Alms please! Some alms!
Christ's will, oh master!
Have mercy on us!
Look at my afflictions!
I don't deceive you!
Some alms!
A tiny piece of bread,
rich and mighty Mr. Pfefferkorn!
The plague to you!
Get the constable!
The Constable won't heal us!
And neither suffering and mischief.
It's your duty to guard us
from this, Magister!
You're in charge of public health!
This rabble should be in the infirmary!
The infirmary is crowded
with useless eaters.
Not enough alms.
Am I not doing enough
for the poor?
Don't brawl, be kind
and good company.
Who knows, maybe tomorrow we're all gone!
The Black Death is near.
I got a letter
from my brother-in-law in Sterzing.
The plague!
We're in God's hands.
Let's think about protection
for the citizens.
Mr. Mayor, it's very drafty here.
Let's go to the City Hall.
- Now?
I have a visitor
from the Imperial Court.
And I'm off to my patients.
Froben sent for me.
The book printer?
Is he still sick?
I'll see you tonight
after curfew.
Until then I wish you a healthy -
Bless you, Mr. Mayor!
- Live long!
Johannes!
Famulus!
Won't you carry my instruments?
Yes, sure.
But where to?
To Froben, of course.
If I could only sleep once.
It's like that every day, Mr. Froben!
You will die if you don't listen to me!
Don't bother me with your quack.
They say he has an elixir,
healing everything.
Magic and superstition!
Don't you talk about this Paracelsus.
Can't you handle me a bit gentler!
Don't be so squeamish!
Feels like you're sawing my legs!
You say I'm squeamish!
So chase away this Magister!
You can't bad-mouth
an academic scholar!
He's a blockhead! With all his Latin!
Well, how is your Lord?
See for yourself.
You have a rude maid, Mr. Froben.
You kept the bandage on,
like I told you?
Four days, it burns like ants!
I was just about to remove it.
Patience.
- Patience?
I do whatever you say, ...
... bloodletting, burning, torturing!
Seven months,
and you accuse me of being impatient?
Master, I can't stand it any longer!
You doubt my knowledge?
Dear doctor, I want to believe you,
but help me!
Well.
I'll help you.
- Really?
Serratura.
Cut off my leg? No!
Don't behave like a minor, dear Froben.
You see, it's a creeping decay.
It's aiming for your heart.
So I say: chop of the limb.
Lies! Deceit! You think you can bully me!
I'm not that sick, I'm well after all!
I will show you...
...that I'm well.
Please, upon my soul!
Call for Paracelsus!
Who?
I'm fine with it.
Call him, foolish woman.
Strasbourg's two days away,
I won't wait that long.
He's here!
Here? - Yes.
Sit down, folks, it will take a while.
Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim...
wrote all night long.
The light was burning till cock-crow!
He wrote! As if!
What do you think he did at night?
Don't you know?
He's contacting spirits!
They brew his potions!
I'm scared, I'm leaving!
Stay, silly Susan.
Paracelsus is as wild as mild.
Many stories going round in Germany...
of his hand's blessings.
Nothing will come of Paracelsus!
Famulus, get the surgeon and his servant!
What are you waiting for?
To the kitchen! Hot water! Fill all pots!
Hurry up!
Mr. Scholarus! Listen!
You have a heart?
- I think so.
Then please, don't go fast.
Slow down just a little, please!
I'll be as quick as a snail!
- Thanks!
You called for me, father?
Yes, right.
Go to the bridge to fisherman Egli.
Get the best salmon,
we have a high visitor.
The imperial ambassador,
Count von Hohenried.
Johannes!
Look at our striver!
Skip Collegium too?
- Where's your grumbly master?
Wants to cut off Froben's leg!
Long live science!
- Science is a harlot!
Johannes, what's got into you?
Johannes is in love!
How does she look?
- Must be humpy!
A wart on her nose!
How can I describe her?
Thieves! Robbers!
Let them, they're students!
Please, dear Studiosi,
these are silly jokes!
Stop or I'll jump out!
At your service, Lady!
I don't want your service,
disorderly and cocky guys!
Am I without honor?
In our great respect
we couldn't stand...
seeing rude fellows carrying you!
So you don't think of yourselves
as rude fellows?
We're students of the university.
These are my friends ...
Now give us orders!
You do what I tell you?
Well.
These three carry me
to my father's house...
And I?
And you?
You carry the fish!
I must go to the surgeon, anyway!
Unbelievable.
The boy's slow.
The maid, where's the maid?
Where's Paracelsus?
- We all wait for him!
I can't wait! If I wait then... he'll...
Paracelsus!
Not so loud!
- Let her!
Wait till it's your turn!
Paracelsus, for god's sake!
Upon my soul!
Jakob! I told you to let nobody in!
Propter Ordinatione.
Don't be sad.
Nature will help you.
But we will help nature.
I'll write a prescription. Get dressed.
When it's my turn...
... the torturers will have cut off
my Lord's leg!
What torturers?
The medics, the Magister, the surgeon!
God forgive me to call them that.
Learned men then.
Doctors and Professors.
Don't like to get in their way.
