De fratre Henrico de Cunce.
The Devil's Lure and the Horse That Refused
Brother Henry of Cunce, once a wicked plunderer, is led by a demonic figure on a dark ride to the edge of a deadly precipice, but is saved when his horse refuses to go further and he invokes the name of the Lord.
At this time in Prussia, Brother Henry of Cunce, born in Thuringia, died. While still a layman, he carried out a remarkable reign of terror — he was a great plunderer and a wicked man. One day at twilight he saw a man coming toward him, seated on a pitch-black horse, who said: 'Henry, come with me alone — I'll lead you to a place where you'll be enriched by great plunder.' Henry agreed, and mounting his horse, followed him through many dangerous stretches of road. At last he came to a place where his horse refused to go any farther, though he pressed it hard with his spurs again and again. The horse saw the danger that he himself, because of the darkness of the night, did not — so Henry drove it forward vigorously with his spurs: 'Go on in the name of the Lord!'1 Then his companion — the devil, clearly — standing opposite him, said: 'Good for you, because you call on the name of your God; for if you had not done this, you would already be lying dead, hurled down into this valley.'2 Henry, terrified, stayed in that same place, not daring to go forward or turn back, until the following day. And when he saw the towering cliff from which he would have fallen into an impossibly deep valley if the horse had gone even a little further, he signed himself with the sign of the holy cross and praised the name of the Lord, through which he had been delivered from such great danger.3
The Vision of Judgment and the Vow to Enter Religion
Henry sees a terrifying vision of himself accused before a heavenly judge, and is spared only when he vows to enter the Teutonic Order, whereupon the vision vanishes.
And so it happened that one day at twilight he saw a certain judge seated on the bench, with a crowd of people standing around, and they all accused him of various crimes; and when he was brought before the tribunal and the judge asked him how he answered the charges, he was terrified and said nothing. At last, after many threats, the assessors begged the judge to spare him, for he would have to amend his life in short order. And when the same Brother Henry promised that he would enter the Order of the House of Teutonia, that whole assembly vanished, and he saw nothing more.
The Devil's Counter-Offer and Christ's Wounds
After his wife refuses him a divorce, the devil tempts Henry in a dream with promises of cities and glory, but Christ appears with his five wounds and offers something far greater, confirming Henry's resolve.
So he returned, pale and stunned, to his castle and told his wife — a noble, young, and delicate woman — everything he had seen; and when she asked for a divorce, she refused him.4 And so, while he lingered for some time in uncertainty about fulfilling his vow, the devil — the enemy of humankind, who has a thousand ways of doing harm — wanting to delay him from his holy purpose, appeared to him in a dream in royal attire, surrounded by a great host of soldiers, and said: 'Henry, you shall have such-and-such a city and such-and-such a castle; be a valiant knight, serve me, and I will give you even more.'✦5 But when he considered within himself that he ought rightly to serve so generous a Lord, Jesus Christ appeared with his five wounds and said: 'Henry, I am more generous than that one.' And touching the wound in his side, he said: 'I will give you a city if you serve me — one far better than the one that seductive king promised you.'6
The Nightly Hammer and the Wife's Resistance
Despite Christ's reassurance, Henry's wife remains obstinate, but each night a supernatural hammering and a voice urge him to rise and pray, pressing him toward his vocation.
And when he revealed this again to his wife, she remained obstinate as before and refused to give him permission to enter religious life. And so it came about that every night he heard a terrible sound, like a hammer striking the wall, and a voice saying: 'Henry, rise to pray, for your brothers have already gotten up.'7
The Wife's Surrender and Henry's Transformation
Terrified by the persistent supernatural sounds, Henry's wife at last relents, and Henry enters the Teutonic Order, where his former wickedness is replaced by surpassing virtue.
So many and such terrible sounds and wonders harassed the woman. Frightened by the voices, she no longer had the spirit to resist her husband's holy purpose, but casting off all stubbornness, she gave him free permission to take up the religious life however he wished. Having thus obtained permission, she withdrew to the regions of Prussia and, having made her profession in the order of the Teutonic house, just as before, living in the world, she surpassed her contemporaries in wickedness, so now in religious life she excelled the other brothers in virtues.
The Fiendish Dispute and the Creed That Saves
During a severe illness, Henry is assailed by a demonic debate between a Jew and a Christian challenging his faith, but he vanquishes the temptation by professing the apostolic creed.
This man, at a certain time while he was suffering from a severe illness, saw one Jew and another Christian in the garb of drunkards, one standing at his right side, the other at his left, disputing about the articles of faith; and when the Jew had defeated him, he said: 'Henry, you have heard now that your faith cannot save you; therefore believe the faith of the Jews.'89 Brother Henry answered: 'I believe in God the Father almighty, and the rest that are contained in the apostolic creed,' and immediately they vanished.
