Act One

The Characters

GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN, a knight. ELISABETH, his wife. MARIA, his sister. KARL, his little son. GEORG, his squire, a boy. LERSE, a knight who enters his service. HANS VON SELBITZ, a knight with a wooden leg. FRANZ VON SICKINGEN, a knight. ADELBERT VON WEISLINGEN, Götz's boyhood friend. ADELHEID VON WALLDORF, a widow. FRANZ, Weislingen's page. THE BISHOP OF BAMBERG. THE ABBOT OF FULDA. OLEARIUS, a doctor of laws. LIEBETRAUT, a courtier. BROTHER MARTIN, an Augustinian monk. THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. Imperial councillors, the council of Heilbronn. METZLER, SIEVERS, LINK, KOHL, leaders of the rebel peasants. Gypsies, judges of the secret tribunal, riders, soldiers, peasants.

An Inn at Schwarzenberg in Franconia

METZLER and SIEVERS, peasants, at a table by the fire. Two Bamberg RIDERS at another.

SIEVERS. Hans, another glass of brandy, and a Christian measure.

METZLER. Tell us again about Berlichingen. The Bamberg men over there are making faces; they're as sour as vinegar.

SIEVERS. Berlichingen? He'll make it hot for them. He's feuding with the Bishop again. They say the Bishop sent his men to take one of Götz's boys, and now Götz is riding through the country, and nobody knows where he'll turn up.

METZLER. A Bamberg man had better keep his mouth shut and his purse closed.

The RIDERS start up; there are words, then blows; the INNKEEPER throws them all out. Two of Götz's riders come in, and learn that Weislingen, the Bishop's right hand, is lodging at the castle nearby.

An Inn in a Forest

GÖTZ in front of the door, under a lime tree.

GÖTZ. Where are my men? I must walk up and down, or sleep will take me. Five days and nights on the watch. A man is made to work hard for his little bit of life and freedom. But when I have you, Weislingen, I'll be in good spirits again.

GEORG comes out in a breastplate and helmet that are far too big for him.

GÖTZ. What are you doing in that armour?

GEORG. I wanted to see how it would look, sir. Let me ride with you! I'm big enough.

GÖTZ. Not in armour that fits a man twice your size. Next time I'll have some made for you. Take it off; and keep watch for me.

BROTHER MARTIN, a monk, comes out of the inn.

MARTIN. God be with you, sir! Who are you?

GÖTZ. A knight. And you?

MARTIN. Brother Martin, of the order of Saint Augustine. I've been at the monastery on an errand, and I'm tired. Will you drink with me?

They drink.

MARTIN. Wine gladdens the heart of man; and gladness is the mother of all virtues. You knights have it good: you ride and fight, you eat and drink as you please, and you sleep when you're tired. I have three vows: poverty, chastity and obedience. Poverty — well, we're given everything. Chastity — that one's hard. And obedience: to give up one's own will — that's the hardest of all. Give me your hand!

GÖTZ (holding out his left hand). You'll have to take my left.

MARTIN. Why not the right? Am I not worthy of it?

GÖTZ. If you were the Emperor, you'd have to be content with this one. My right, though it isn't useless in battle, can't feel a handshake. It's one with its glove; you see, it's iron.

MARTIN. Then you are Götz von Berlichingen! I thank you, God, for letting me see the man the princes hate and the oppressed love! (He takes the iron hand and kisses it.) Let me kiss this hand! There was a rider once who lost his right hand at Landshut, and served on with his left. — I'd like to have been a soldier. But I'm in my cell. — Farewell, and remember me.

GÖTZ. And you me.

MARTIN goes. A RIDER comes running.

RIDER. Sir, Weislingen is on the road, with four men!

GÖTZ. Georg, my armour! Now, Weislingen, we'll see.

Jagsthausen. Götz's Castle

ELISABETH, MARIA, and little KARL.

KARL. Tell me the story again, aunt, about the good child.

MARIA. Once there was a good child who brought his sick mother a cup of water, and his hand was blessed; and the sick were healed by his touch.

KARL. Is Father coming home?

ELISABETH. Soon, child. He's riding against the Bishop's men. They took one of his boys, and he will have satisfaction.

MARIA. And Weislingen — to think that he, who was Götz's friend from childhood, should now be the Bishop's man, and his enemy!

A RIDER enters. Götz has taken Weislingen prisoner, with three servants. Then GÖTZ enters with WEISLINGEN, dazed and dusty; he is given fresh clothes.

GÖTZ. You're welcome under my roof, Adelbert, even as a prisoner. Do you remember when we were pages together at the court of the Margrave, and slept in one bed, and you were the cleverer and I the stronger? You've grown into a courtier. You serve the Bishop; and the Bishop and his kind are using the Emperor's weakness to make themselves masters. They want no free knights in the Empire; they want only servants.

WEISLINGEN. The princes want order, Götz. You knights, with your feuds, keep the whole Empire in turmoil.

GÖTZ. Order! Their order is that every man who won't bow to them is a robber. I hold my lands from no one but God and the Emperor, and I'll serve no one else.

KARL comes in, and greets WEISLINGEN. WEISLINGEN lifts him up and wishes Götz joy of him.

Bamberg. A Hall in the Bishop's Palace

The BISHOP at table with the ABBOT OF FULDA, OLEARIUS, LIEBETRAUT, and courtiers. OLEARIUS praises the new Roman law; LIEBETRAUT laughs at the lawyers. A servant brings the news: Weislingen has been taken by Götz. The BISHOP is furious, and sends LIEBETRAUT to win Weislingen back to Bamberg, by any means.

Jagsthausen

MARIA and WEISLINGEN.

WEISLINGEN. You are the first woman who has made me feel what I have missed all my life. Maria, I love you.

MARIA. You are our prisoner, and my brother's friend again; that is enough for now.

GÖTZ comes in.

GÖTZ. Adelbert has given me his word: he will no longer help my enemies; he is free. And more than that: he loves my sister, and she loves him. Give me your hands. You are betrothed! Look at the Main down there, and the hills, and the castle; this is a good country, Adelbert, and you shall live here, with us, a free man.

WEISLINGEN. I feel as if I had been let out of a prison. I'll give up the court, and live as I was meant to.

WEISLINGEN's page, FRANZ, arrives from Bamberg with greetings, and speaks of the court, and of a lady there, the widow ADELHEID VON WALLDORF, whose beauty he describes in such raptures that it is plain he has lost his heart to her.