The White Lady is one of Germany's most famous ghosts. The heavily weathered Gothic Martyrdom stands at the site of her death.

According to legend, Kunigunde von Orlamünde, who was widowed early on, heard that Albrecht, Burgrave of Nuremberg, was interested in her. However, he had objected: "Four eyes stand between us." From this, Kunigunde deduced that she had two children from her first marriage and killed them by stabbing them in the brain. Now Albrecht turned away in horror, he had meant his parents. Kunigunde then made a pilgrimage to Rome to seek absolution from the Pope. He granted it with one condition: Kunigunde should found a monastery and enter it himself. So she founded the Himmelkron monastery and slid down from her home, the Plassenburg, to her foundation on her knees. Shortly before she reached her destination, she died at the spot where the torture is today. After that, Kunigunde appeared as a white woman on the castles of the Hohenzollerns, the descendants of Burgrave Albrecht, to announce an imminent misfortune. It is said to have appeared at the Plassenburg, in Ansbach, in Berlin and Rudolstadt, and is also associated with Lauenstein Castle.

The actual Kunigunde von Orlamünde (circa 1303 to 1382) was actually a widow after the death of her husband Otto. And she spent her last years in the monastery. There are no more similarities with the legend. Kunigunde had no children and did not found the Himmelkron Monastery - which had existed since 1279 - but rather the Himmelthron, which she entered and became an abbess. Her tombstone can still be found there.

Translated by Google •

Andrea und Huskys 🐺

June 28, 2023

The torture is probably the most valuable in the district of Kulmbach. The late Gothic, elaborate stone monument is badly weathered, the reliefs are hardly recognizable, some of them have become riddles themselves. The work of art is threatened with decay.

Next to the towering martyrdom stands a medieval expiatory cross on the right and a moss-covered stone bench of later days on the left.

Translated by Google •

Wolly

February 21, 2021

The most famous legend about the white woman has its origin in the Plassenburg and is linked to the Hohenzollern family. Castle mistress Kunigunde, widow of Count Otto von Orlamünde, had fallen in love with Albrecht the Beautiful, son of Nuremberg Burgrave Friedrich IV. He let it be known that he would marry her if four eyes weren't in the way. This meant his parents who refused such a connection. Kunigunde, however, misunderstood the message and applied it to her two children, a girl of two and a boy of three. She stabbed the children in the head with a needle and killed them. Albrecht then broke away from her. Kunigunde went on a pilgrimage to Rome and obtained the forgiveness of her sins from the Pope, on the condition that he found a monastery and enter there. In penance, she slipped on her knees from the Plassenburg into the valley of Berneck and founded the Himmelkron monastery, where she died as abbess.

In a local version of the saga from Himmelkron, the monastery already existed at the time of the murder and the two children were buried in it. Kunigunde, slipping on his knees, saw the monastery on a hill between Trebgast and Himmelkron and died there of exhaustion.

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 420 m

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Location: Neuenmarkt, Landkreis Kulmbach, Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany

✝️ Martyrdom and atonement cross of the "White Lady"

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