I heal my sick, they heal theirs.
Your sick, their sick!
Are there two kinds of sick?
Who's your Lord?
- Froben!
The book printer?
Froben, who published
the writings of Ulrich von Hutten?
And of Erasmus von Rotterdam?
Don't ask questions,
it's an emergency!
A right question is half the cure.
Please hurry up,
or you will be to late!
Jakob! My sword!
Bring this to the pharmacist.
Say it's from Paracelsus.
Or else they'll mix dogshit...
with mashed toads, these quacks!
Huh? Something else?
I see.
Give her this. Should buy
medicine though, no brandy.
Hurry! Or they'll do their bloody craft!
Jakob! Join me!
Well, here we are!
We're waiting, Mr. Chirurgus.
Nonsense, Magister!
Nobody has to wait!
I'm faster than a sparrow
after horse-shit!
Well, Froben. Cura Radicalis...
Short pain's better than
long affliction.
Our surgeon is a master, very agile!
No, I don't want it!
They all say that.
My leg's not hurting anymore!
Leave me!
It's not so bad.
Hot water! Keep all windows closed.
The bucket please.
Mercy!
I can't stand it anymore!
I'm wondering!
You're wondering.
But a wonder has to happen eventually!
He's bewitched.
- Boy can't stand blood!
Don't touch him until Paracelsus
checks on him!
Yes, wait!
So that's the riot!
You're not my Famulus anymore!
Thank god!
- I'll expel you Cum Infamia.
Well, I'm fed up
of your scholarliness!
Enough, time's lost, shut the boy up.
No! Help!
That's him.
Let's see, Master Sawbones.
Have no fear.
Does it hurt here? - Yes.
And here? - Yes.
Unacceptable.
You're not invited to the consilium.
The patient has called me,
isn't it so, Froben? - Yes.
I thought so. Useless, cruel and foolish.
You belittle my medical craft?
Your medical craft is a botch.
It's not the leg.
It is. Where else would it come from?
Sickness has four roots,
connected to the elements.
This one's of Saturn,
in his sign sidereal fires burn.
To be treated
with sulfuric substance.
Yes, well done, Jakob.
Quack, your knowledge
is from the gypsies!
Yes, I'm proud of that!
Studied on the country roads!
In carnivals and camps,
in the boneyard and at the gallows.
Nature is a better teacher than your...
your universities.
What do you say to that?
Will it be cut or not?
It won't! I'll heal this man.
You're not allowed to heal.
I'll have you denounced and deported!
Do it, but please
don't disturb me any longer.
I have to care for Froben and fix...
what my colleague ruined!
Colleague? Me, your colleague?
Come! I need witnesses.
The faculty might call me a liar!
Me! The colleague of a Paracelsus!
But who's paying my fee?
You saved me, Paracelsus!
Do you trust me?
Oh, how can I thank you!
I know how you can thank me.
You are a book printer...
and my bag's full of scripts!
I'd love to print it if you only heal me.
Salmon of the Rhine!
I miss it at the Kaiser's court
in Innsbruck.
My daughter remembered
that it's your favorite.
Herr von Hohenried.
Really?
I praised the fish,
but that was 5 years ago.
And now I have to call you "lady".
A lady shouldn't remain silent...
when a high Lord compliments her.
Thanks, Count von Hohenried.
I shouldn't talk business
in the presence of a lady.
Still, let's talk about it,
it's important.
Renata may know
that even the Kaiser owes me money.
And you're not here to pay it back,
Herr von Hohenried.
The realm has many enemies,
and war costs money.
Lady, would you give it
to the Kaiser if he asked you?
One has to do so, right?
Seems you get all
you want from Renata.
Careful, slob!
And the Kaiser
can get all of me.
But I don't understand
why he's not fulfilling my wishes!
I think the high interest is enough.
I want no interest,
I want the monopoly on mercury!
His majesty thinks that you'd
boost the price of mercury...
and the poor couldn't afford it anymore.
He suggests something else.
You heard of the wood "guaiac"?
From the new countries
beyond the sea.
Miraculously heals every sickness!
Even the plague and Morbus Gallicus.
The Kaiser wants to give you
a monopoly.
What was the name? Guaiac?
It healed Ulrich von Hutten.
Can the faculty
investigate it first?
Yes, but don't wait long!
No, tonight at the council.
He will sleep now.
When he's up, give him the rest.
And if he's hungry, prepare a stew...
of liver and leek.
I'll be back in the night.
Excuse me, Master...
What's Froben's sickness
and what's the cure?
Not just for simple curiosity...
- I know.
The sickness is Apoplexy
The cure is Sigelum Sulfuris.
Are you wiser now?
But my Magister said...
- Sulfur is a poison.
Tell him that Paracelsus is a poisoner.
I won't go back to him!
Let me be your student, Paracelcus.
What do you say, Jakob?
His face looks honest.
Please, take me!
I want to be a real medic like you.
You know what you're doing?
You'll get no rest by day or night.
You'll see an abyss
of wounds and decay,
of poverty and suffering.
You'll feel death's coldness...
and your friends' contempt.
Nobody will thank you if you follow me.
