
ana Kept up noisy conversation at the
boundary of the arena. She was look
ing lntently Mt him, as if in rapturous
admiration of his noble appearance, and
MS he i'll turn gazed at her. she bowed
her head and blushed deeply. He
thought he had never beheld face so
pure and lovely MS hers. nor had never
seen among the beauties of his fathers
court woman in whom such charming
simplicity was united with such ex-
Qusitc grace Of face and figure. With
his heart suddenly fired by Il new and
strange and wonderful passion, he in
stantly adopted measures to ascertain
her identity.
1t was discovered that her name was
Agnes Bernauer, and that she was the
daughter of very poor and humble
citizen of Augsburg. Once in posses
sion of this fact, Albrecht did not fail
soon to obtain an introduction to her
home. He found her a woman of high
intelligence, Of exalted character and of
devout religious convictions and more
than ever charmed with the beauty of
person which was the outward signifca-
ton of q noble moral and intellectual
character, he wooed her fervently, and
won her consent to become his wife.
There could be no doubt that the
duke would oppose and prevent the
marriage of his son with a woman of
lowly birth, if he knew that such an
event was threatened, and so the two
were secretly united, and the happy
husband bore his wife to the castle of
Vohburg, which he had inherited from
his mother. This home he filled with
everything that could contribute to the
pleasure Of his bride; and there, in
luxurious retirement, amid noble for
ests, rich tlower-gardens and orchards,
elegant pictures and statues, and with
all the appliances of wealth at their
command, they lived for many months
in undisturbed happiness.
The end of this felicity was sure to
come right speedily. The young mans
father determined that he should mar
ry, and he selected for the wife of his
son, Anna, the daughter of the duke of
Brunswick. When the subject was
broached to Albrecht, he displayed the
most determined opposition to the
match, and at last, in response to the
imperative command of Duke Ernst
that the marriage should take place, he
refused positively and absolutely y to have
anything to do with the bride selected
for him, or even to listen further to any
discussion of the subject. The manner
of the young man excited the suspicion
of the father, and quiet investigation
revealed the presence of Agnes at the
Vohburg castle, and the fact that AL
brecht was violently enamored of her.
The duke at once determined to adopt
f the most energetic measures to dissolve
the relations of the two. A tournament
was given at Regensburg, at which AL
brecht was to appear, but the father
contrived that the lists should be shut
against the son upon the charge that,
in violation of the rules of chivalry, he
o. was living with one who was not his
wife. Albrecht declared that Agnes was
his wife, and demanded that the lists
should be opened to him. But in vain
he was still excluded.
The young man hesitated no longer.
He now made Agnes to be openly hon
Ored as Duchess of Bavaria. He gave
her vast retinue of servants, and he
placed her amid appropriate splendor
i'll the castle of Straubing, where he
resided with her. She, poor woman
seems to have had haunting fear of
the dark and dreadful fate in store for
her, and she gave much of her life to
the performance of acts of charity and
religious devotion, erecting an oratory
and tomb for herself in the Carmelite
convent of the place.