Heilewif's Tale Teacher's Guide
Heilewif's Tale: Summer Reading Guide
Heilewif’s Tale is about the Middle ages. It tells of a wise woman who is called upon in old age to combat an evil curse then plaguing the Heidelberg castle of Count Robert of Wittelsbach. A kind of bewitchment had overcome many of his household staff and his beloved and beautiful daughter Aurianna was most seriously afflicted. For days she had lain in a trancelike stupor, hardly able to speak or walk. It was hoped that constant prayers would end the ordeal and for a time it seemed so. But the spell returned and once again Aurianna fell victim, wandering and hallucinating for several days. Frantic efforts were made by men of science and God alike to quiet the spell and although she slowly recovered, Robert continued to fear a return of the curse. He began to believe that his household was under attack by witches, but had no idea why, or how he might combat it. All of his vassals and knights with their swords and armor seemed useless to him and he felt helpless and alone. He knew he needed to unravel the mystery of the spell before it unraveled his rule.
Heilewif's Tale was written to support a typical secondary school study of medieval history and to clarify for students the social and political nature of feudal European civilization. The events occur in the late 14th Century when considerable political and religious turmoil threatened the stability of the Holy Roman Empire, and while the characters are purely fictional they parallel real historical events very closely and in ways which were socio-culturally true to the times. The relationships between lord and vassal, church and state, commoner and noble, as well as the rise of a merchant middle class, are cleverly woven into a story of conspiracy and betrayal effecting ordinary lives and everyday struggles.
Heilewif's Tale: Free Teacher’s Examination Copy
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