The Hangman's Daughter

The Hangman’s Daughter

A HISTORICAL NOVEL

OLIVER PÖTZSCH

The Hangman’s Daughter

A HISTORICAL NOVEL

Translated by

LEE CHADEAYNE

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.

Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

To the memory of Fritz Kuisl

For Niklas and Lily

at the other end of the line

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

JAKOB KUISL, the hangman of Schongau

SIMON FRONWIESER, the town physician’s son

MAGDALENA KUISL, the hangman’s daughter

ANNA MARIA KUISL, the hangman’s wife

THE KUISL TWINS, Georg and Barbara

BONIFAZ FRONWIESER, the town physician

MARTHA STECHLIN, midwife

JOSEF GRIMMER, wagon driver

GEORG RIEGG, wagon driver

KONRAD WEBER, parish priest

KATHARINA DAUBENBERGER, midwife from Peiting

RESL, serving maid at the Goldener Stern Inn

MARTIN HUEBER, wagon driver from Augsburg

FRANZ STRASSER, innkeeper in Altenstadt

CLEMENS KRATZ, grocer

AGATHE KRATZ, the grocer’s wife

MARIA SCHREEVOGL, the alderman’s wife

COUNT WOLF DIETRICH VON SANDIZELL, the secretary of the Duke-Elector of Bavaria

THE ALDERMEN

JOHANN LECHNER, court clerk

KARL SEMER, presiding burgomaster and landlord of the Goldener Stern Inn

MATTHIAS AUGUSTIN, member of the inner council

MATTHIAS HOLZHOFER, burgomaster

JOHANN PÜCHNER, burgomaster

WILHELM HARDENBERG, superintendent of the Holy Ghost almshouse

JAKOB SCHREEVOGL, stovemaker and trial witness

MICHAEL BERCHTHOLDT, baker and trial witness

GEORG AUGUSTIN, wagon driver and trial witness

THE CHILDREN

SOPHIE DANGLER, ward of linen weaver Andreas Dangler

ANTON KRATZ, ward of grocer Clemens Kratz

CLARA SCHREEVOGL, ward of alderman Jakob Schreevogl

JOHANNES STRASSER, ward of innkeeper Franz Strasser in Altenstadt

PETER GRIMMER, son of Josef Grimmer, mother deceased

THE SOLDIERS

CHRISTIAN BRAUNSCHWEIGER, ANDRÉ PIRKHOFER, HANS HOHENLEITNER, CHRISTOPH HOLZAPFEL

PROLOGUE

SCHONGAU

OCTOBER 12, A.D. 1624

OCTOBER 12 WAS A GOOD DAY FOR A KILLING. IT had rained all week, but on this Friday, after the church fair, our good Lord was in a kindlier mood. Though autumn had already come, the sun was shining brightly on that part of Bavaria they call the Pfaffenwinkel—the priests’ corner—and merry noise and laughter could be heard from the town. Drums rumbled, cymbals clanged, and somewhere a fiddle was playing. The aroma of deep-fried doughnuts and roasted meat drifted down to the foul-smelling tanners’ quarter. Yes, it was going to be a lovely execution.

Jakob Kuisl was standing in the main room, which was bathed in light, trying to wake up his father. The bailiff had called on them twice already, and there was no way he’d be able to send him away a third time. The hangman of Schongau sat bent over, his head lying on a table and his long straggly hair floating in a puddle of beer and cheap brandy. He was snoring, and at times he made twitching movements in his sleep.

Jakob bent down to his father’s ear. He smelled a mix of alcohol and sweat. The sweat of fear. His father always smelled like that before executions. A moderate drinker otherwise, he began to drink heavily as soon as the death sentence had been pronounced. He didn’t eat; he hardly talked. At night he often woke up screaming and drenched in perspiration. The two days immediately before the execution there was no use talking to him. Katharina, his wife, knew that and would move to her sister-in-law’s with the children. Jakob, however, had to stay behind, as he was his father’s eldest son and apprentice.

“We’ve got to go! The bailiff’s waiting.”

Jakob whispered at first, then he talked louder, and by now he was screaming. Finally the snoring colossus stirred.

Johannes Kuisl stared at his son with bloodshot eyes. His skin was the color of old, crusty bread dough; his black, straggly beard was still sticky with last night’s barley broth. He rubbed his face with his long, almost clawlike fingers. Then he rose to his full height of almost six feet. His huge body swayed, and it seemed for a moment that he’d fall over again. Then, however, Johannes Kuisl found his balance and stood up straight.