De morte magistri generalis.
A Devilish Fratricide
Johannes of Endorph murders the Teutonic Order's master general Werner after being corrected for his faults.
In the year mentioned before — that is, 1330 — on the feast of Saint Martin's winter octave, a brother named Johannes of Endorph, of Saxon nationality, of the Teutonic Order's house, at the instigation of the devil and by his own wickedness, killed Brother Werner the master general as he was leaving the church after vespers had been sung, because Werner had been reproving him for his own transgressions.
The Blood that Cries Out
The chronicler laments the unprecedented murder with a cry to Genesis 4:10 and contrasts the grace-bearing name of John with the murderer's failure to love his correcting father.
O Johannes, you fratricide — what have you done? Look — the blood of your brother cries out to God from the ground.✦ Who has ever heard of such horrible things? For you have done an evil deed such as has not been done since the founding of the order. You have not lived up to the meaning of your own name. He is called John, and in him there is grace. But — alas! There was no grace in you at all — because when the master corrected you for your faults, you, if you had been wise, ought to have loved him as your own father.
A Fool's Hatred and a Judas Kiss
The text contrasts the master's life-giving correction with the disciple's murderous hatred, culminating in the image of a Judas-like kiss before the fatal blow.
But now you held him in hatred, like a fool. Why didn't you treat him with such great kindness? Why, Jude, in a fit of madness, on the very same day you kissed his food and his drink, and then, piercing his body with a knife, you poured out his blood?1 He, by correcting you, sought to call you back from the death of the soul to life. There, striking him down, you took away his life and cruelly brought death upon him.2
Tears for a Slain Leader
The chronicler prays for a fountain of tears and vows to weep day and night for the slain leader of his people.
Who, then, will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes? And I will weep day and night for the leader of my people, so miserably slain.
Read the original Latin
Anno predicto, scilicet mcccxxx in octava sancti Martini 3hyemali frater Joan1 nes de Endorph, Saxo nacione, ordinis domus Theutonice, instigante dyabolo et propria iniquitate fratrem Wernerum magistrum generalem, dum cantatis vesperis exiret de ecclesia, interfecit, quod ipsum pro suis excessibus increpabat. 0 Joannes fratricida quid fecisti? En sanguis fratris tui clamat ad deum de terra. Quis unquam audivit talia horribilia? perpctrasti enim malum, quod a principio fundacionis ordinis non est factum. Tu non es secutus interpretacionem nominis tui; Joannes dicitur, in quo est gracia. Sed, heu! inte nulla fuit gracia, quod cum magister te corriperet pro delictis tuis, tu eum, si sapiens fuisses, debueras diligere ceu patrem tuum.
Nunc autem, ut stultus, eum odio habuisti. Cur tanta benignitate usus non fuisti? Cur Jude demencia eodem die cibum et potum ejus osculatus fuisti, et tumc ipsius corpus cultello perforando sanguinem effudisti? Ipse te corripiendo de morte anime ad vitam revocare studuit. Ibi tu eum feriendod vitam auferens mortem crudeliter intulisti. Quis igitur dabit capiti meo aquam et oculis meis fontem lacrymarum! et plorabo die et nocte principem populi mei sic miserabiliter interfectum.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.4.10 — And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground."
Notes
- 1 ↩The form 'tumc' in the source is uncertain (possibly 'tum' with abbreviation mark); translated as 'then' following the most plausible intended sense.
- 2 ↩The form 'feriendod' in the source is uncertain (possibly 'feriendo' with abbreviation or 'feriendi'); translated as a gerund of striking down, following the most plausible intended sense.
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