So consider it well.
Test the vanity of your heart:
If it wants to forsake glamour and fame.
Think about it well.
If you come to me then, you'll be welcome.
Damn, if you'd been there!
I demand a Rigorosum!
But Magister, it's unimportant.
Unimportant! Unbelievable!
Be reasonable!
Keep reason away from me!
I demand Paracelsus be deported!
Out of the question!
Please, be seated.
He brings insurgency
and immorality to the city!
And immorality causes the plague.
What do you suggest?
Prohibition of dice and dancing.
Damn! If that's your wisdom,
then bury yourself with your bodies!
Good evening.
Sorry, business with the Kaiser's envoy.
Ban gambling and dance?
- That seems helpful.
Helpful? Next month's Peter and Paul,
the great mass.
No dancing and gaming,
it's like Ash Wednesday.
Who visits the city to shop?
Think about it.
There's no cure for the Black Death.
And guaiac? What about guaiac?
That modern wood from America?
Ulrich von Hutten calls it a miracle.
He's such an innovator
and troublemaker!
I'm offered two shiploads.
Should I buy it?
Galen and Avicenna don't mention guaiac!
Damn, I'll be jiggered!
Galen and Avicenna are dead
for 1000 years!
America was discovered 30 years ago!
How could they know about it?
The man who called you
incompetent was right.
What was his name again?
Paracelsus.
Well! I wish he was the city's medic!
Paracelsus? Try him.
Challenge him in a disputation.
I'm Hanswurst if he knows
one Latin sentence.
Excuse me,
I'm just a guest in your city...
but I'm in favor of the Magister's advice.
My advice? What's that?
To challenge
Paracelsus in a disputation.
That wasn't our bet, Erasmus!
Why are you acting up?
If Paracelsus is ignorant
you can gloat about it.
But if you're wrong,
the city will win a good medic...
and there are
never enough good medics.
And you'll be Hanswurst!
The spirit of insurgency is in the city!
I've changed my mind.
Are you afraid?
- No! Today I found out...
there's more than love and serenade.
Now I'm curious!
- I'm not!
Stick to the plan! Get up!
Check.
Check.
Check!
And Mate!
You play much better than me.
I suspect that you let me win.
No.
And if it would be so?
That would prove that
you don't respect me.
Oh, I respect you very much.
If I was a piece in your game...
No Renata, listen to me...
What is that?
Like Walther von der Vogelweid'
I made a little song for you
And sing it full of sadness
But also full of cheeriness
In the night of your dreams
Just like the nightingale
In the rose-bush, in the moonlight
I'm troubadour , I'm vassal of the court
Full of sadness, full of cheeriness
But I can't stand fish!
Shouldn't we go inside?
Strange is the fishermen's element
My element is fire
While my heart burns of longing
In sadness, in cheeriness
Am I forever - fire
I don't know...
I suppose this serenade
was meant for me.
We'll see him in a moment.
I greet you councilmen.
By your merciful word...
I finally report
what I've learned...
for the sake of
all the sick in the country.
I especially greet you,
students of medicine,
who came to hear the new teaching.
Don't despise me because I'm new,
nor because I'm German or alone.
And finally I greet my enemy,
who'll make way for me...
as the old makes way for the new...
and stupidity, cowardice and superstition
surrender to truth's sword.
So you should hear me!
Didn't you invite me to a disputation?
Yes, but in Latin, not in German.
Why not in German?
We are in Germany.
Not in Babel or Rome!
We are in the realm of the university.
Don't you know that scholars speak Latin?
Are you saying that a German
can't be a scholar?
It's the peasant's language.
He may philosophize in German with
his cattle; they won't understand Latin
Maybe even proud of it.
In German: I have known asses...
that understood and even spoke Latin!
Not worse than you, Magister!
Shut up, snotty brats!
That's proper German.
He knows his Latin, that's proved!
But nothing proves he's a medic!
How do I prove that?
- By disputation.
I won't dispute with you!
See? Afraid of disputing with me.
Master!
See, there's my proof.
Is it possible? It's Froben!
He can walk again!
Look! He's a man! He shall teach us!
Nobody like him!
- But one!
Who?
- Ulrich von Hutten...
fights obscurantists in politics...
just like Paracelsus in medicine!
Truly, you healed Froben.
And you wanted to cut off his leg!
- Sure.
But it proves nothing.
Still, Paracelsus acted unscientifically.
Healed unscientifically!
Foolish luck!
You're still no doctor by right!
Well, if you care so much
about a degree, read this.
A doctor's degree!
- In both disciplines!
By Leoniceno, Ferrara!
Why didn't you say
that you are a certified doctor?
He who's one's own master
should serve nobody.
But you'd like to serve us,
wouldn't you?
On behalf of the council,
I offer you the city medic's office.
Paracelsus!
Long live our new Magister!
Impossible! It's uncommon.
Without asking us!
The council as university's donor
has the right to do it.
Against the faculty?
It never happened before!
The disputation is not finished yet.
We didn't present our doctrines.
I say with Galen: Sickness
is corruption of the 4 bodily fluids:
Phlegm, blood, yellow & black bile.
