Naraku
Draconarius
A tale of a young woman caught in the machinery of the judicial system.
Disclaimer: This story is entirely a work of fiction. All persons, places and events are the creation of the author.
Record of trial as recorded by Ludwig Zeller, City Scribe:
15 September: By order of the Magistrates of the city of Faringen, Renate Schiller, daughter of Johann Schiller, free-farmer of the village of Hütendorf, is commanded to appear before said Magistrates to be questioned regarding matters of serious concern in order to ascertain her complicity in possible felonious acts.
Renate Schiller was scared. Strange men had come from the city; serious looking men with swords. Grüber, the charcoal-burner was with them. He had led them into the woods behind her house and pointed out a spot near a fallen trunk. And then, they began digging.
“What are those men with old Grüber digging for?”, her mother had mused.
Renate didn’t answer. She just stood shaking. “They couldn’t be.”, she thought, “They couldn’t know.”
Then, she saw Grüber pointing toward their house and some of the men approached.
When they came up to Renate and her mother, one of them asked “Is this the Schiller house?” Her mother replied that it was and the man asked, “Is one of you Renate Schiller?”
Renata timidly responded that it was she.
“You are to come with us. By order the Magistrates.” the man said in a cold, official tone.
Her mother asked, “Why? What business could they have with my daughter? She’s a young maiden. She’s done nothing wrong.”
“I reckon that’s what the Magistrates want to find out.” the man said. Then he stepped a bit closer to the mother and added, in a softer tone, “Don’t make no trouble misses, we have our orders. I’m sure, if she has truly done no wrong, she’ll be coming home soon.”
Renata was put in the back of a cart. A chain was attached to one of her ankles with the other end attached to a large stone. Three of the men got in the cart with her, including the one who seemed to be the leader. The rest got in another cart and then they headed out of the village.
Renata watched the only home she had ever known recede in the distance. She saw her mother and younger brother standing in front of their house. She saw her father come running from the direction of the smithy to join his wife and son. She saw the rest of the villages standing in their doorways or in the fields, watching her pass by. They all had looks of puzzlement and confusion. They could not fathom what this unusual sight could mean. Then, she saw Grüber talking to a group of men. They turned and looked at her with hate and condemnation. She sat with her arms holding her knees against her chest, and she lowered her head and cried.
17 September: The prisoner is brought before the Magistrates. Chief Magistrate Georg Silberhaus, presiding. Deputy Magistrates Franz Nuedecker, Adolphus Hoffmeister, Heinrich Runge and Balthasar Edelwert and City Scribe Ludwig Zeller attending. When asked to identify herself she responds that she is Renate Schiller, daughter of Johann Schiller and Dorothea Beck, of the village of Hütendorf, eighteen years of age and unmarried.
Five men sat behind a heavy table. They were stern faced older men in laced collars. There was another man sitting at a side table with piles of paper and a quill pen. And there were the guards, the men who had come to her village. Three of them stood behind her.
The man in the middle seat, Chief Magistrate Silberhaus, asked her questions. The first ones were simple: her name, her parents names, her age and marital status. She answered them quickly and the man to the side scratched his quill across the paper. Then, came a harder question:
“Did you bury the corpse of an infant in the woods behind your house on the night of the thirteenth of this month?”
Her mouth went dry. Her knees shook. With a trembling voice she replied: “No, sir. I never did such a thing. Why would I do such a thing?”
The magistrate picked up a piece of paper and examined it through a pair of handheld spectacles, “Hans Grüber, of your village, says that he witnessed you perform the act of burying something on that night. He recognized that it was you. After you returned to your house, he states, he dug up the item, thinking it might be something of value. Instead, he discovered it to be the body of a baby which he promptly reburied. The following day he came to this city to report his discovery. He has testified to all of this under oath.”
“He’s lying!” she shouted, “He could not have seen such a thing. He could not have seen me.”
Silberhaus put down the paper and glared at her more sternly than before: “He led our men to the site and the corpse was found. The woman he saw came from and returned to your house. If it was not you then it must have been someone else. Are there any other women in your household?”
