The Black Bow: A Story of the Thirty Years War

During the Thirty Years War, Erich is a German Protestant soldier who rescues Mara, an accused witch, from torture and burning at the stake. As they trek along a war-ravaged landscape, a motley assortment of people join them on the journey: a band of mercenary Swedes, an embittered scholar, a jovial musician/juggler, an orphaned child, a painter, a scribe, and later groups of peasant soldiers. Hunted for heresy, they seek shelter in a monastery where Mara was raised, founded by Hildegard of Bingen centuries before. During this time, their mutual attraction deepens.

Klaus is the leader of the local Catholic League who zealously enforces the growing power of the Catholics against the Protestants in the region. He tracks Erich after the initial escape but fails to catch him, then vows to continue the pursuit because of a long-standing personal hatred and their religious and class differences. Will the conclusion of the pursuit foreshadow the outcome of the next major battle and the direction of the entire War?

The Black Bow contains a large cast of characters and covers many aspects of this long and brutal conflict between Protestant and Catholic forces. This was a terrible time to live for many Europeans, particularly those in the German principalities. Innumerable lives were lost on the battlefields and in the countryside by plundering troops from both sides of the conflict. It was also a time when witchcraft persecution was near its height, which accentuated the climate of fear and repression in many societies.

The Black Bow is an object drawn from German myth and legend. It provides degrees of power to the holder when summoned, much of which is derived from a deep connection to ancestry and natural world.