No, contested. Man is more than
phlegm and blood.
He is a whole, and so is his sickness.
It can only be cured by knowing it.
Healing has only one principle.
- Which?
Catharsis! Natural cleaning
and bloodletting.
Contested.
What are you healing with?
- With insight.
Insight! Do you know a medicine
called insight?
Insight is invisible!
You can't make pills from it!
Yes, you can.
The Creator's benevolence
planted herbs in our country,
and metals in mountains,
to help the suffering.
To find it, to prepare and to use it...
one needs insight.
But alchemy is only one
of four pillars of healing's temple!
The others are: Philosophy.
That's proper thinking
from the roots.
Astronomy, that's knowledge
of the great laws...
we little humans must obey.
For where's dissonance
between man and his law:
that's where sickness originates!
The fourth pillar?
Is it not a temple?
Just the three-legged oracle of Pythia?
The fourth pillar of healing
I call virtue.
Listen up, young men!
I'll tell you what medical virtue is.
A medic grows from the heart,
he walks out of god.
He is of natural light!
The highest ground of medicine is love.
Teaching! Young people who believe in me!
My dream comes true.
Do I finally find a home in this city?
Let me congratulate you too.
You cut the Magister
like a squeaking pig!
Won't forget that as long as I live!
What do you want to do
against the plague?
First of all, close the city.
What?
The council should lock the city gates...
to keep out every creature,
punishable by life and property.
Seriously? Lock the gates?
It ruins all trades!
Death won't trade.
And my goods? I expect flax
from Brabant, tin and spices!
Has to wait.
- And the guaiac?
We need guaiac!
Oh Hans Pfefferkorn!
What a prank.
Let sickness in just to get the medicine!
You're wrong. I was pranking
when I made you city medic.
Excuse me: Not you alone.
You've put a nice scorpion
under your doublet.
Now he's angry. Should we not...
The life of the citizens
is in my custody - yours too.
I insist on locking the city down.
We kept our word! With 8 wagons.
At midnight!
Fresh pretzels!
How much?
No passage!
- Get lost, or I'll burn you with the pan!
Meister Bader, Scherer and Rosshaar,
who you all are.
You're not just dear fellows.
You also teach some forgotten things.
You didn't hide behind rocks...
your wisdom is not from scripts...
but from the book of nature.
What's the use if the pancake's
getting cold!
She's right! Wisdom's of no use for her,
only love!
Love is the key: you're made
like the earth, to bear fruit.
She's carrying two already,
let's see if they're ripe!
Keep off! They're not for an old fool.
Has to be someone
who knows how to pick.
Hans, you're all red like crayfish.
Got something else on my mind.
Someone else, obviously!
What do you think I'm eating?
Pancakes?
No, I eat "Ense".
Ens?
- Yes, Ens.
That's the great mystery.
Look, Johannes:
What's this food made of?
Eggs, bacon, flour, milk, salt.
But flour is grain...
and grain grows from soil, rain, light.
Thus my food comes from the elements.
That's transformation, because
I build my body with it.
And with the body - my mind.
Therefore: Ens.
If one could distill it...
the elixir would be found.
The adepts searched it
for thousands of years.
The elixir?
It ought to be found.
Everlasting health!
What an achievement,
a victory it would be!
To grab his throat and beat him,
so he'd lose his gruesome power!
I hate him! Every medic must hate him!
Who?
Death. Who else?
Doctor!
- What is it, Jacob?
Quick! At the gate, at midnight!
What is it?
They'll open the gate
to let goods in!
Let the plague in!
He's throwing the gauntlet!
Come! I knew a fight was coming tonight!
Like Hutten says:
It's a delight to fight!
Stop!
Damn, they got us!
Stop! I got one!
Have mercy! I'm choking!
Let him go, or I'll have to mend him.
Get up!
It's not my fault! Have mercy!
Go in!
- Any others?
Here, the carters.
And the guards?
- We got them!
Into the booth!
Whose goods are these?
Johannes, have a look.
Whose goods?
Listen, rotting swine!
Or I'll have you in a headlock again.
These fools don't know
what they've done.
But the instigator! Who paid you?
Where's he from?
Of Fugger, from Augsburg.
Augsburg?
Many sick of the plague?
Thanks to St. Roch, I got away!
What goods do you have?
- Precious goods, very precious.
Silk, fabric, specialities, incense,
ginger and other spices.
Nettle's your load, not silk!
Thistles, death cherries
and scorpions!
Carter, the toll for your goods
is awfully high.
And nobody knows who'll pay it!
Whose cargo is it?
- I don't know.
Liar! - No!
They said someone will be at the gate.
Why are you looking at me? It wasn't me!
If nobody claims it, the goods will burn.
- No!
You know the saying of the small fry
who'll -
Go ahead to your master!
Tell him I'm coming.
He won't be retired yet.
I'm back! I'm back again!
Fliegenbein is back!
Here's a better feast for you.
Say, Fliegenbein,
how did you get into the city?
Walked for 7 years, rode for 7 days,
on a white horse.
When the horse was worn out,
on a fox with a horn.
