He kidnapped the wrong woman. Oops.
He became her captor, but then she stole his heart. Awwww.
It stinks to have been Count Dieter Von Wolfenberg. His plan to kidnap the Empress to force Holy Roman Emperor to withdraw from the city of Cologne went all wrong when the Empress’s lady in waiting was snatched, instead.
We forgive Wolfenberg, anyway, because of Vormund. Wait, what?
If this sounds like the plot of a juicy medieval romance, it is, and why we mention it here is because of Vormund. Spoiler Alert: Vormund (which means “Guardian”) is a Hovawart, one of three dogs in the plot of Carried Away by Anna Markland, and the one who saves our protagonist’s life.
We confess we’ve not read the book, but that the author chooses the Hovawart as the breed of canines in her plot hints at historical accuracy. The author chose the Hovawart because the story is set in Germany at the beginning of the 12th century, and indeed, the breed has been chronicled in German literature going back that far. For centuries, Hovawarts protected the estates, castles, farms, and flocks of barons in the Harz and Black Forest regions of Germany. A famous account associated with the breed actually reads like fiction: When the German castle at Ordensritterburg was besieged by Slavic invaders in the 13th century, all but castle Lord’s infant son was slaughtered. In spite of being himself wounded, one of the castle Hovawarts dragged the tiny child to a neighboring castle and saved the boy’s life. The boy would grow up to become a legendary figure in the history of German law, even warranting a statue. Not for nothing was the breed named “Hovawart.” It comes from the German words “Hof” (meaning yard or farm) and “Wächter” (meaning watchman).
The FCI recognized the Hovawart in 1937, but after World War II, the Hovawart’s numbers began to decline (the second time in its history). Dedicated breeders resurrected the Hovawart and it joined the German Kennel Club (VDH) in 1948. In 2021, the AKC added the breed to its Foundation Stock Service.
We end by mentioning that Carried Away is Book I of the FitzRam family trilogy
Image: German Hovawart by Robert Kinser is available as fine art, and in home and lifestyle items here