Ritter Trapp von Burg Berwartstein...

much as my research is more theoretical, only drawing from a pool of stories heard in school´s history class, or having read books for that matter... but sometimes it crosses my personal itinerary... when i was a young teenager of probably 10 or 11, my big family clan (the butzer-caravan, as they called us) once met for a legendary week in rhineland-palatinate, to meet, mingle, go to church, or play table-tennis in the cellar of the big house we rented....our schedule was packed with events... and since the palatinate (literally meaning " a designated land of a duke or elector) was packed with old ruins of red sandstone (including famous ruin "tri-fels")... we decided to make an excursion to visit an authentic medieval castle... it was called "berwartstein", and there was a guided tour, that took hours to complete... i can remember on a big tree outside the castle there was actually still a piece of rope from the late middle ages hanging down in the highest crown.... there also was a torture-chamber with old weapons, cannon balls and other stuff to visit... complete with a pottery room (picture below) and restaurant, thats still being used for actual guests...

 the whole castle was covered with nice medieval paintings that had been restored by specialists... the most important tale about that castle goes like this: there once lived a grim black knight, his name : Hans Trapp of Trotha, or short "Ritter Trapp". he was a giant, towering over all his peers with 6ft6, riding a huge horse, and his mere presence struck the peasants and city dwellers with fear & awe wherever he went... he rode around, pillaged and plundered, and conquered and lived in burg berwartstein... making it his royal refuge...

 i dont know how much of this tale is really true, but we see the people we are talking about, leave a big footprint not just on a national level, but also in the smaller, local communities... through the centuries this story has been told to countless kids in rhineland-palatinate, who visited Berwartstein...but none of them would have dreamed that i would find....

 THIS !   around the same time that "black knight" Hans Trapp roamed the palatinate in the german rhineland, there was, miracle-above-miracles, a british king, who was the tallest man to ever ascend to the english throne until today... and if that isnt enough i also found his spanish alter already...the usual trick has been applied, for the spaniard just let the beard grow for 2 or 3 days, make the hair slightly messy and drink a bottle of portwine before the painter can do his job... nobody´s gonna realize that Ferdinand II of aragon (1452-1516) was in fact the same man as Edward IV of england (1442-1483)... or so they thought...

 make no mistake this man spoke probably 5 languages fluent, he needed latin, german, french, spanish and english as a solid basis, then probably others like arabic or russian as well... to play "Ritter Trapp" in some minor german electorate, was merely one of his most simple tricks...

 here we have his royal jewess wife elizabeth woodville, (1437-1492)... her other alters will be easy to find and merely a question of time and dedication...

 remember so far we have dealt with western european royalty...but in the eastern or northern part, the skandinavian countries, czechoslovakia, bulgaria or romania, there were also rulers who were all of the same blood and firmly intertwined with the same teeming pool of people...

 i am 6ft 6 myself and can tell a few stories about what its like being tall.. for this guy, in full armour, riding a huge belgian or northern coldblood, it was obviously not hard to intimidate anyone, be it in zaragoza, westminster, or worms, ulm and augsburg...but we all know physical power is subject to spirital power... so the popes, the counselors, the grand masters of the mysteries, thats actually the people that you really must look at when you talk power..

lets finish this sentimental thread with a nice picture from burg Berwartstein, and the handcrafted chairs+tables of the banquet room... located in this simple yet wonderful red sandstone castle...