When the horn was worn out,
then came Roch, the bird.
Picked me up, he ate me, he shat me out
just above your chimney.
Here I am!
You gave me away, Judas!
- No!
I don't understand how it came up.
It was such a tight plan!
- Tight like a noose!
To burn it! Silk's worth 3300 guilders.
All in all about 10.000 guilders!
Sodom and Gomorrah!
My goods, my money, my sweat!
This lunatic, this quack!
And I'm a fool for giving him the power!
I should have...
I have to talk to you,
Hans Pfefferkorn.
An unusual time, an unusual cause.
I think your clerk told you.
Are these your goods burning?
You're mistaken,
the goods weren't mine.
Not your goods.
See, I thought so.
Opening the doors, no!
You care about the city's well-being
and your neighbors' lives!
You think you can keep away the plague
by locking it out?
I hope so. Face it!
We live in a besieged city.
Death is the enemy!
Woe to the betrayer who clears his way.
Is that a threat?
Why are you annoyed?
You didn't do it. But your clerk...
I want him!
For an interrogation under torture.
Get out, you rascal!
You want to turn me in?
You brought it all on yourself.
I have nothing to do with it!
Is it possible?
You know that I'm innocent!
It was him! He put me up to it!
Don't believe a word.
- Enough of this farce!
I wanted to see how far you would go.
So it's true what's written about the rich!
They're cruel and corrupt!
Ready to sell their brother anytime!
I heard voices.
Go upstairs, Renata. I have business.
Who was that?
My daughter.
Beauty...
how you move the heart.
In your sight we feel...
how God meant man to be.
The perfect body of a perfect mind.
The greatness of man - is man.
I'll let the matter rest for her sake.
You're cursed by your
most precious thing:
Your moneybag!
Have we entered a madhouse?
Come.
One - two - three...
No!
Is this St. Vitus' dance?
The fool's to blame. Fliegenbein.
Drove people crazy with his jumps.
Wanted to do it like him.
Fliegenbein?
- Yes, the juggler.
Fliegenbein! Drink with us?
Always with you.
We know each other!
We're in the same trade:
vagabonds and tramps.
One meets often.
If I just knew where I met you.
I remember:
In Sterzing. Where the great dying was.
Then in Altdorf. And then in Augsburg!
On the road of the plague!
Oh little man. What have you done!
I'm not sick!
But you carry it with you!
Don't touch him!
He's got the plague.
Don't touch him!
The plague!
I can feel it!
- Out!
So I got you again.
Don't stare like this.
Help me to carry him to my room.
Will you save him?
We'll do what we can.
Jesus - Christ
He - was - caught.
On - a - cross
he - was - hung.
Who are these terrible people?
Flagellants.
They believe they can redeem
this sinful world by their screaming.
Listen! The new day's coming. Johannes!
We defeated the plague.
You're a mighty magician.
It's a miracle.
Nonsense.
Don't call me wizard. It's all natural.
I know what I know.
Master, may I go out on the street?
The streets are clear,
the gates are open.
Bring this to Froben,
he should print it soon.
Healing may be great...
but teaching is greater.
The letter shall spread and seed
my teaching.
It shall grow and be a blessing
to all the sick.
Will your daughter agree?
A Count and imperial ambassador -
why wouldn't she?
To call you son-in-law
satisfies my deepest wish.
A balm to certain wounds
I had to suffer recently.
I would reconcile with him.
The people have a subtle sense.
A public hero will soon be
more powerful than Emperor and Pope.
But he's a quack!
He's getting in my way!
He even dismissed the guaiac
you gave me as a monopoly!
Sorry to hear that.
But I can prove that the guaiac
works miracles.
Von Hutten?
- Yes.
Von Hutten wrote me this from Meinau.
It's not far, go and ask him.
"I have to admit to you...
that the miraculous wood guaiac
cured me from Morbus Gallicus."
There was no cure before!
Whom do you trust?
A noble German knight...
or this cheap adept?
Your daughter!
Renata! There you are!
I have news that will make you glad!
I'm so glad already.
Come to me!
Are you alright?
Wait, I'll come to you.
A very great happiness...
for you and our house: You'll be Countess!
Countess Hohenried of the Realm!
What's with you?
Please... wake up, child.
Say only one word.
You don't have to be shocked, Miss.
Am I really so...?
Could it be -
The plague!
Finally!
How is she? Is it the plague?
No.
- Well, what is it, then?
A disharmony of the fluids.
- No, it's the bile!
The spleen!
Avicenna's not describing the symptoms.
It must be a new kind of sickness.
I want to know if she woke up!
Idiots!
Please, wake up, child!
You shall have everything you want!
A complicated case of
Spasmus Cynicus,
Originatum...
- Shut up with your Latin!
If you can't heal my child...
you're just ass-wipers!
You're not cursing us,
you're cursing science!
Dim lights, dirt mongers!
My dear Mr. Pfefferkorn!
I'm not your dear Pfefferkorn!
Get out of my house or I'll kick you out!
I'll complain at the council.
Ruffian! Disgrace and shame!
That's too much!
You'll see! But I know who's to blame!
