Die Ketzerbraut (2017)

Germany, 1518: Genoveva “Veva” Leibert grows up in Munich as the cherished daughter of the glass merchant Bartholomäus Leibert. At first, she is drawn to the free-thinking ideas of her childhood friend, the painter Ernst Rickinger. Disguised, he distributes leaflets around the city and rails against the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences. This makes him a thorn in the side of the arch-conservative Catholic priest Johann von Perlach. In his hunt for the heretic, the man of God spreads fear and terror through Munich with the help of the knight von Gigging and his wife, Walpurga. Arbitrary torture and executions are commonplace during the Inquisition. Veva’s father, an admirer of the polymath Leonardo da Vinci, wants to put an end to Perlach and his reign of terror. But Perlach gets there first: he has Bartholomäus and his son Barthel killed, burns down their house, and transfers their property to the Church. Walpurga’s henchmen abduct and rape Veva, then force her to witness the attack on her family home, with the killers wearing heretic masks. From then on, Veva thinks only of revenge: the godless heretics must die. So that she can become a citizen and gain the right to hunt heretics, she marries her friend Ernst Rickinger. What she does not yet know is that he, too, is among those who support Martin Luther—and that he is the heretic of Munich whom von Perlach is hunting. The very torturers who once attacked her are to bring her the heads of her father’s and brother’s killers. After Ernst Rickinger is exposed as the heretic von Perlach is hunting, Walpurga tries to win Veva’s trust. She claims to be convinced of Rickinger’s innocence and says that behind it all is her husband—the knight von Gigging, who in fact died of the plague years ago. She says she wants to be free of her husband and is really on the side of Luther and his followers. Walpurga and Veva ride together to Augsburg to meet Fugger. He is supposed to help Veva bring Barthel’s and her father’s killers to justice. There, Walpurga tries to have Veva murdered by her own people, but Veva narrowly survives and is rescued with the help of the Saracen woman and the Gypsy Sandor. When Veva learns that Walpurga is in fact the murderous captain of Munich, working in league with Johann von Perlach and wearing her dead husband’s armor, Veva calls the travelers camped outside the city gates to arms. Walpurga and the fleeing Perlach are killed. A throwing knife from the Saracen woman strikes Walpurga von Gigging in the lung, while an enraged mob beats Perlach to death. Veva collapses and is nursed once more by the Saracen woman and Sandor, enabling her to travel to Venice with Rickinger.