The midwife (novel series)

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The Midwife is a series of novels, consisting of five consecutive volumes and a sixth volume, which loosely ties in with the events of the other volumes and is set about 100 years later ( blood and silver ). Written by Sabine Ebert , the midwifery saga takes us back to the time of the reign of Emperor Barbarossa and his son Heinrich VI . Readers experience how settlers moved through the dark forest at the end of the 12th century to open up land east of the Saale and Elbe , and how the first silver was found in the Ore Mountains while secular and spiritual princes rebelled against Henry the Lion , the mighty Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and friend of the emperor. The fourth volume leads some of the protagonists with Barbarossa on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land , the fifth with the German Crusade again as far as Acre .

people

Marthe

Marthe is a healer from Franconia. She has auburn hair and green eyes. She is very pretty, but that is also her undoing. She is a brave, smart woman who is also always ready to help anyone. Marthe has the "second face", she always has visions of the future that come true every time. Despite the many terrible things she has experienced, she does not lose her courage to face life. Her parents were shepherds, but they were killed when Marthe was two years old. She has since been raised by a herbalist. The first part begins with 14-year-old Marthe fleeing her village because the lord of the castle wants to cut off her hands and feet. In order to survive, she joins a settler procession and together they found the Christiansdorf group , which later became Freiberg . She becomes the wife of the knight Christian and later of the knight Lukas.

Christian

Christian is a knight in the service of Margrave Otto von Meißen . He has distinctive features and black hair. He's brave and passionate, which keeps putting him in danger. Christian is considered the best swordsman in the Meissen region. His parents were minstrels, which nobody but Christian, Marthe and Christian's foster mother Josefa know. Christian leads the settler train from Franconia into the Dark Forest , where he and the settlers found Christiansdorf. Perhaps because he comes from a poor background himself, Christian cares a lot about the rights of the villagers and is a just gentleman. He and Marthe have been in love since the first meeting, even if they hide their feelings for a long time. At the end of the first part, Christian and Marthe get married and have a happy marriage with three children. Christian risks everything for Marthe. At the end of the third part, Christian is killed by three arrows in a show trial.

Luke

Lukas is Christian's best friend. At the beginning he is Christian's squire, later a knight in his service. Lukas is a handsome blond boy with blue eyes. He is brave and mostly happy. He's a heartthrob and keeps having affairs. Since he was Christian's pupil, he is also a good swordsman. Luke is the firstborn of a rich knight and landowner called the silver fox . However, after he refuses to be engaged to a neighbor's daughter, he is disinherited. Before he married Marthe, Lukas had two sons: Paul, the son with a maid, and Lukas, from a marriage with a lady who died in childbirth. He has been in love with Marthe since the first part. Lukas marries Marthe after Christian's death in order to receive her honor. However, he always has the feeling that he is standing in Christian's shadow. You have a son, Konrad. Only at the end of the fourth part can Marthe admit her love for him without reservation.

Margrave Otto

Otto von Meißen , called Der Reiche , is the employer of Christian and the other knights. He's not particularly handsome and he's over 50 years old. Otto is irascible and makes decisions based on gut instinct. The silver mining in Christiansdorf made Otto too rich. In the fourth part Otto is captured by his son Albrecht , with which he wants to usurp power. As a result, Otto suffers a stroke and dies.

Margravine Hedwig

Hedwig von Ballenstedt is Otto's wife. She is a beautiful woman with blonde hair. She is smart and mostly meek. It is only through their influence that Otto makes good and correct decisions. However, it cannot always prevent disaster. She gives Otto four children, of whom she especially loves her son Dietrich . But she only finds true love in the figure of Dietrich von Landsberg , her husband's brother. In the third part, however, Dietrich dies. After Otto's death, Hedwig is banished to Seusslitz by her son Albrecht .