Paracelsus. Always Paracelsus.
I only care about her.
Forget your hate.
Only he can help us!
Make peace with him.
And he with me?
Print my work in German.
Understandable for all,
not only blockheads.
In German? That's uncommon.
So break with the common. Tidy up.
Sweep the fluff out of the brains.
Don't let me down.
No, I know what I owe you.
But what you demand is not easy.
I don't have German letters,
they have to be cast.
Have them cast.
I can wait a few weeks.
I have time, all eternity.
Pfefferkorn?
You? In my house?
I'm not coming for you.
I'm looking for Paracelsus.
His servant sent me here.
There's something...
I want to ask his advice.
Without ado:
A person of my house is sick
and needs help.
There are many medics who can help.
Well, if you don't want to.
Please, dear Master!
Why do you care?
I think one must help
if somebody's in need.
Your Famulus is right. 100 guilders...
if you heal her.
- Her?
Why didn't you say it's your daughter?
Since yesterday she's been
lying like that.
Say that she won't die, I beg you!
I'll give you 100 guilders
and everything you want!
She's had a severe shock.
Do you know anything about it?
No idea.
- But I know it!
What is it?
- The Flagellants!
I met her in the alley.
I could prove her a service.
What service?
- Enough.
Please, would you leave us for a moment?
You too, dear women.
Do you have hope?
The master can't do much,
but maybe the Famulus.
Nevermind.
Me?
Well, colleague, will you come?
What's your take on it?
My take on it?
Right, colleague. I admit freely...
I don't know what to do.
So I trustfully give this case to you.
I think it's Stupa Animae.
Bravo. Well done.
I see, you are on the right track.
You want to leave me alone with her?
There's nothing for me here.
Work your art, doctor.
But gentle. Very gentle.
What's going on there?
- Quiet!
You might disturb them.
You shameful matchmaker!
Never!
You want her healthy and happy?
Offering everything for it?
I won't pay 100 guilders!
You refuse to pay me?
- It's not about that.
Don't complain about the guaiac
and I'll pay 100 guilders.
And if I don't comply?
- Then only 6 guilders.
Too early, Pfefferkorn.
Would you buy a pig in a poke?
We don't know yet if -
Seems like the awakening succeeded.
That's...
Maybe pay 6 guilders to him.
You will regret this!
What? That your daughter's cured?
Don't make me laugh!
Thanks for your hospitality.
You're leaving so suddenly?
Nothing keeps me anymore.
Our agreement! She's healthy.
I'll talk sense into her.
We can go for it.
Your daughter loves not me.
No spying!
Boy, I'll twist your neck!
I only wanted...
- You only wanted!
Anybody could say this.
That's not a boy, that's...
Paracelsus' vault is not
open for anybody, Miss.
You are his servant?
Who else? I'm Jakob Bilse.
Take these 100 guilders.
- But...
My father owes it to Paracelsus.
But I don't know... not so fast!
What's that noise?
She brings you 100 guilders.
My father sent me to bring it.
Put it back from where you took it:
your casket.
I take from the rich.
Not from the poor and minors.
The costume suits you.
Just like a little bachelor.
Well! As if you want to learn chemistry here.
If it were allowed,
I would learn from you.
Come.
Do you search for an elixir
against all sickness...
providing eternal health?
Who told you that?
- Johannes.
Nonsense! There are no miracles.
It's all in nature.
What I'm looking for - Quinta Essentia.
You wouldn't know...
I call it the virtue of things.
Because: Hellebore doesn't heal...
but something inside it.
Mercury doesn't heal,
but something inside it.
Evaporate the essences,
get to the nature of healing,...
... to get it pure, you see?
Yes.
Because it's pure,
you call it the virtue of things.
Very good! Better understanding
than my Famulus.
He scents magic everywhere.
Full of superstition, like fleas on a dog.
I see. Scholars will soon
wear women's skirts.
Don't brag about the elixir, little Hans.
I have to go to my patients.
Don't talk to him about the elixir.
Could you hide a thought from him?
Yes, he has great power
over men and things.
Almost too much.
Not easy to be close to him.
But I always want to be close to you.
Not here. Please, Hans.
Come, show me the lab.
That stinking stuff, just tar and sulfur!
But Hans! Why are you talking like this?
I thought science and alchemy
was your world.
No! This is the alchemy I desire.
I want you to become a medic like him.
Always him!
Do you love Paracelsus or me?
A medic who's famous beyond time.
You think I can be one?
You believe in me?
You don't know what's in you.
Yes, I feel the power in me.
You'll prove it. Don't be impatient!
But I am impatient!
A late hour for my daughter to come home.
Where have you been?
Sorry, father.
- Where have you been?
Ask Urias. He sneaked behind me.
Straying like a cat!
Remember who we are and what we owe!
I didn't forget what we owe.
What do you mean?
I brought Paracelsus
the 100 guilders you promised him.
You? Paracelsus?
Yes. But he didn't take the money.
See what a pathetic fool he is!
Give me the money!
Careful! The money you despise
is powerful!
More powerful than your Paracelsus!
I don't think so.
