History

And so it came about that, in the year of the Lord 1223, Hauptmann Feuerschwanz was thoroughly enjoying life as a robber knight.  Residing in the ruins of his ancestral castle, he cared little for the affairs of the world until, gambling, drinking and wenching, he had lost his entire fortune- save for one dilapidated ruin no one wanted.  Turning his back on the latter, he rode south in the hope of winning fame and fortune on crusade.

 


Gradually, others joined him on his long journey: Sir Lanzeflott, who can fiddle a lance better than anyone; Johanna von der Vögelweide, who like her brother Walter wanted to be a genuine knight and woo the ladies with her fiddle, but unlike her brother Walter had to disguise herself as a man to fulfil her dreams; Eysye, the man with the iron mask, whose name and origins remain a mystery; young Prince Hodenherz, who like his father Richard and half-sister Ronja can blow anyone and anything; and the Squire, who is, well, a squire, and tends to come in useful.  Together, they are the Hauptmann’s Horny Horde, whose happiness centres on two words, which the Hauptmann discovered in Jerusalem hold the key to the making of the Philosopher’s Stone: MET&MIEZEN.



As chance would have it, the above-named knights in (and out of) shining armour met one night in Jericho in a house of ill repute, hoping to have their trumpets polished after weeks of hardship and deprivation.  Some time during that legendary night, they decided to let the crusades be crusades and retire to Castle Feuerschwanz to indulge their common passion for courtly love, jousts and wenches.

 


Unfortunately, they went slightly overboard in the pursuit of said passions, and incurred the wrath of one vengeful witch, who placed an awful curse on them: to live as they were living- forever.

 

The only way to break the curse and find peace within the grave is to fulfil the following conditions within the course of a year:

  • to be drunk every day
  • to sleep with a thousand women
  • to tame a horse
  • to eat a thousand kilos of radishes
  • to deflower a maid just by the power of their music

and...


... to fart all Schandmaul lyrics backwards.

Each year, they fall short of just one task...and it’s not eating radishes!