Page:Rambles and Researches in Thuringian Saxony.djvu/247

211 lica effected. She herself pleaded her cause, and after a convocation of the Vatican, a bull of dispensation was granted. The Count, now leaving Angelica to follow with the faithful Kurt, travelled day and night to reach Thuringia’s hills, and again embraced his fond Ottilia. Soon after came Angelica, whose approach was descried in the distance from the Gleichen Towers. Ottilia and her Ernest went forth to welcome the foreign maiden. Ottilia embraced her with warmest love, and the scene of the happy meeting to this day is called the Freudenthal, or Valley of Joy.

Soon the nuptials were celebrated; the knights and chieftains of Thuringia thronged the halls of the Castle of Gleichen, and joy and feasting proclaimed the absent lord’s return, &c.

The manuscript concludes by stating that Melechsala remained childless, but loved the children of Ottilia as her own. Death first snatched her away from this happy union, and somewhat later, Ottilia, who was shortly followed by the Count (1264). They were all three buried in the same grave. Their tombstone is before the altar of St. Peter’s Church, at Erfort. Ottilia is represented with a mirror in her hand, emblem of her prudence: on the right hand you see Angelica, with a coronet and symbols of her Eastern origin: 2