We'll sing the song of Ulrich von Hutten.
The drum, drum, drum.
Lords, your time is over.
You can't last any longer.
The ruler's tyranny is over.
The moneybags, the farmer's fright...
The screaming of obscurantists.
They yield to the farmer now.
The drum, drum, drum...
Lords, your time is over.
I drink to Ulrich von Hutten.
And I to the German Empire.
To all that can fly!
Sparrow hawks, nightingales,
butterflies, bats!
Higher. Higher.
May your wings never weaken.
You, who with a sweeping flap...
float above us, born from dust.
That's what I'm drinking to.
What did he mean?
Lords, your time is over.
Let's start our day's work.
Better call it night's work.
Yes, days and nights are too short.
One should live 100 lives.
Or one of a thousand years.
So start to write.
- I can't.
You have to! A medic knows no sleep.
Am I a medic at all?
You make me write and serve,
do this, do that, come and go.
I know you search for the elixir!
You said: the arcanum against death.
But you search secretly,
locking yourself in.
Why don't you trust me?
Master, let me know, I'm longing for it.
Can't fly before you have feathers
So write.
Nature compounded
the arcana immensely.
Look to learn where its pharmacy is.
It's good medicine,
good help, good advice.
Paracelsus won't make a fool of himself
any longer.
Why so aggressive?
No time, I'm riding to the fair
in Frankfurt.
Riding? To the fair?
But Froben: The master told you...
you might die if you strain yourself!
My dear young friend.
You're pale.
A real young scholar.
I didn't expect to see you here.
So you're surprised.
You'll be surprised about many things.
Froben hasn't felt well lately.
Seems like the old sickness is still there.
It wasn't cured at the root.
It's me, Jakob.
A stranger is here, needs you urgently.
Not now, you know that time's limited.
Time's our woe.
Death measures it by cubit.
Help me against death, Paracelsus.
Who are you?
I know you.
Like one spirit knows another.
Brotherly in time's flow.
I'm a German knight
and come to you without a name...
to receive your verdict.
I'm not a judge.
But my fortune is in your hands.
The white or the black.
You are in distress.
I thought I was cured
by a miraculous medicine.
I sang, I cheered, I believed
in the gift of a new life.
But the sickness is like a fire...
smoldering under the ashes,
and now my whole body burns.
Burns.
Morbus Gallicus.
Can you save me, Paracelsus?
Why don't you speak?
Say it, I have no fear.
When did it start?
Two years ago, in a field camp
in Burgundy.
They advised guaiac.
Yes.
- You thought it was cured.
But guaiac just pushed
the sickness into you.
It concealed its danger.
And now it is too late.
Finally?
Irrevocably.
How long?
Maybe until the fruits ripen.
Well.
Then I can arrange it.
You know, I still have some work to do.
A lot to tell the Germans.
Will pain cripple my hand
and paralyze my mind?
Against the pain I'll give you something.
Paracelsus, they are saying...
that you have an elixir.
Who says so?
- The people.
Well, people talk a lot.
But I hoped for it anyway.
It's true, I tried.
If anyone finds it, it's me.
But it's not good yet, see.
Maybe I'm on the wrong track,
sometimes I have doubts...
but when I see the suffering and pain,
I can't help it:
I have to take the path of the adepts
The quest, the research,
it's rooted in me!
Is he here?
- Can't go to him now.
If you'd come earlier, Ulrich von Hutten!
It's you, right?
- Yes.
If you'd rejected the tricky guaiac!
Maybe I could've helped,
with Mercurio.
With mercury?
Yes, mercury. It's a bad poison...
dangerous in unskilled hands.
It has to be sublimated finely
to be put in veins.
Else it's like fire,
replacing one evil by another.
But if it's sublimated...
then it's weak, too weak to help you. No...
I mustn't risk it.
They will call me a murderer.
Thank you for telling the truth.
I thank you.
I learned a lot in this hour.
What can a philosopher learn
from a soldier?
Courage.
To what are you bowing, Paracelsus?
To your immortality.
There's only one immortality:
To live on in the memory of one's people.
Let me escort you.
We'll meet again - on the other side.
Master.
You? Here?
I waited here for you because...
Froben won't print
because it's not allowed.
Not allowed? By whom?
The council.
Well, let's see about that.
They all hate you.
- Yes.
Truth brings hate.
We'll have to deal with that, Johannes.
Got sparrows in your hats?
Oh, I forgot.
The faculty of medicine decided:
The scholars may attend
Paracelsus' lectures for edification.
But you can't earn a degree from him.
His students can't expect
doctorate, position and livelihood.
Say something. Laugh!
Don't get ripped off by this "Magister".
You can talk. No position, no living.
You're cowards! Sissies!
What are you doing? You can't!
I can't? If the master knew about this.
None of your business.
Hanging around? What's that?
Let's learn!
Because of all the scandal,
the faculty hereby decrees...
that Paracelsus is not allowed
to award degrees to his students.
My boys left me.
You have to understand us, master.
We fear losing our living.
I came to you full of harvest.
The fruits of my journeys,
you don't want it.
We do want it.
But they don't let us. What can we do?
