Richard Puller von Hohenburg

A descendant of Konrad Hohenburg [de], Wirich had inherited much, but his political shrewdness and local reputation as an advisor ensured that the family's status only grew.

[2] It is a testament to his shrewdness that he and his son became citizens of Strasbourg in Alsace (in 1453 and 1454 respectively) in spite of Wirich's former allegiance to Bishop Wilhelm von Diest [de], despised within the city.

The details of these disputes are murky but they apparently reached such a pitch that he was stripped of the Löwenstein castle [de] in 1457, an estate the family had held for generations in fealty to the Electorate of the Palatinate.

[6] In 1463, the Swiss noble Wirich von Berstett captured one of Puller's servants, a man named Ludwig Fischer, after he had been seen dressed in lavish clothes and in possession of more money than his occupation would afford him.

[7] In early modern Europe, gifts of clothing were often used as evidence of offering improper sexual services, presented as either a token of love or a bribe from the paying participant.

His petitions of entry not only cited (genuine) letters he had obtained from imperial and papal authorities, but outright forgeries, such as one which claimed Bishop Rupert had found him entirely innocent.

[15] Contemporary chronicler Diebold Schilling the Elder reported that, as before, this act had been discovered because of his servant's boasts of the "precious clothing, beautiful shirts, and other treasures" in his possession, which the officials had suspected to be sexual gifts from his master.

Manuscript depiction of the burning of Puller and his servant Anton Mätzler outside the walls of Zürich for sodomy, in 1482. Illustration from the Grosse Burgunderchronik of Diebold Schilling . The depiction of the execution in front of the city walls is inaccurate, as Puller was actually burned in Zürich's market square, inside the walls. [ 1 ]