Sidonia von Bork came from a large and wealthy Pomeranian Bork family. Fate gave her extraordinary beauty and wisdom. She was an educated and brilliant beauty.
Her father sent her to the Griffith court, where Prince Ernest Louis fell in love with her. The prince wanted to get married, but his family was against it because Sidonia was not a princess.
Years passed. Ernest was still in love, but … the wedding was postponed. Finally, when Sidonia was about thirty, Ernest unexpectedly married the daughter of the Duke of Braunschweig - Sophia. Perhaps he thought that Sidonia would accept her fate? Or maybe he hoped that she would become his mistress? At the trial, the offended Sidonia loudly cursed the entire Griffith family.
To make matters worse, her father is dead. Sidonia's uncle and her brother disinherited her. She fought them but lost.
She did not accept her fate. For almost 40 years, she tried to seek justice. She traveled around Pomerania, lived with strangers. Finally, one of the Pomeranian princes agreed to leave her to live in a monastery in Marianow.
Since she was the oldest resident of the monastery and came from an influential wealthy family, she became the chief among the nuns.
But she did not feel drawn to the religious life. The nuns complained that she was poisoning their lives.
Meanwhile, misfortune fell on the Griffiths. They died prematurely, leaving no male offspring. Unfaithful Ernest Ludwik, died first (in 1592). When they began to look for the culprit, Sidonia was accused of the death of the prince.
Promotional video:
In 1612, Sidonia was accused of witchcraft. Three nuns claimed that Sidonia had connections with a local witch who was caught in 1619. Under torture, she confessed that, together with Sidonia, she had summoned the devil to Marianuv, and that Sidonia, with devilish help, had killed the janitor of the monastery. So Sidonia was imprisoned.
Witch trial
The trial began on October 21, 1619. 74 charges were brought against Sidonia. From trivial, and more serious (witchcraft) to the most serious - murder, as a result of which several people died. She was also accused of intending to destroy the Griffith family.
Sidonia's defense attorney presented 132 pieces of evidence that the judge did not take into account.
In July 1620, the accused was taken to torture, where she was kept in the so-called "Spanish shoes": iron boots were put on her feet.
She was already 74! She confessed that she had poisoned one of the princes, put the curse of sterility on the wives of Gruffudd, and came into contact with many spirits.
As a noblewoman, she was sentenced to death. They say that on the night before the execution, Prince Francis I appeared to her, begging her to remove the curse from his family, but Sidonia refused.
The next day she was beheaded. The body was burned at the stake, and the ashes were thrown into the Oder.
But her curse continued to weigh on the griffiths. Francis died three months later. And seventeen years later, the last prince Boguslav XIV passed away, who never left a descendant behind him. So the Griffith dynasty ended its existence.