Emperor Barbarossa’s Masked Ball
On March 4, 1152, the 30-year-old Swabian Duke Frederick I was elected king in Frankfurt am Main. He was the first Staufer on the imperial throne and was given the nickname Barbarossa in Italy because of his red beard. Many legends surround this legendary emperor. According to the best-known legend, Barbarossa did not die at all, but is sitting asleep on his throne in a cave under the Kyffhäuser Mountains, waiting for his redemption by the growth of his beard around a marble table. A lesser-known legend tells of Barbarossa’s masked ball in Frankfurt am Main. In 1155, Barbarossa is said to have held a masked ball in Frankfurt am Main, to which everyone had free admission. His wife, Adela von Vohburg, was particularly fond of masked balls, as no one knew who was hiding behind the masks. That evening, she noticed a man who was a wonderful dancer. When he asked her to dance, the empress was extremely flattered. She enjoyed dancing with the masked man and was very curious to find out which noble knight was hiding behind the disguise. At midnight, everyone unmasked themselves, including the mysterious dancer. But when his identity was revealed, a murmur went through the hall. For he was not a knight or a count, but the knacker who had been banished from Frankfurt in disgrace. A knacker was a butcher who was responsible for disposing of animal carcasses. After his banishment, he lived in the mountains. Emperor Barbarossa was outraged that the knacker had sneaked into the ball and had even had the audacity to dance with his wife. He wanted to have him beheaded on the spot. But the knacker was clever and suggested to the emperor that by touching the empress during the dance, he had now become an honorable man. The emperor was impressed by the knacker’s audacity and, instead of beheading him, had him knighted with the name “Schelm von Bergen.” This family line did not die out until 1844. Thus, the dishonorable knacker had become an honorable knight.
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