Die drei Mönche zu Colmar

drei Mönche zu Colmar, Die, a grotesque and macabre tale in verse (see Schwank) of the 13th c., in which three monks of Colmar use the confessional to entice a burgher's handsome wife by bribes. The husband, informed by his wife, arranges a trap, in which each monk perishes in boiling water. A drunken student is persuaded to throw the corpses into the Rhine. The unknown author gives his name as Nieman (Niemand). It is thought that this pseudonym may conceal a citizen of Colmar who intended the poem as an attack on the monks of the city.