It's all the fault of that damn Magister.
He must burn!
Paracelsus! Is anybody here?
What's going on?
Get him!
Is it Froben?
- He's dying.
Where's Paracelsus?
- Not here.
Where is he?
- He didn't say.
Move! Do something!
Let's look for him.
Don't! I'll go.
- You?
Yes. I'll save Froben's life.
Don't touch it! It's not good.
Let me. You don't know about it.
I know more than you think.
Why is nobody coming?
Soon. I called for it.
There he comes.
Well, it's you?
We heard about the accident.
Your friends won't hold back.
They're worried.
Is he that way?
It wasn't the fall, he had a fit.
What? I knew it! It's not my fault.
Now who's right after all!
Please don't talk, it's urgent.
Should I fix what he's done wrong?
Where's the smart-alec Princeps Medicorum?
When push comes to shove, he hides!
Don't run away!
- But you are...
I won't do you no harm.
Please, get the Lady,
I have to talk to her.
Here. The elixir. I will heal him.
Johannes thinks he can do it like him.
Be a great medic himself.
Stop him, before it's too late!
But why me?
Only you can do it.
He loves you.
And I can't find the master.
Anyway, we have to find him.
So this is the elixir!
Do you act in the name of Paracelsus?
Or in your own name?
We have to know.
In the name of Paracelsus.
No! The boy can't do this to me!
It's like I tell you.
Come.
But if it's harmful after all?
Be calm, Froben.
The elixir will give you
strength and health.
You feel nothing yet?
That's what I call art!
A potion of life!
I feel it in my limbs
like a fountain of youth.
Johannes, you are a true medic!
The best in the world,
better than your master!
If you knew how I feel.
It's like eating Manna.
Never before have I felt
such a delicious well-being.
It trickles to my toes!
Froben! Johannes! Wait!
Johannes! You did...
This was the publisher Froben.
What did you give him?
The elixir! I prepared it
with your formula.
Poisoner!
- That's not poison.
Froben didn't die from this,
but of Apoplexy.
It's my fault! Only mine!
Fine excuses!
Don't scream in a dead man's home!
You did fine, Paracelsus.
You murdered Froben! Now it's over!
You're a murderer, you know?
No! You should be called murderers.
Murderers of every new thought.
Torturers and destroyers,
because you don't care about the sick!
You only care about gold!
You care about your positions!
If you were as stupid as the cattle...
- Cattle?
You try to hide your stupidity...
so you break the work of Paracelsus!
Scum! You broke and befouled it with your drivel!
But I know...
I'm glad that the rogues are enemies...
because truth has no enemies but lies.
Down the stairs!
This was not my intention.
You can murder me, but not kill me!
I'm eternal.
I'll judge you after I'm dead.
Just remember:
Theophrast will fight you without a body!
The hour has come.
Get the police to arrest
and deal with him.
Just a word.
Just one word.
Listen to me.
I acted in vain. Stupid, rotten.
But I'm not a bad man, am I?
It was all for you.
I did it for love. Despair.
I wanted to be a great medic
by healing Froben.
And now?
I want to make up for it.
Make up?
How would you do it?
You have to flee, master!
- Flee?
Now! Fast!
Before they close the city's gates.
Let's go! They're coming!
But my manuscripts,
my medicine, my pharmacy!
I'll stay and take care of it.
Save yourself!
Damn! They're coming from all sides.
Good day, merry folks!
Fliegenbein! You're here!
Just the right time.
Let's perform a charade and call it:
The juggler's gratitude.
Pass!
Why are you digging like moles?
I didn't steal your dirty shirts.
And my time's precious.
Shut up, shithead! You have no idea.
The city's at stake!
We're look for a sinner who's got away!
You mean Paracelsus?
Search my hay as long as you like
I tell you: Everybody would help him.
With joy and gratitude!
That's it! He's a rebel.
Stop!
Yes! I'm back!
Hey!
Look what I'm doing! It's very special!
I'm back!
It's Fliegenbein!
Who wants gold!
Fliegenbein shits guilders!
It's mine!
Give it to me!
Or I'll twist your bowels!
Let me! I can't breathe!
A shame on our city!
Where did he get the money?
Guards, arrest them!
The purse of my daughter?
Yes. I gave him the purse.
You?
You taught me the power of money.
This money was used well.
Used? For what?
For Paracelsus.
We want to go and look for him.
Where will we find him?
Where sorrow and hardship is.
We searched for you, Paracelsus.
In Colmar, Nrnberg,
Beratzhausen and St. Gallen.
In Sundgau and Swabia,
but we only found...
your track, the faithful love
of your patients...
and the hate of your guild members.
But your roaming shall end now.
It's the Emperor's will.
He heard - not only from me -
of your miraculous deeds and healings.
Not miracles!
The Emperor wants to give you
well-deserved power, glory and honor
Power, glory and honor.
How I longed for it.
The Emperor wants you to travel
to his court in Innsbruck.
To Innsbruck shall I go?
To the court?
You refuse?
I see it in your face.
The people need me.
They cry for me.
Not the Emperor...
but the people I have to serve.