The Beginning

I'm born in the German region called North Palatine. The area is very rural and a bit backwards, but also beautiful. Today, North Palatine shows a lack of industry, choice of employment and a lack of public transportation. Even back in medieval history, North Palatine wasn't exactly the center of big political events.

Nevertheless, you cannot visit a single town or village there without coming across history dating back to ancient times.

At the Donnersberg, you can find (reconstructed) Celtic remains. The village Winnweiler, where I attended both elementary school and the "Gymnasium" (german highschool), is built on an old roman settlement and some buildings of an Early Modern Period palace still remain.

To my luck, my elementary school teacher Mr. Schader was deeply in love with the local history and especially with the myths and legends around those distant events. He shared this love with his pupils, and maybe he is the person to take the credit for lightening the flame.

He took us along on field days to the remains of the castle Falkenstein and the castle Hohenfels. He showed us the "Iron Man" and the "Hochsteiner Kreuz" and he told us about the old legends.

The legend about the Hohenfels' robber knights and their outlook - the "Iron Man" - was the one I liked the most.

So, my novel is based on this legend and the last years of Castle Hohenfels until its destruction in 1351.

Please be my guest and follow my footsteps while researching distant events and visiting medieval remains. Now and then, I will show you places of history, or tell you stories not directly connected to my research. I hope you will enjoy them, too.