Upon the magnificence of this coronation it is unnecessary to dwell,
but a tragical circumstance which took place at Ratisbon, during the
preparations for it, is too illustrative of the manners and spirit of
the times to be passed over in silence. Among the numerous jewellers who
repaired upon this occasion to Ratisbon, there was a young man from
Frankfort, the only son of the richest merchant in Europe. The father,
who feared to hazard his jewels with his son upon the road, caused them
to be forwarded by a sure conveyance to his correspondent at that city,
with orders that as soon as the young man should arrive they should be
delivered up to him. Upon the arrival of the youth, the correspondent,
who was a Jew, informed him that he had received a coffer of jewels from
his father, which he would place in his hands as soon as he should think
proper. In the mean while he conducted him to a tavern, where they drank
and conversed until one o’clock in the morning. They then left the house,
and the Jew conducted the young man, who was apparently a stranger to
the city, through various by-streets, where there were few shops, and
few passers, and when they were in a spot convenient for the purpose he
stabbed his guest in the bowels, and left him extended in his blood upon
the pavement. He then returned home, and wrote to his friend at Frankfort
that his son had arrived in safety, and received the jewels. The murderer
had no sooner quitted his victim, however, than a soldier, who happened
to be passing that way, stumbled over the body, and feeling his hand wet
with blood, was startled, and alarming the watch, the body was taken
up, and carried to the very tavern where the young man and the Jew had
spent the evening. This led to the apprehension of the murderer, who,
strange to say, at once confessed his guilt. He was therefore condemned,
according to the laws of the empire, to be hung upon a gallows with his
head downwards, between two large dogs, which, in the rage and agonies of
hunger, might tear him to pieces and devour him. This tremendous sentence
was changed, however, at the intercession and by the costly presents of
the other Jews of Ratisbon, to another of shorter duration but scarcely
less terrible, which was, to have his flesh torn from his bones by
red-hot pincers, while boiling lead was poured into the wound, and to be
afterward broken alive upon the wheel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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