“Only my mother, sir”, she answered, meekly.
“Then are you saying your mother is the one who buried the baby?”
“No...I...she...”, Renate stammered, “She couldn’t...There was no baby in our house. Grüber is lying about what he saw. My mother has not had a child since my brother and I have never known a man.
“Grüber is lying!”, she shouted.
The man to his right leaned over and whispered something in the questioner’s ear. Silberhaus nodded and waved one of the guards to come over. After some more whispering, the guard left the room.
Upon being informed of the evidence against her, the accused denies the charges.
The magistrate resumed speaking, “So, it is your claim that Hans Grüber has perjured himself? That is a very serious crime. The penalties are most severe. Are you certain that is your claim?”
Renate nodded. The idea of Grüber being punished for perjury did not please her, but, she had no love for the man. He was nothing to her. Better him than her, or worse, her mother.
The guard returned carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth which the magistrate commanded him to place on the floor between the table and Renate. Then, with a bit of dramatic flourish he unwrapped the bundle.
There lay the corpse of a newborn baby girl, discolored and beginning to smell from decay. Renata collapsed to her knees, covered her face and wept.
“Is this the body of your baby?”, demanded the magistrate.
“Yes,” Renate sobbed, “It is mine. I admit it. I became pregnant and gave birth in secret and buried it in the woods to hide my shame.”
“You buried it alive?”
“No!” shouted a shocked Renate, “How could you think I could do such a thing? She was dead when she was born. She never breathed or cried or anything.”
After being shown the corpse, the prisoner is commanded again to tell the truth. She admits that the child is hers and that she buried it but states that it was born dead. She is questioned further. Did she commit the act of fornication? She responds yes. She is asked if she killed the child? She responds no. Had she had carnal knowledge of any other men? She responds no. Did she become pregnant and give birth as a result of these carnal acts? She responds yes. Did anyone know of her pregnancy? She responds no. She is informed of the opinion of the learned Doctor Walter Baunach. She again states that the child was born dead.
Franz Nuedecker, the youngest of the magistrates, leaned in and spoke in a more soothing, less demanding voice, “Tell us, Renate, how did you come to be pregnant?”
“I had sex with a boy. A neighbor.”
“Who?”
Renate hesitated. She knew she couldn’t hide her own guilt but was reluctant to implicate anyone else.
“You must answer the question.” demanded the Chief Magistrate.
“Theo Rutscher, the blacksmith’s son.”
“Is he your betrothed?” asked Nuedecker.
“No, he is betrothed to the miller’s daughter.”
“Did you tell him of your pregnancy?”
“No. I didn’t even know until maybe three or four months after, and I didn’t want to hurt him or his chance of marrying Martha. It’s a good marriage for him.”
“Did you tell your parents?”
“No. How could I? The shame… How could I tell anyone? If my parents knew… It would shame my family. And my father… It would go bad for Theo… I hid it from them. I let my clothes out to hide my belly. And it didn’t really grow much.”
“Did you confess your sin to your priest?”, the senior magistrate asked.
“No. He’s a good friend of the miller. I wasn’t sure I could trust him.”
“Did you have carnal knowledge of any other men?”
“No. I was a virgin before Theo and there have been no others.”
“And how was the baby birthed without a midwife or any others knowing?”
“In the middle of the night, I had pains in my belly. When I got out of bed, water ran down my legs and I knew, from when my mother gave birth to my little brother, that the time had come. So, I snuck out to the barn and bit down on a bit of leather so I didn’t scream and then she came out of me.”, Renata hung her head and wept.
“And you swear that the baby was born dead?”
“Yes.”
“You should know, girl, that this corpse has been examined by the surgeon Walter Baunach, a most learned man,” the Silberhaus said sternly, “He has declared it to be well formed and found no signs illness. It is his considered opinion that this child was born alive.”
“He’s wrong!” Renate shouted, “She was dead! I swear it before Jesus and all the Saints!”