Randolf

Randolf is a noble knight in Otto's service and Christian's archenemy. He is a white-blond giant with ice-blue eyes. Randolf is violent and cruel, but not particularly smart. His wife Richenza, however, has these qualities, she is scheming and calculating. In the first two parts, Randolf teaches the residents of Christiansdorf how to fear. It rages cruelly and people die. At the end of the second part, Christian finally gets the opportunity to take revenge on Randolf, who is judged by a divine judgment .

Count Dietrich

Dietrich von Weißenfels is the second son of Margrave Otto and Hedwig. He has brown hair and is very handsome. Dietrich is brave and feels - like his teacher Christian - committed to knightly ideals. He has been enemies with his brother Albrecht since childhood. In the fifth part, however, Dietrich can defy him in battle. After Albrecht's death he becomes Margrave of Meissen. Since the fourth part, Dietrich and Clara, Marthe's daughter, have been in love with each other. However, Dietrich needs the support of the Landgrave of Thuringia in the fight against his brother. In return, the Landgrave demands that Dietrich marry his daughter. With a heavy heart, Dietrich has to accept this deal.

Thomas

Thomas is the oldest son of Marthe and Christian. He looks a lot like Christian. He also resembles his father in his character. However, it was broken after the crusade. To escape the new Margrave Albrecht, Thomas takes part in the Third Crusade under Dietrich von Weißenfels . After all the suffering, he is completely destroyed. Only when he travels again to the Holy Land, to Acre, with Dietrich, can his inner wounds be healed by a woman. He marries her and stays in Acre as a city guard.

Clara

Clara is the daughter of Christian and Marthe. In contrast to Thomas, she looks very much like her mother. Clara is gentle, but also headstrong. Like Marthe, she has the gift of the second sight. In the fourth part she has to marry Reinhard, a friend of Lukas'. Contrary to expectations, their marriage turns out to be quite happy and Clara gives birth to a daughter. When she becomes a widow, she goes to Weißenfels because Dietrich has promised her protection. She is in love with Dietrich von Weißenfels and after his engagement the two lovers meet. Until the wedding she becomes his lover and gives him two sons. She returns to Freiberg and finally marries the Slav Boris von Zbor and is happy with him.

The midwife's secret

action

The empire of Barbarossa in the 12th century: Because his son was stillborn, a cruel lord of the castle wants the young midwife Marthe's hands and feet to be cut off. Only with a pinch does she manage to escape from her Franconian village. In order to survive, the girl joins a group of settlers who are moving east into the Mark Meissen to reclaim land in a still undeveloped area. The people who want to build a new, better life in the east are led by the knight Christian, after whom the emerging village is named. Fascinated by Marthe's skills, he takes her to Meissen to see Margrave Otto and his wife Hedwig. But there she caught the attention of Christian's bitterest enemy. And in Christiansdorf, too, the events soon come thick and fast: After Hallesche salt carters have discovered silver here, the quiet and seclusion of the place is soon over and bloody battles ensue.

people

  • Marthe: young midwife, healer and herbalist
  • Christian: Knight in the service of the Meissen margrave and leader of the settlers
  • Lukas: Christian's squire
  • Jonas: Blacksmith
  • Hildebrand: village elder
  • Wiprecht: husband of Marthe for a short time
  • Karl, Marie and Johanna: Marthe's stepchildren
  • Otto von Wettin: Margrave of Meissen
  • Hedwig: wife of Otto von Wettin
  • Randolf: Otto's most powerful vassal and archenemy of Christian

Other people: Hermann (mountain master) and his daughter Gertrud, Bartholomäus (village pastor), Giselbert, Ekkehart and Elmar (knights and friends of Randolf)

literature

The midwife's trail

action

Part two of the saga begins three years after the end of the first volume: Heinrich the Lion returns from his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1173, which means the beginning of new battles not only for the Meissen margrave. The Christiansdorfer also have to be prepared for bad news: Christian's old enemy Randolf is back with the lion.