Read the original Latin
Hoc tempore in Prussia frater Henricus de Cunce natus de Thuringia mortuus fuit. Qui cum adhuc esset secularis miram tyrannidem exercuit, raptor magnus et homo maleficus. Vidit quadam die in crepusculo venientem ad se quendam virum equo nigerrimo insidentem, qui dixit ei: Henrice veni mecum solus, ego te ducam ad locum, ubi ditaberis per predam magnam. Henricus acquievit, et ascendens equum suum, sequutus est eum per multa viarum discrimina. Tandem venit ad locum, ubi equus suus ultra ire non voluit, licet calcaribus sepius perurgeret. Vidit enim equus periculum, quod ipse propter noctis eum fortiter calcaribus: procede in nomine dominie. Tune socius ejus scilicet dyabolus, stans ex adverso ait: bene tibi, quiaf nominasli nomen dei tui; quia si hoc non fecisses, jam precipitatus jaceres mortuus in hac valle. Henri cus perterritus mansit in eodem loco non audens procedere aut retrocedere usque in diem sequentem, et cumg videret rupem altissimam, de qua debebat cadereh in vallem profundissimam, si equus modicum processisset, signavit se signo sancte crucis, et laudavit nomen domini, per quod fuerat a tanto periculo liberatus.
Unde accidit, quod quadam die in crepusculo vidit quendam judicem sedentem pro tribunali, et multitudinem populi circumstantem, qui ipsum om- - nes de diversis maliciis accusabant, et adductus adkjudicium, dum judex quereret, quid ad objecta responderet, perterritus tacuit. Tandem post multas minas assessores rogabant judicem, ut ei parceret, ipse enim vitam suam deberet breviter emendare. Et cum idem frater Henricus promisisset, se ordinem domus Theutonice intraturum, omnis illa congregacio disparuit, et amplius nihil vidit. Reversus itaque pallidus et stupefactus ad castrum suum, uxori sue, mulieri nobili, juveni et delicate, cuncta, que viderat, enarravit, que ei petenti"1 divorcium denegavit. Et sic dum quasi dubius in voto complendo per tempus aliquod existeret, dyabolus humani generis inimicus, qui mille modos nocendi habet, volens ipsum a sancto suo proposito retardare, apparuit ei in somnis in habitu regio multa stipatus milicia etn ait: Henrice talem civitatem et tale castrum liabeas tibia, et sis miles strenuus, etb servias mihi et amplius tibi dabo. Cum autem ipse cogitaret intra se, quod merito deberet servire tali domino largo, apparuit Jesus Cristus cum quinque vulneribus et ait: Henrice ego sum largior illo, et tacto vulnere lateris dixit: haue civitatem dabo tibi, si servieris mihi, que multo melior est illa, quam tibi seductor ille rex promisit. Et cum hoc iterum uxori sue revelaret, adhuc quasi obstinata ipsi intrandic religionem licenciam denegavit. Ende factum est, quod singulis noctibus audivit horribilem sonum, tanquam mallei percucientis ad parietem et vocem dicentemd: Henrice surge ad orandum, quia jam fratres tui surrexerunt.
Tot igiture et tantis mulier terribilibus vexata sonis et mirabilibus. territa vocibus, non habebat ultra sancto viri sui proposito spiritum resistendi, sed rejecta omni pertinacia, dedit ei quameunque vellet assumendi religionem liberam facultatem. Obtenta sic licencia, secessit ad partes Prussie et facta professione in ordine donius Theutonice, sicut antea in seculo existens coetaneos suos malicia precedebat, ita nunc in religione fratres ceteros virtutibus excedebat. Hic quodam tem pore dum in infirmitate gravi laboraret, vidit unum Judeum et alium Cristianum in habitu bacchardorum *, unum a dextris suis, alium a sinistris, stantes et disputantes de articulis fidei, et dum Judeus ipsum vicisset, ait: Henrice audisti nunc, quia fides tua te salvum facere non potest, crede ergo fidem Judeorum. Respondit frater Henricus: Ego credo in deum patrem omnipotentem, et cetera, que in symbolo apostolico continentur, et statim disparuerunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.4.8-Matt.4.9 — Again, the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Matt.4.9 — And he said to him, 'All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.'
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin is garbled at this point (quod ipse propter noctis eum fortiter calcaribus: procede in nomine dominie). The translation reconstructs the most likely intended sense: the horse perceived the danger that Henry, unable to see in the dark, could not, and Henry urged the horse forward with spurs, invoking the Lord's name.
- 2 ↩The Latin contains apparent scribal errors (quiaf, nominasli). The translation reads these as quia nominas(li) — 'because you name/call upon' — the name of God.
- 3 ↩The Latin contains minor scribal errors (cumg, cadereh) treated as cum and cadere in the normalized reading.
- 4 ↩The Latin reads 'que ei petenti divorcium denegavit' — the subject of denegavit is ambiguous. The most natural reading in context is that the wife refused Henry's request (for her to allow him to leave), but the syntax could also mean she refused the divorce she herself requested. Rendered following the narrative logic that she denied him permission to enter religion.
- 5 ↩The manuscript reads 'etn' and 'etb' — treated as scribal abbreviations or errors for 'et' and rendered accordingly. 'liabeas tibia' appears to be a corrupted form of 'habeas tibi' (you shall have for yourself), rendered as 'you shall have.'
- 6 ↩'haue' treated as a corrupted form of 'hanc' (this) or an exclamatory particle, rendered as 'I will give you.'
- 7 ↩'Ende' appears to be a scribal variant or corruption of 'et ideo' or similar, rendered as 'And so.' 'dicentemd' treated as 'dicentem' with a scribal flourish.
- 8 ↩The manuscript reads 'tem pore' as a scribal division of 'tempore'; normalized to 'tempore' for translation.
- 9 ↩The word 'bacchardorum' is an unusual form, possibly related to 'bacchantium' (revelers/bacchantes); rendered as 'drunkards' based on context.
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