Kriegsritter Johannes Braun – Imperial Knight
Copyright© 2026 by Vonalt
Chapter 16: Friends, Matchmakers and Medieval Wedding Planners
Time proved the Emperor right, for the time being. Castle Dole was still the center of government for the County of Burgundy, and Archbishop Humbert attended only to matters related to the Church. Johannes sent the Archbishop an accounting of the monies collected as tithes. A duplicate accounting was sent to the Emperor to protect Johannes against claims that, as Bailli, he was embezzling from the Church.
Johannes was back to his regular weekly schedule, though on the days he was supposed to go to the bishopric at Besançon, Father Denis, accompanied by Knight Thierry, went in his place. The Archbishop would receive them, but the meetings were cool and never lasted any longer than necessary. Instead of staying at the Archbishop’s estate, Father Denis and Thierry stayed with an elderly priest who had a parish not far from Besançon. There, they were received as friends, where Thierry would leave a generous donation in the parish poor box the following morning.
It had become the middle of June, and Marcus had not returned as he had promised. Johannes thought that something must have happened in Rome that required Marcus’s attention or, God forbid, that something had happened to Oddone, and Marcus was needed there more than at Dole Castle. If that were true, Johannes should have received word from him explaining the situation.
Lady Anne wasn’t about to allow Johannes to mope over his missing friend. It was the middle of the summer season, and the weather was perfect for arranging visits from eligible maidens of the county to Dole Castle. The chance to play matchmaker gave Lady Anne a sense of purpose, as if she were on a mission from God to see to it that Johannes was bonded to the proper maiden. She was determined to arrange a marriage that would unite Johannes with the right family in the County of Burgundy.
Lady Anne would work from the list of prominent families that Queen Beatrice had provided. She would extend an invitation to each prospective bride and her family to visit Dole Castle. As each family, in turn, visited the castle, Johannes would spend some time with the prospective bride and her family, allowing them to point out as to why their daughter—and the family itself—would have the most to offer the Imperial Bailli.
In a few instances, the prospective brides were still little more than children, being presented as a means of improving the status of their families.
When those families visited the castle with their young daughters, Johannes would claim to have important Imperial business to attend to. He would be polite to the visiting family, and there would be a shared meal. The next morning, Johannes would apologize for his inability to act as host, and the family would be sent on its way back to its family estate without having had an audience with Johannes or the opportunity to explain what an alliance with their family had to offer.
It was after the first family had visited the castle, offering their barely teenage daughter as a potential bride, that Johannes had reacted as he did. After the family was sent on its way, Johannes had a private meeting with Lady Anne.
Johannes politely informed Lady Anne of his position regarding young girls as potential brides, even if his views did not agree with accepted canon law. He simply stated that he was the Bailli of the county, and if she wished to continue in her position as matchmaker, she would have to follow his wishes. Otherwise, the visits of prospective brides and their families to the castle would cease, and she would have to find another task to fill her time.
Accepting Johannes’s wishes, Lady Anne made sure that only prospective brides of an age acceptable to Johannes were invited to the castle, along with their families. Johannes made himself more available for these visits, and Lady Anne took note of which young women might be invited back for a second visit.
There was one young woman in whom Johannes showed more interest than in the others. The prospective bride was closer to his age, and while her family’s wealth was nowhere near that of the others, Johannes could not have cared less. Any family would be eager to accept the arrangement, as having a daughter married to an Imperial official would greatly enhance their status within the county.
Adelheid was her name. Whenever she entered the room, Johannes would stop, watch her, and then return to whatever he had been doing before she appeared. Lady Anne noticed and took note of it. She would begin negotiations with the family about a possible marriage and the dowry the young woman would bring into the relationship. It would make things so much easier that Johannes had shown an interest.
Adelheid’s father was a salt merchant from Salins. While he was busy with his business, his daughter, Adelheid, managed the household. Her mother had died when she was a young teen, and her father had never remarried, so she had assumed her mother’s role managing the household.
She was what most would have considered past the prime age for marriage, but Johannes appreciated that she was more mature than the other women he had met. Most of them had only recently stopped playing with dolls.
While Adelheid Bernard, her full name, the daughter of Claude Bernard, the widowed salt merchant of Salins, was at the castle, Johannes went out of his way to spend time talking with her. He told her of his adventures at the French court of Louis VII, of his time in Rome, of being named the Protector of the Holy See, Pope Adrian IV, and of his tragic but short marriage to Apollonia and her untimely demise.
He also told Adelheid of the immense guilt he felt, blaming himself for her untimely death.