The magistrate’s talked back and forth among themselves in hushed tones that Renate could not hear, and when she could hear, it was mostly words she did not understand. Finally, the Chief Magistrate spoke:
“It grows late. We shall adjourn this hearing until tomorrow. The accused is to be held in custody until then. We shall consider the testimony and whether harsh methods need be employed.”
He banged his gavel on the table and Renate was taken away by the guards.
The Magistrates decide to adjourn the trial and consider their next course of action.
Renate spent a night in a windowless cell in the basement of the Hall of Justice. She was fed dark bread and a thin gruel. She ate, but although the food was filling, it did nothing to remove the cold lump that had formed in her stomach when the Chief Magistrate uttered the words “harsh methods”. Even though she didn’t know exactly what those words meant, the sound of them terrified her. That night, Renate slept only in short spells. The troubling words, her own sense of guilt and the uncertainty of the future kept waking her.
In the Rathskeller, the magistrates dined on venison, cod and squab with onions and lintels and white bread and washed down with cups of red wine and beer as they discussed the case.
The magistrates faced a dilemma. Renate had committed the crime of fornication, that was indisputable. And for that, she could be punished with a fine, or the pillory, or a flogging, or any combination of the three. Burying a dead body in secret was a crime that could be punished with a fine. But, the question was, how did the baby die? If it was born dead, then that was the end of the matter. But, if it had not and Renate had killed it, then that was a crime of the most serious nature, with only one possible penalty.
Nuedecker and Hoffmeister argued for sentencing her to a flogging and the pillory for fornication, the matter of the baby’s death being being declared indeterminate. They maintained that the stain to the girl’s reputation would be a punishment that would follow her the rest of her life and that the question of infanticide could not be decided without absolute certainty of guilt. Silberhaus, Runge and Edelwert argued that the death of a child should not be so easily dismissed. Furthermore, the opinion of Baunach, a distinguished member of the medical community could not be ignored. After much debate, it was decided. The girl would have to be questioned under torture.
(Part 2 to be posted later tonight)
The Sad Fate of Renate Schiller
by Naraku
by Naraku
Disclaimer: This story is entirely a work of fiction. All persons, places and events are the creation of the author.
Record of trial as recorded by Ludwig Zeller, City Scribe:
15 September: By order of the Magistrates of the city of Faringen, Renate Schiller, daughter of Johann Schiller, free-farmer of the village of Hütendorf, is commanded to appear before said Magistrates to be questioned regarding matters of serious concern in order to ascertain her complicity in possible felonious acts.
Renate Schiller was scared. Strange men had come from the city; serious looking men with swords. Grüber, the charcoal-burner was with them. He had led them into the woods behind her house and pointed out a spot near a fallen trunk. And then, they began digging.
“What are those men with old Grüber digging for?”, her mother had mused.
Renate didn’t answer. She just stood shaking. “They couldn’t be.”, she thought, “They couldn’t know.”
Then, she saw Grüber pointing toward their house and some of the men approached.
When they came up to Renate and her mother, one of them asked “Is this the Schiller house?” Her mother replied that it was and the man asked, “Is one of you Renate Schiller?”
Renata timidly responded that it was she.
“You are to come with us. By order the Magistrates.” the man said in a cold, official tone.
Her mother asked, “Why? What business could they have with my daughter? She’s a young maiden. She’s done nothing wrong.”
“I reckon that’s what the Magistrates want to find out.” the man said. Then he stepped a bit closer to the mother and added, in a softer tone, “Don’t make no trouble misses, we have our orders. I’m sure, if she has truly done no wrong, she’ll be coming home soon.”
Renata was put in the back of a cart. A chain was attached to one of her ankles with the other end attached to a large stone. Three of the men got in the cart with her, including the one who seemed to be the leader. The rest got in another cart and then they headed out of the village.
