The black monk (parigger)
The black monk is a historical youth novel from the time of the children's crusade in 1212 by Harald Parigger . The first edition was published by Franz Schneider Verlag in 1994 , and the tenth edition was published by dtv junior in 2009 .
The book is recommended in the "Reading Forum Bavaria", an institution of the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture , as class reading for levels 5 and 6 at secondary schools and grammar schools.
action
Fifteen year old Gerhard, son of a poor drinking blacksmith , lives in Speyer in 1212 . The boy joins the preacher Nikolaus, to whom Jesus supposedly appeared and who wants to take Jerusalem with children in order to drive out the " Gentiles " there.
He finds new friends in Eckart, Bruno, Berthold and Irmingard. When Berthold criticized Nikolaus while crossing the Alps , he was pushed down a slope by him. Before the death of Berthold, who fell down the Brenner , Eckhart left the group. Later, Bruno, who suffers from a fever , is placed in a monastery . When the crusade reaches Genoa and Nicholas tries unsuccessfully to divide the water so that they can get to Jerusalem, Gerhard is stoned . With the help of two fishermen, Irmingard takes him to see the doctor Salomon. He treats Gerhard's injuries and takes them both in with him. Gerhard is doing an apprenticeship as a merchant and Irmingard, who is actually called Rebekah and who joined the crusade after the death of her Jewish parents to take revenge on the preacher Nikolaus, who killed her parents, is an apprentice at Salomon. Salomon asks Gerhard to marry Irmingard according to Jewish custom. After Solomon's death, Gerhard and his wife return to Speyer, twelve years after the start of the crusade. There they live as Christians and Gerhard trades in fabrics. Eighteen years later, Nikolaus returned to Speyer under the name of Brother Heinrich, was infected with leprosy and was expelled as a leper.