Marthe is accused of practicing pagan superstitions and harmful spells, and comes before a church court. When Christian tries to rush to her help, he learns that she has disappeared from the dungeon without a trace. His desperate search is unsuccessful, and so in the end he has only one explanation: she was killed and her body was secretly disposed of. He almost breaks because of it, as does Luke, who feels guilty because his unloved bride has revealed Marthe's whereabouts to the captors.

The plot also takes the protagonists to Goslar , Braunschweig and the Wartburg, among other places . The last scene takes place in Chiavenna when there was a break between Barbarossa and Henry the Lion in January 1176.

people

  • Marthe: young wistful mother, healer and herbalist and wife of Christian
  • Christian: Knight in the service of the Meissen margrave and leader of the settlers
  • Lukas: Knight of Christians
  • Thomas and Clara: Marthes and Christian's children
  • Johanna, Marie and Karl: Marthe's stepchildren
  • Randolf: Arch enemy of Christian
  • Richenza: Mrs. von Randolf
  • Sebastian: Confessor
  • Ekkehart, Giselbert and Elmar: Knights of Otto von Wettin and Randolf's friends

Other people: Jonas (blacksmith), Till (scribe and minstrel), Gero, Richard and Raimund (knight and Christian's friends), Bartholomäus (village pastor), Hermann (mountain master), Otto von Wettin and his wife Hedwig , Wichmann (archbishop of Magdeburg )

literature

The midwife's decision

action

The third part of the story about Marthe and Christian begins with an episode from Barbarossa's court day in 1179 in Magdeburg, which actually happened: Dietrich von Landsberg , brother of the Meissen Margrave Otto von Wettin, challenges Heinrich the Lion to a duel for life and death . A considerable part of this book describes the war against the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, which led to the ostracism of the lion and the redistribution of his duchies. Together with the Wettin armed forces, Christian besieged Haldensleben Castle near Magdeburg, helped defend Goslar and traveled with the Emperor's army through the Lüneburg Heath to Lübeck to conquer the rich city, which was loyal to the Lion.

Christiansdorf continues to grow, because after the lion destroyed the pits on the Rammelsberg , many Goslar miners move here. And readers can experience the Mainzer Hoftag from 1184 , the largest festival of the Middle Ages.

But tough tests await Marthe and her allies in the village too. Enemies appear and want to settle old bills, and the Christiansdorfers get a bitter foretaste of what is in store for them when Otto's eldest son Albrecht takes over the rule of the Meissen region. Before the silver village was granted city rights, events escalated and there were deaths to be mourned.

people

  • Marthe: midwife, healer and herbalist and Christian's wife
  • Christian: Knight in the service of the Meissen margrave and leader of the settlers
  • Lukas: Knight of Christians
  • Thomas, Clara and Daniel: Marthes and Christian's children
  • Johanna, Marie and Karl: Marthe's stepchildren
  • Jonas: Blacksmith
  • Hilbert: Chaplain in Christian's household
  • Reinhard: Knight and friend of Christian
  • Sebastian: Village pastor
  • Otto von Wettin: Margrave of Meissen
  • Hedwig: wife of Otto von Wettin
  • Albrecht: oldest son of Otto and Hedwig
  • Ekkehart: Commander of Otto's bodyguard

Other people: Kuno and Bertram (Christian guards), Hermann (mountain master), Hans and Friedrich (former salt carters from Halle), Peter and Anna (members of a youth gang), Emperor Friedrich von Staufen, Heinrich the Lion (Duke of Saxony and Bavaria) , Raimund (knight and Christian's friend), Giselbert and Elmar (knight and enemy of Christian)

literature

The midwife's curse

action

The novel "Der Fluch der Midwife" begins almost five years after the third volume in the series, in May 1189. Marthe and Lukas have to cope with the loss of their lover and friend and redefine their relationship with one another. In addition, the day is approaching inexorably when Albrecht, the power-hungry eldest son of the Meissen Margrave Otto von Wettin, takes over the reign. These are dangerous times for Marthe, Luke and their followers. Because Albrecht anticipates fate; he takes his father prisoner to enforce the succession - a historically verified episode.