Not once did Adelheid say anything that would arouse an angry response from Johannes. The only time she interrupted him was to ask a question or clarify a point she did not fully understand. She did not find fault with him or criticize him. The only comment she made concerning Apollonia was, “Even though she behaved childishly at times, and her behavior was unacceptable, you still loved her deeply enough to feel the loss of her even now.”
He finally shared how his close relationship with the Imperial Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had come about and how their friendship had developed. Her only comment was, “I don’t think I could imagine you as a lowly, domiciled monk, wasting away in a monastery, serving an abbot who was growing fat and rich while your own life slowly wasted away. If I am ever to become your wife, I will want to thank the Emperor for saving you for me.”
Johannes acknowledged a connection to Adelheid and liked what he saw in the young woman, who was older than the other women being considered as potential wives for him. Johannes felt something he hadn’t felt since Apollonia. It burned the same, but for some unknown reason, it resided in another place in his heart. The intensity was the same; the feeling just had a different address. That was how Johannes described it when talking to Father Denis and Thierry.
Johannes missed Marcus’s friendship. It was times like these when he missed his friend’s advice and perspective on things. Hopefully, Marcus would show up any day now.
After a great deal of consideration and thought, Johannes decided that Adelheid Bernard was the one. He asked Lady Anne to contact Claude Bernard and begin negotiations over the dowry and the terms of the marriage contract.
If being married was a requirement for him to be considered respectable, then he would rather it be Adelheid than any of the silly little girls he had been forced to endure. With them, he felt like an older brother forced to watch over them, or made to play house. With Adelheid, he had found a mate—someone with whom he could share things without spending half his time explaining matters in simpler terms so that she could understand.
Unfortunately, Johannes realized that this was what he had been forced to do in his first marriage to Apollonia.
Several times, Johannes spent an evening talking with Father Denis about his decision to marry Adelheid Bernard. Johannes wanted to make certain he was making the right decision and not repeating the same mistakes he had made with Apollonia. He reasoned that when he married Apollonia, he had done so to please his Emperor, acting out of duty to both his Emperor and Pope Adrian IV. While he had loved her, neither he nor Apollonia had been prepared to be husband and wife, and Johannes reasoned that this had been the downfall of their marriage. It was also why he felt such a deep sense of responsibility for her unfortunate death.
Over the wine they drank until neither could stand without assistance, knowing they would both feel the effects the next morning. Father Denis argued that Apollonia’s death was not Johannes’s fault. It had been God’s will, and no man could change that, no matter how much he pleaded or begged. The good father told Johannes that each of them had a part in God’s plan. Apollonia’s part was complete, and God had called her home. Johannes’s was only beginning, and he needed to accept the fact that God still had a use for him in this world before he, too, would be called to Heaven.
It took several such sessions before Johannes finally accepted Father Denis’s explanation, much to the relief of the good father. Father Denis was convinced that a new priest would be needed at Dole Castle before Bailli Johannes accepted his explanation.
Lady Anne and her fellow matchmakers, who had volunteered to help, began negotiating in earnest after Johannes gave his approval. Johannes didn’t interfere. Instead, he watched with amused interest as the women carefully negotiated the finer points of the marriage contract.
The negotiations carried on for days as the representatives on both sides argued over the smallest details. To provoke Lady Anne and the other matchmakers, Johannes publicly threatened to simply have Father Denis marry them and be done with it.
That was until Thierry came begging him not to pursue that option. He was certain Lady Anne and the other women involved would rise up in open revolt, depose Johannes, and place someone else in his position as Bailli.
Wanting to share his upcoming wedding plans, Johannes wrote to the Emperor and Queen Beatrice, explaining that the wedding would probably take place around the autumn equinox.
It would be the perfect time, Johannes speculated. The marriage would coincide with the autumn harvest celebrations, a time of plenty when the best beers would be in the barrels and the surplus from the harvest could be shared with everyone. It seemed to Johannes the perfect season for a wedding—a time when the land itself was celebrating its bounty. He also remembered to ask the Emperor to attempt to reach Marcus in Rome, as he wanted his friend to stand with him when he married.
Two weeks into the negotiations, the groom’s representatives and the bride’s family finally reached an agreement. There would be a marriage between Reichsritter Johannes Braun, Imperial Knight, Protector of His Holiness Pope Adrian IV, and Bailli of the County of Burgundy, and Adelheid Bernard, daughter of the salt merchant Claude Bernard of Salins, County of Burgundy.
Everyone who lived, worked, or did business with Dole Castle was happy for Johannes. He was popular with the people of the County of Burgundy, who had come to appreciate his fairness and his willingness to stand up for them.