Renata watched the only home she had ever known recede in the distance. She saw her mother and younger brother standing in front of their house. She saw her father come running from the direction of the smithy to join his wife and son. She saw the rest of the villages standing in their doorways or in the fields, watching her pass by. They all had looks of puzzlement and confusion. They could not fathom what this unusual sight could mean. Then, she saw Grüber talking to a group of men. They turned and looked at her with hate and condemnation. She sat with her arms holding her knees against her chest, and she lowered her head and cried.
17 September: The prisoner is brought before the Magistrates. Chief Magistrate Georg Silberhaus, presiding. Deputy Magistrates Franz Nuedecker, Adolphus Hoffmeister, Heinrich Runge and Balthasar Edelwert and City Scribe Ludwig Zeller attending. When asked to identify herself she responds that she is Renate Schiller, daughter of Johann Schiller and Dorothea Beck, of the village of Hütendorf, eighteen years of age and unmarried.
Five men sat behind a heavy table. They were stern faced older men in laced collars. There was another man sitting at a side table with piles of paper and a quill pen. And there were the guards, the men who had come to her village. Three of them stood behind her.
The man in the middle seat, Chief Magistrate Silberhaus, asked her questions. The first ones were simple: her name, her parents names, her age and marital status. She answered them quickly and the man to the side scratched his quill across the paper. Then, came a harder question:
“Did you bury the corpse of an infant in the woods behind your house on the night of the thirteenth of this month?”
Her mouth went dry. Her knees shook. With a trembling voice she replied: “No, sir. I never did such a thing. Why would I do such a thing?”
The magistrate picked up a piece of paper and examined it through a pair of handheld spectacles, “Hans Grüber, of your village, says that he witnessed you perform the act of burying something on that night. He recognized that it was you. After you returned to your house, he states, he dug up the item, thinking it might be something of value. Instead, he discovered it to be the body of a baby which he promptly reburied. The following day he came to this city to report his discovery. He has testified to all of this under oath.”
“He’s lying!” she shouted, “He could not have seen such a thing. He could not have seen me.”
Silberhaus put down the paper and glared at her more sternly than before: “He led our men to the site and the corpse was found. The woman he saw came from and returned to your house. If it was not you then it must have been someone else. Are there any other women in your household?”
“Only my mother, sir”, she answered, meekly.
“Then are you saying your mother is the one who buried the baby?”
“No...I...she...”, Renate stammered, “She couldn’t...There was no baby in our house. Grüber is lying about what he saw. My mother has not had a child since my brother and I have never known a man.
“Grüber is lying!”, she shouted.
The man to his right leaned over and whispered something in the questioner’s ear. Silberhaus nodded and waved one of the guards to come over. After some more whispering, the guard left the room.
Upon being informed of the evidence against her, the accused denies the charges.
The magistrate resumed speaking, “So, it is your claim that Hans Grüber has perjured himself? That is a very serious crime. The penalties are most severe. Are you certain that is your claim?”
Renate nodded. The idea of Grüber being punished for perjury did not please her, but, she had no love for the man. He was nothing to her. Better him than her, or worse, her mother.
The guard returned carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth which the magistrate commanded him to place on the floor between the table and Renate. Then, with a bit of dramatic flourish he unwrapped the bundle.
There lay the corpse of a newborn baby girl, discolored and beginning to smell from decay. Renata collapsed to her knees, covered her face and wept.
“Is this the body of your baby?”, demanded the magistrate.
“Yes,” Renate sobbed, “It is mine. I admit it. I became pregnant and gave birth in secret and buried it in the woods to hide my shame.”
“You buried it alive?”
“No!” shouted a shocked Renate, “How could you think I could do such a thing? She was dead when she was born. She never breathed or cried or anything.”
After being shown the corpse, the prisoner is commanded again to tell the truth. She admits that the child is hers and that she buried it but states that it was born dead. She is questioned further. Did she commit the act of fornication? She responds yes. She is asked if she killed the child? She responds no. Had she had carnal knowledge of any other men? She responds no. Did she become pregnant and give birth as a result of these carnal acts? She responds yes. Did anyone know of her pregnancy? She responds no. She is informed of the opinion of the learned Doctor Walter Baunach. She again states that the child was born dead.