This part of the story goes back to the time of the Third Crusade. Dietrich von Weißenfels, the younger son of the Meissen margrave, had joined Barbarossa's campaign to the Holy Land in 1189 and besieged Acre with Richard the Lionheart and Philip II of France. In the novel, Marthes and Christian's eldest son Thomas moves to the Holy Land under Dietrich's command. Bit by bit disaffected, he had to experience the tragic failure of the crusaders and the death of many of his companions.

people

  • Marthe: Wistful mother, healer and herbalist
  • Lukas: Knight in the service of the Meissen Margrave
  • Clara: Marthe's daughter and also a healer
  • Thomas: Marthe's son and squire at the court of Otto von Wettin
  • Roland: Squire at the court of Otto von Wettin
  • Reinhard: Knight at Freiberg Castle and future husband of Clara
  • Elmar: Knight and confidante Albrechts
  • Rutger: Squire and foster son of Elmar
  • Giselbert: Knight
  • Otto von Wettin: Margrave of Meissen
  • Hedwig: wife of Otto von Wettin
  • Albrecht: oldest son of Otto and Hedwig
  • Dietrich von Weißenfels: youngest son of Otto and Hedwig
  • Konrad: Otto's nephew
  • Dedo, Count von Groitzsch's eldest son and Albrecht's ally

Other people: Jonas (blacksmith and councilor), Kuno and Bertram (guards), Heinrich (bailiff), Christian (stable boy), Sebastian (pastor), Sophia von Böhmen (wife of Albrecht), Hartmut (teacher of the miners at Otto's court) , Gerald (Lukas' former brother-in-law), Dittrich von Kittlitz (Provost and later Bishop of Meissen), Emperor Friedrich von Staufen, Heinrich and Friedrich (sons of Emperor Friedrich von Staufen)

literature

The midwife's dream

action

The fifth and final volume in the series of novels. In the autumn of 1191 Marthe's son Thomas and Dietrich von Weißenfels , the younger son of the Meissen Margrave Otto von Wettin, returned from the Third Crusade. But they cannot find peace at home either. Immediately after his return, Dietrich is attacked by his older brother Albrecht , who is now the Margrave of Meißen. Marthe and Lukas, who were driven into exile in Thuringia, and some of their Freiberg allies come to Weißenfels to assist Dietrich. But in view of the numerical superiority of the opponents, Dietrich has no choice but to enter into an alliance of convenience with the Landgrave of Thuringia. He pays a high price for this.

As Albrecht with Emperor Heinrich VI . falls out of favor, he wants to entrench himself in Leipzig and burn the whole country down. Lukas and a handful of knights determined to do anything see no other way than to free the country from the tyrant. At the risk of their lives they get to Freiberg Castle to kill Albrecht. But everything is going differently than planned ...

In 1197 Thomas and Dietrich von Weißenfels find themselves again in front of Acre . Only the death of the emperor and the disputes over the succession to the throne make it possible for Dietrich to conquer the Mark Meissen in a stroke of a hand. Courageous companions help him, even if they have to risk their lives for it.

people

(see above)

literature

filming

2014, the first band was The Secret of midwives under the working title Marthe's secret by Roland Suso Richter for the ARD , among others in the Czech Republic filmed. Ruby O. Fee (Marthe), Steve Windolf (Christian), Adrian Moore (Lukas), Martin Leutgeb (Hildebrand), Franz Xaver Kroetz ( took over the almost three-hour film, which was first broadcast on Good Friday 2016 under the title of the novel. Margrave Otto), Susanne Wuest (Hedwig), Michael Fuith (Wiprecht) and Sabin Tambrea (Randolf) the leading roles.

Book cover

The original book covers of the first three volumes were replaced with the publication of the fourth volume and given a new design. Fictional characters depicted on it were depicted in authentic 12th century clothing and show the respective status of the protagonist Marthe.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Preuss: "The Midwife's Secret": Not everyone can be a wandering whore . Berliner Morgenpost , March 25, 2016, accessed on December 9, 2017.