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In the early 14th C Hannemann was head of the Lichtenberg family; a man of action, a redoubtable knight, he loved hunting and all warlike occupations. While still very young, he married Jeanne, Countess of Linange, by whom he had a son and a daughter. While in the prime of life, he fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful commoner, Lise, from the village of Steinbach, by whom he soon had two daughters. Under intense pressure from his family he stopped seeing his mistress, but his love for her was too strong, and he started visiting her again; they had another daughter. Given his headstrong, passionate character, he was unable to do otherwise. After a number of family quarrels over his love affair, he repudiated his wife and moved Lise to his castle. He married his natural daughters in style, granting them rich dowries from the family estate. The family however was furious. Henri III of Lichtenberg, Hannemann and Jeanne's legitimate son, with the help of his mother's brother, Emich V of Linange, laid siege to and eventually captured his father's castle. Hannemann was thrown into a dungeon. The beautiful Lise was thrown off the top of the tower where she had sought refuge, and died in the fall. Hanneman was held captive for a year and was obliged to accept a number of highly coercive conditions before he was allowed his freedom. Thus ended the tragic love of Hannemann, Lord of Lichtenberg, and Lise, the beautiful girl from the village of Steinbach. |