Franz Nuedecker, the youngest of the magistrates, leaned in and spoke in a more soothing, less demanding voice, “Tell us, Renate, how did you come to be pregnant?”
“I had sex with a boy. A neighbor.”
“Who?”
Renate hesitated. She knew she couldn’t hide her own guilt but was reluctant to implicate anyone else.
“You must answer the question.” demanded the Chief Magistrate.
“Theo Rutscher, the blacksmith’s son.”
“Is he your betrothed?” asked Nuedecker.
“No, he is betrothed to the miller’s daughter.”
“Did you tell him of your pregnancy?”
“No. I didn’t even know until maybe three or four months after, and I didn’t want to hurt him or his chance of marrying Martha. It’s a good marriage for him.”
“Did you tell your parents?”
“No. How could I? The shame… How could I tell anyone? If my parents knew… It would shame my family. And my father… It would go bad for Theo… I hid it from them. I let my clothes out to hide my belly. And it didn’t really grow much.”
“Did you confess your sin to your priest?”, the senior magistrate asked.
“No. He’s a good friend of the miller. I wasn’t sure I could trust him.”
“Did you have carnal knowledge of any other men?”
“No. I was a virgin before Theo and there have been no others.”
“And how was the baby birthed without a midwife or any others knowing?”
“In the middle of the night, I had pains in my belly. When I got out of bed, water ran down my legs and I knew, from when my mother gave birth to my little brother, that the time had come. So, I snuck out to the barn and bit down on a bit of leather so I didn’t scream and then she came out of me.”, Renata hung her head and wept.
“And you swear that the baby was born dead?”
“Yes.”
“You should know, girl, that this corpse has been examined by the surgeon Walter Baunach, a most learned man,” the Silberhaus said sternly, “He has declared it to be well formed and found no signs illness. It is his considered opinion that this child was born alive.”
“He’s wrong!” Renate shouted, “She was dead! I swear it before Jesus and all the Saints!”
The magistrate’s talked back and forth among themselves in hushed tones that Renate could not hear, and when she could hear, it was mostly words she did not understand. Finally, the Chief Magistrate spoke:
“It grows late. We shall adjourn this hearing until tomorrow. The accused is to be held in custody until then. We shall consider the testimony and whether harsh methods need be employed.”
He banged his gavel on the table and Renate was taken away by the guards.
The Magistrates decide to adjourn the trial and consider their next course of action.
Renate spent a night in a windowless cell in the basement of the Hall of Justice. She was fed dark bread and a thin gruel. She ate, but although the food was filling, it did nothing to remove the cold lump that had formed in her stomach when the Chief Magistrate uttered the words “harsh methods”. Even though she didn’t know exactly what those words meant, the sound of them terrified her. That night, Renate slept only in short spells. The troubling words, her own sense of guilt and the uncertainty of the future kept waking her.
In the Rathskeller, the magistrates dined on venison, cod and squab with onions and lintels and white bread and washed down with cups of red wine and beer as they discussed the case.
The magistrates faced a dilemma. Renate had committed the crime of fornication, that was indisputable. And for that, she could be punished with a fine, or the pillory, or a flogging, or any combination of the three. Burying a dead body in secret was a crime that could be punished with a fine. But, the question was, how did the baby die? If it was born dead, then that was the end of the matter. But, if it had not and Renate had killed it, then that was a crime of the most serious nature, with only one possible penalty.
Nuedecker and Hoffmeister argued for sentencing her to a flogging and the pillory for fornication, the matter of the baby’s death being being declared indeterminate. They maintained that the stain to the girl’s reputation would be a punishment that would follow her the rest of her life and that the question of infanticide could not be decided without absolute certainty of guilt. Silberhaus, Runge and Edelwert argued that the death of a child should not be so easily dismissed. Furthermore, the opinion of Baunach, a distinguished member of the medical community could not be ignored. After much debate, it was decided. The girl would have to be questioned under torture.
(Part 2 to be posted later tonight)