The only ones who failed to offer their congratulations to the future couple were the leaders of the Ecumenical Church whom Johannes had forced to pay the taxes they owed. Not one member of the clergy had offered to celebrate the wedding.
Johannes didn’t care. He had already asked Father Denis to celebrate the marriage ceremony. The Archbishop and the others could remain in their magnificent dwellings and grumble to their hearts’ content.
Johannes requested that the announcements for the wedding be sent out in time to allow guests plenty of time to travel to Dole to attend. Lady Anne made sure the invitations would be sent in plenty of time so that those special to the Bailli would be there. Johannes’s father, Count Simon, would be sent an announcement, as would the Court of Louis VII and the Imperial Emperor and Queen Beatrice. Additional announcements were sent to Rome, addressed to Oddone Frangipane and Marcus.
Johannes had requested that no announcements be sent to the Church leaders in Rome. He felt it would be considered in poor taste after the collection of taxes from the local church officials. An invitation was also sent to the Emperor and the Queen. They weren’t expected to attend, but being sent an invitation would be looked upon at court as a polite gesture from the Emperor’s former advisor and protector.
After the invitations went out, things began to happen quickly, most of them beyond Johannes’s control. Adelheid moved into the castle, where an apartment had been prepared for her and her attendants in another wing, separate from where Johannes resided.
Until the wedding, they were never left alone. They remained under the watchful eyes of the older women of Dole, who had taken it upon themselves to ensure that proper decorum was maintained.
It was frustrating for Johannes. Sometimes he wanted to discuss things with Adelheid that he considered personal, but privacy was nearly impossible. Whenever he moved too close to her, at least in the eyes of what Johannes jokingly called the “Guardians of Virtue,” he would hear an indignant “Ack!” followed by a sharp tongue-clicking sound, informing him that he had crossed some invisible boundary.
The Guardians of Virtue needed no words. Their disapproving looks said everything.
At night, Johannes would sit with his companions, Thierry and Father Denis, and complain about how his life was no longer his own.
Thierry would glance around as though making certain there were no spies nearby before quietly agreeing with him. “They know what we were like when they agreed to marry us, yet they spend every waking moment trying their utmost to change us into what they think they want us to be. I was perfectly happy when I was off on the Crusades, and now I am happier—or so I have been told.”
Father Denis would listen with a knowing smile, wisely choosing not to offer an opinion. Though, from time to time, he would offer a passage from Scripture concerning the trials and responsibilities of marriage.
They would then take a collective sip from their ceramic mugs of the local white wine and become lost in their own thoughts, each man quietly contemplating what the future held for him.
The invitations and announcements of the impending marriage between Johannes and Adelheid had been sent, and the responses began to slowly pour in.
Lady Anne was delighted by the number of people wishing to attend the nuptials and join in the celebration of the autumn equinox. The steward, however, was far less enthusiastic. He was already wondering where they would find enough ale and wine to serve such a large gathering—and, more importantly, where they would obtain enough food to fill the banquet tables.
In the constant stream of acceptance responses being sent, two stood out. One was from the court of King Louis VII of France, and the other was from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Queen Beatrice. There was a brief buzz of excitement when it seemed possible that both monarchs might be in attendance. It was short-lived, however, as Louis VII declined but would send a representative in his place.
The response from the Emperor and Queen Beatrice was more positive. They would attend with a small contingent of one hundred courtiers in support. The castle steward almost ran off at the news.
Lady Anne took it as a challenge and immediately began planning and issuing orders for the castle steward and others to follow. He didn’t know it at the time, but he had been chosen by his wife to act as the official host, since it was Johannes’s wedding.
Ten days before the wedding was to take place, a contingent of mounted men-at-arms was spotted following the road to Dole. The contingent was coming from the south. Numbering around thirty armed and mounted retainers, it also included a coach, pack animals, and servants who made up the rest of the procession.
When they drew close enough, someone recognized the surcoats worn by the retainers. They bore a golden field containing the black eagle, the symbol of the Emperor, with the red collar on their shoulders. These were the troops loyal to Imperial Knight Johannes Braun.
Coming from the south, it could mean only one man and the retinue he commanded. It was the Bailli’s captain and friend, Marcus Frangipani, arriving from Rome.
When Johannes was made aware of the procession coming through the city gate toward the castle, he climbed the parapet to see for himself. At the front of the column was Marcus. He had changed somewhat. He had grown a beard and allowed his hair to grow longer. The important thing, though, was that he still wore the surcoat signifying his allegiance to the Emperor—and, more importantly, to Johannes.
Marcus and he would need to discuss where Marcus’s loyalties lay. But for right now, one friend was ready to welcome another friend back from a long journey.
