Staufen im Breisgau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, and the Death of Faust

Most people with even a slight interest in the history of Reformation Europe have heard of the legendary Dr Johann Georg Faust: alchemist, healer, astrologer and thorn in the side of Luther and Melanchthon. Many will be familiar with Christopher Marlowe's play, Dr Faustus, or Goethe's even more famous plays, known simply as Faust I and Faust II, or perhaps some might even have read the chapbook that started it all, Historia Dr Johann Faustus.

Faust (c1480 - 1539), an actual historical figure who sparked urban legends in his own day, was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil for 24 years of prosperity and magical power. The mysterious manner of his death in the town of Staufen, near Freiburg in southeastern Germany, fuelled speculation that the devil had claimed him, body and soul, in fulfilment of his pact with the devil Mephistopheles, who sometimes appeared as a black poodle. (Apparently, poodles had a darker reputation back then.)

The chapbook itself points to Faust's sad end as a moral lesson and a warning to those who are too curious about the nature of matters best left to heaven.

But what actually happened in Staufen? Does the combination of locale and historical context offer us a clue as to the fate that befell the most famous of alchemists?