The puppeteers

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The Puppeteer is a historical novel by Tanja Kinkel published in 1993 . The story of a young man, set in Augsburg , Florence and Rome in the 15th century , is about the persecution of witches , the intrigues of the mighty and the heyday of the Northern Italian Renaissance .

main characters

  • Richard Artzt - inquisitive, withdrawn, obsessed with the desire to avenge the death of his mother who was burned as a witch
  • Jakob Fugger - cool and brilliant, the financial genius of his time, Richard's mentor
  • Sibylle Artzt - Richard's aunt, Jacob's wife, intelligent and beautiful
  • Saviya - a mysterious gypsy girl who falls in love with Richard
  • Mario - Richard's best friend, a monk from Florence
  • Zobeida - Richard's mother, midwife and sentenced to death at the stake

content

Germany in 1484 . Pope Innocent VIII has just issued the Bull Summis desiderantes affectibus . Shortly thereafter, Zobeida Artzt, a Saracen with Circassian blood, was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death at the stake. As a result of this judgment, twelve-year-old Richard becomes an orphan . With the dying mother in front of his eyes, he has vowed that one day he will refute the church her error, since he is firmly convinced that there are no witches.

Kinship ties bring the intelligent boy to Jakob Fugger in Augsburg . So Richard comes to a cosmopolitan and future-oriented house, one of the most exciting in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation . Fugger's trade connections reach all over the world. Thanks to his skillful monetary policy, Jakob Fugger became the house banker of the German King and Emperor Maximilian I and controls the European ore trade and thus the coinage. Richard learns languages ​​and natural sciences and, thanks to his quick perception, also takes in much of the processes in the heart of the Fuggerian trading empire. Jakob Fugger, who is not only said to be envious of his envious people, that he only regards people as capital goods, dolls, the threads of which he holds tightly in his hand, tests and promotes the pupil in a targeted manner. And then the decisive gate opens for Richard: Jakob Fugger sends him to Italy , the country from which trade with the Orient begins, the country in which the spiritual world of antiquity and the Orient is being rediscovered, but also the country in which the Church exerts influence almost everywhere and by all means.

On the way there he saves the life of the young gypsy Saviya. They enter into blood brotherhood and fall in love, but because of their completely different views - Saviya considers herself a witch - there is always serious tension between the two.

In Florence , Richard meets Lorenzo de Medici , the most powerful man in Florence. There he also meets Mario Volterra, an Augustinian monk, befriends him and writes a book with him that condemns the witch trials. Finally, with Jacob's help, Richard succeeds in taking revenge on his mother's murderer, the inquisitor Heinrich Institoris , by reporting him to the newly elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492 for abuse of the indulgence trade . In Rome , however, he narrowly escapes being poisoned by Vittorio de Pazzi , an enemy from his time in Florence. Saviya, part of a gang of outlaws in Rome, is nearly burned as a witch by the Inquisition. Richard saves her at the last moment with the help of the Pope's son Cesare Borgia , who had a relationship with Saviya.

In Florence meanwhile the situation is changing drastically; Lorenzo dies and the fanatical preacher Girolamo Savonarola incites the population against the rich. In the course of this "cultural revolution" Mario is badly wounded and dies after saying goodbye to Richard. His grief finally brings him together with Saviya.

filming

In 2017, the story was filmed in two parts by ARD. Samuel Schneider embodied the fictional character of Richard, Herbert Knaup was seen as Jakob Fugger and Helen Woigk as Saviya.

literature

  • Tanja Kinkel: The puppeteers. Novel . Goldmann, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-442-45673-8 .
  • Tanja Kinkel: The puppeteers . Random House Audio, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-89830-493-0 (7 CDs, 530 min.)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tanja Kinkel: Bibliography. In: tanja-kinkel.de. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .
  2. The Puppeteers. In: DasErste.de. Retrieved December 29, 2017 .