Ruprecht met Renata in the spring of 1534, returning after ten years of service as a Landsknecht in Europe and the New World. He did not have time to get to Cologne before dawn, where he had once studied at the university and not far from which was his native village of Lozheim, and spent the night in an old house lonely standing in the middle of the forest. At night, female screams outside the wall woke him up, and bursting into the next room, he found a woman beating in terrible cramps. Having driven away the devil with a prayer and a cross, Ruprecht listened to the lady who came to herself, who told him about the incident, which had become fatal for her.
When she was eight years old, an angel began to appear to her, all as if fiery. He called himself Madiel, was cheerful and kind. Later he announced to her that she would be a saint, and conjured a strict life, despising the carnal. In those days, the gift of miracles was opened at Renata and in the district she was known as pleasing to the Lord. But, having reached the age of love, the girl wanted to combine with Madiel bodily, however, the angel turned into a pillar of fire and disappeared, and promised her to appear before her in the form of a man in her desperate pleas.
Soon, Renata really met Count Heinrich von Otterheim, who looked like an angel with white clothes, blue eyes and golden curls.
For two years they were incredibly happy, but then the count left Renat alone with the demons. True, the good patron spirits encouraged her with a message that she would soon meet Ruprecht, who would protect her.
Having told all this, the woman acted as if Ruprecht had taken a vow to serve her, and they went to look for Henry, turning to the famous fortress, who only said: "Where you go, go there." However, she immediately screamed in horror: “And the blood flows and smells!” This, however, did not prevent them from continuing the journey.
At night, Renata, fearing the demons, left Ruprecht with her, but did not allow any liberties and spoke endlessly with him about Henry.
Upon arriving in Cologne, she ran around the city in vain in search of the Count, and Ruprecht witnessed a new attack of obsession, replaced by deep melancholy. Nevertheless, the day came when Renata perked up and demanded to confirm her love for her, going to the Sabbath to learn something about Henry there. Rubbing the greenish ointment that she gave him, Ruprecht went somewhere far away, where the naked witches introduced him to “master Leonard,” who made him renounce the Lord and kiss his black stinking ass, but only repeated the words of the queen: where you go, go there .
Upon returning to Renate, he had no choice but to turn to the study of black magic in order to become the master of those to whom he was a supplicant. Renata helped in the study of the works of Albert the Great, Rogerius Bacon, Sprenger and Institoris, and who made a particularly strong impression on him by Agrippa of Nottesheim.
Alas, the attempt to summon spirits, despite careful preparations and scrupulousness in following the advice of the warlocks, almost ended in the death of novice magicians. There was something to be known, apparently, directly from the teachers, and Ruprecht went to Bonn to see Dr. Agrippa Nottesheim. But the great one disowned his writings and advised from fortune-telling to go to the true source of knowledge. Meanwhile, Renata met with Henry and he said that he did not want to see her anymore, that their love was an abomination and a sin. The count was a member of a secret society that sought to hold Christians together stronger than the church, and hoped to lead him, but Renata forced her to break the vow of celibacy. Having told all this to Ruprecht, she promised to become his wife if he kills Heinrich, posing as another, higher. That very night their first connection with Ruprecht took place, and the next day the former Landsknecht found an occasion to challenge the count to a duel. However, Renata demanded that he not dare to shed Henry's blood, and the knight, forced only to defend himself, was badly wounded and wandered between life and death for a long time. It was at this time that the woman suddenly said that she loved him, and she loved him for a long time, only him, and no one else. All December they lived like newlyweds, but soon Madiel came to Renate, saying that the grave sins of her sin and that it was necessary to repent. Renata indulged in prayer and fasting.
The day came, and Ruprecht found Renata's room empty, having survived what she once experienced, looking for her Heinrich on the streets of Cologne. Dr. Faust, a tester of the elements, and a monk accompanying him, nicknamed Mephistopheles, were invited to a joint trip. On his way to Trier, while staying in the castle of Count von Wallen, Ruprecht accepted the offer of the owner to become his secretary and accompany him to the monastery of St. Olav, where a new heresy appeared and where he was sent as part of the mission of the Archbishop of Trier John.
In the retinue of his grace was Dominican brother Thomas, the inquisitor of His Holiness, known for his persistence in the persecution of witches. He was determined with respect to the source of turmoil in the monastery - the sister of Mary, who some considered holy, others - obsessed with demons. When the unfortunate nun was brought into the courtroom, Ruprecht, called to keep the record, recognized Renata. She confessed to witchcraft, cohabitation with the devil, participation in the Black Mass, covens and other crimes against faith and fellow citizens, but refused to name accomplices. Brother Thomas insisted on the use of torture, and then on the death sentence. On the night before the bonfire, Ruprecht, with the help of the count, entered the dungeon where the prisoner was kept, but she refused to run, insisting that she longs for a martyr's death, that Madiel, the fiery angel, will forgive her, a great sinner. When Ruprecht tried to carry her away, Renata screamed, began to desperately fight back, but suddenly she stopped and whispered: “Ruprecht! It’s so good that you are with me! ” - and she died.
After all these events that shocked him, Ruprecht went to his native Aozheim, but only from afar looked at his father and mother, already hunched old men, basking in the sun in front of the house. He turned to Dr. Agrippa, but found him with his last gasp. This demise again embarrassed his soul. A huge black dog, from which the teacher with a weakening hand took off the collar with magic letters, after the words: “Go away, damned! You are all my misfortunes from you! ” - with his tail in his tail and his head bowed, he ran out of the house, rushed into the waters of the river with a running start and no longer appeared on the surface. At that moment, the teacher let out his last breath and left this world. There was nothing left that would prevent Ruprecht from rushing to search for happiness across the ocean, to New Spain.
