The Intrigue

Intrigues are as old as humanity itself. Bishop Emmeram learned this the hard way when a slanderous accusation cost him his life. His murder in the 7th century is considered one of the oldest political mysteries in Bavaria’s criminal history. Bishop Emmeram came from Potiers, a city in southern France, where, according to the records of Arbeos, he had already served as bishop. As a missionary bishop, he sought to preach the Christian faith in the Avars of Hungary. On his journey there, he made a stop in Regensburg, where the Bavarian Duke Theodo II asked him to stay. For three years, he carried out his missionary work as bishop in Regensburg. Then Uta, the duke’s daughter, confided in him that she was expecting a child by the son of a judge named Sigibald. Emmeram advised her to name him as the father of her child and then set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. But when Uta’s brother Lantpert learned that Emmeram had impregnated his sister, he set out after him with his warriors to save his sister’s honor. In Kleinhelfendorf, Lantpert caught up with Bishop Emmeram. His thirst for revenge was so great that he had Bishop Emmeram brutally tortured. His torturers cut off both of Emmeram’s feet and hands, as well as his genitals. Afterward, they simply left the still-living bishop lying there. Today, a martyr’s stone with a life-size wooden figure from 1789 stands as a testament to this in the St. Emmeram Martyr’s Chapel in Kleinhelfendorf. The farmers did not want to leave the bishop there. They placed the severely wounded Emmeram on a cart and intended to take him to the ducal “villa publica,” the Theodos estate, in Aschheim. But a few kilometers before reaching their destination, Emmeram died in Feldkirchen, where a chapel still commemorates him today. His body was buried in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Aschheim. Afterward, it rained continuously for 40 days. Only when Emmeram’s last wish to be buried in Regensburg at the former Imperial Abbey of St. Emmeram was fulfilled did the rain finally stop. As a result of his murder, Bishop Emmeram became a martyr and a saint; he is said to have been murdered not only because of the duchess’s pregnancy, but also because he allegedly acted as an informant for the Franks.