Johannes sprang from the parapet, practically injuring his ankle when he landed. From where he fell, he hobbled over to Marcus’s horse and took hold of the bridle, making sure Marcus would be unable to escape.
It had been almost five months, and so much had happened that he needed to tell Marcus and get his opinion about. But all of that could wait. For now, Johannes was more interested in hearing how Oddone was doing, what was happening with the Roman Commune, and how much support Pope Adrian IV was receiving.
Marcus looked down from his horse at his friend, who was holding on to the horse’s bridle, and said, “Miss me?”
“A little bit,” Johannes said with a grin. “How is Uncle Oddone?”
“Oddone is doing fine. He wishes he could come, but affairs of the Commune take precedence. The Pierleoni are up to their old tricks, and if he had come, Oddone is afraid the Commune would vote to remove the Church from ruling Rome entirely.”
“Come, Marcus. I have a lot to tell you,” said Johannes, motioning for Marcus to get down from his mount. “Let the grooms take care of your horse.”
“Johannes, you aren’t the only one with news,” Marcus said, grinning back as he climbed off his mount.
Marcus grabbed Johannes’s arm and pulled him toward the coach that had been at the rear of the procession when they entered the bailey of the castle fortifications. Puzzled, Johannes allowed himself to be pulled along by Marcus.
At the coach’s door, Marcus reached out and took hold of the door handle, gently opening it. Inside the coach were two women, one of whom appeared much younger than the other. The younger woman smiled at Marcus as she recognized him. The older woman simply scowled at both of them and remained silent.
“Johannes, may I present my wife, Gabriella Pierleoni Frangipani. And this is her mother, Signora Cecilia Pierleoni,” Marcus rattled off quickly, proud of his wife and treating his mother-in-law as an afterthought.
The younger woman was indeed beautiful and looked anxious to get out of the coach. The older woman, not so much, as she scowled first at Marcus and then at Johannes.
“Gabriella, this is Johannes Braun, whom I told you about—the man I shared so many adventures with and who saved me when some of my men and I were attacked at the old Roman bridge.”
At the mention of Johannes Braun, the older woman’s glare turned into one of murderous hatred. The look made Johannes want to step back from the coach, as though to avoid a hidden dagger thrust, real or imagined.
Embarrassed, Marcus said, “Johannes, your name is still hated by certain families in Rome. Cecilia’s brother was one of the men who were hanged from the old Roman bridge. Her husband died several years ago from a fever, and his brother was the only means of support that she and Gabriella had until I saw Gabriella begging near the Colosseum.
“It was love at first sight, Johannes, much like you and my sister Apollonia. I rescued Gabriella, fell in love with her, and that is how we came to be together.”
Johannes turned to the coach and bowed. “Welcome to Dole Castle. I am honored to have you in attendance at my upcoming wedding, Signora Gabriella Pierleoni Frangipani, and Signora Pierleoni. Marcus is a brother to me, and as such, you will be treated as family by me and by the members of my household.
“It was unfortunate, Signora Pierleoni, what occurred in Rome, but I was called upon to defend Pope Adrian and my extended family, the Frangipani, by virtue of my position. I bear you no ill will, and I pray you can say the same of me. After all, whether you like it or not, we are now all bound by blood.”
Johannes’s words must have touched Signora Pierleoni, as her facial expression quickly changed. She didn’t appear as hateful as she once had, but still looked apprehensive as to what was coming.
“Marcus, take your household to your old rooms. I have left them open for your return. As for you, Signora, I will have my steward prepare a room appropriate for the mother-in-law of my brother and an officer of my guard. And not to worry, Signora Pierleoni, it won’t be in the dungeon,” Johannes said with a grin.
Johannes’s teasing even brought a brief smile to the otherwise stern face of Signora Cecilia Pierleoni.
Johannes helped Marcus assist the women out of the coach and motioned for the steward, who had been standing nearby in case he was needed, to come over.
“My steward here will see to your needs if you find your rooms not to your liking. Unfortunately, I must return to my duties as Bailli. The County of Burgundy won’t run itself. I will see you again at our evening meal, which will allow you to meet my intended bride and the others who assist me as Bailli. Until then, I must beg your leave.”
Johannes left them in the capable hands of his steward and returned to his work. On the way, he ran into Lady Anne, and after briefly explaining Marcus’s surprise, he left the women of Rome in her capable hands.
Dinner that night was a joyous occasion. Adelheid and Gabriella seemed to get along quite well after being introduced, and once they overcame the difficulties of language, they appeared to have the potential to become close friends.
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