GEORG von FRANKENSTEIN

Real Name: Georg von Frankenstein

Identity/Class: Human;
    citizen of the Holy Roman Empire (but close enough to be included under Germans in my book);
    16^th century

Occupation: Warrior, soldier

Group Membership: Unspecified army (see comments), von Frankensteins

Affiliations: Annemarie, people of Nieder-Beerbach, Yahweh (the Judeo-Christian name for God)

Enemies: Scheusslischer Lindwurm, at least some of the people of Nieder-Beerbach (for sacrificing Annamarie);
    whoever he opposed in the war he had been off fighting (see comments);
    I don't believe that Georg knew that Hans was the one to order Annemarie's sacrifice, so I'm not listing him here

Known Relatives: Phillip von Frankenstein IV (father, deceased) Margarethe von Frankenstein (nee Boeckle, mother, deceased); 
    Hans von Frankenstein (brother, presumably deceased);
    Arbogast von Frankenstein, Frank von Frankenstein (ancestors, deceased);
    possibly others (see comments)

Aliases: "St. George" (see comments), the Dragon-Slayer

Base of Operations: One would ASSume that his spirit is in Heaven;
    his body was entombed in a crypt within the village of Nieder-Beerbach;
    he perished in the crevice/valley surrounding the Katzenborn brook/spring, near the village of Nieder-Beerbach in the landgraviate of Hesse, part of the Holy Roman Empire;
    formerly mobile in at least one army (see comments);
    formerly the (apparently) original Castle Frankenstein, on the northern edge of the Magnet mountain on the banks of the river Rhine, in the territory of Hesse/Hessengau (now apparently Darmstadt, Germany);

First Appearance: Unknown by me (some source written by August Nodnagel  in the first half of the 19^th century)
    (Marvel) Savage Sword of Conan#22/5 "The Dragon at Castle Frankenstein" (September, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: Georg was a brave and skilled warrior, wearing metal armor (including a helmet) and wielding a sword. 

    His armor had openings at his body's joints to facilitate mobility, but these also presented

History:
(Historical records) - Georg von Frankenstein was born in 1510 A.D., son of Phillip and Margarethe von Frankenstein (see comments).

(Savage Sword of Conan I#22/5 (fb) - BTS) - Georg secretly loved Annemarie of the village Nieder-Beerbach.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#22/5 (fb) - BTS) - Renowned as a warrior, Georg fought in a war distant from his home (see comments). 

Comments: Georg von Frankenstein of the 16th century was apparently a real world person;
    possibly first recorded in literature by by August Nodnagel;
    adapted to Solomon Kane mythos by Don Glut and Sonny Trinidad;
    confirmed as Marvel/Reality-616 by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy & Dan Thomas, and Geof Isherwood.

    According to varying historical records, Georg may have had six siblings (Philipp von Frankenstein, Christof von und zu Frankenstein and 4 other siblings) per myheritage.com; married Clara von Sternenfels and had two children (Clara and Phillipp) per genealogieonline.nl (they call his son Phillipp V, but, I'm not sure he'd be V if his father wasn't named Phillipp?; also, if Georg had a brother named Phillip, that brother would be V, and Georg's son would be VI, if it would be appropriate for him to have a number at all.
    If the Earth-616 version of Georg was married to Clara, it was apparently a loveless marriage, at least by him.
    Per Wikipedia, Konrad II/Reiz von Breuberg, was the one to have Castle Frankenstein built, after which he named himself "von and zu Frankenstein":
    "Von and zu" are Nobiliary particles. Most, but not all, surnames of the German nobility were preceded by or contained the preposition von (meaning “of”) or zu (meaning “at”) as a nobiliary particle. The two were occasionally combined into von und zu (meaning “of and at”).

    The von Frankenstein family sold their castle to the state in 1662. In 1732, Konrad Dippel received the title to Castle Frankenstein, founding a new dynasty of von Frankensteins.
    Thus, most von Frankensteins -- including, to the best of my knowledge, Alphonse Frankenstein, Anna von Frankenstein, Basil von Frankenstein, Elizabeth von Frankenstein, Ernst von Frankenstein, Jason von Frankenstein, Konrad von Frankenstein, Lenore von Frankenstein, Ludwig von Frankenstein, Maximilian von Frankenstein, Veronica von Frankenstein, Victor von Frankenstein, Victoria von Frankenstein, and William von Frankenstein -- are not blood relatives of Georg.

    Maybe Georg participated in the Second Kappelerkrieg in Switzerland, which ended on 10/11/1531 with a devastating defeat of the Protestants and the death of their leader the Reformer Huldrych Zwingli. If Georg participated in this war he was on the side of the Catholics murdering Protestants.
    Kappel am Albis is 396.2 km (or 246.18 miles for the heathens) away from Nieder-Beerbach.
    --Markus Raymond

    Ronald Byrd adds the following: The book "In Search of Frankenstein" by Radu Florescu pretty much confirms <Don Glut's> story of "Saint George." Florescu also discusses the possibility of an earlier Frankenstein battling the mortal Dracula, so this book could have been one of Thomas' prime sources.  There was indeed a Georg von Frankenstein, who died in 1531, and "real-life" legend claims that he did indeed die in the course of slaying a dragon (perhaps "really" a poisonous snake).  Thomas never actually said that Sir Georg WAS Saint George, only that he was later REMEMBERED as "Saint George," so later legend-makers (at least in the Marvel Universe, where of course there's no real objection to it having been an actual dragon) may have confused the two.
    Jean-Marc Lofficier, co-writer of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #37 with Roy and Dann Thomas, confirms that Georg was not the historical/legendary/true St. George, but merely associated/amalgamated/conflated with that figure.   
    I can also tell you that "In Search of Frankenstein" by Radu Florescu, et. al., (January, 1975) was a resource for Jean-Marc Lofficier, and presumably for Don Glut, who wrote the Solomon Kane story that Jean-Marc and Roy covered in their von Frankenstein review. 

According to the Burg Frankenstein page on Great Castles, the local legend of Lord George and the dragon was first told by August Nodnagel (1803-1853).

Burg Frankenstein resides quietly in the mountains near Darmstadt, Germany. Initially, artifacts dated the castle back to 1252. However, recently discovered documents in Leipzig reference Burg Frankenstein in the year 948.

Knight George von Frankenstein was the son of Phillip von Frankenstein and Margarethe Boeckle from the Uttingen Valley. After his untimely death in 1531, Knight George was buried within a crypt in the nearby village of Nieder-Beerbach. Carvings within the crypt depict him slaying a dragon, which is underfoot with its tail wrapped around one of his legs. This image of Knight George caused confusion as people mistakenly associated him with Saint George who served as the legendary dragon slayer and patron Saint of the people in the middle ages.

Thus, a new legend was born ...

Near Nieder-Beerbach, a terrible dragon lived in a brook in the Katzenborn. It would frequently terrorize villagers in the region. They would pacify the dragon and persuade him to return to the brook by sacrificing a beautiful maiden. Accordingly, Annemarie, known as the ”Rose of the Valley”, was destined for sacrifice. Knight George, who secretly loved Annemarie, arrived at dawn dressed in shining armor after just returning from a military expedition. George decided to fight the dragon as he could not permit the sacrifice of his secret love.

After a lengthy battle, George finally inflicted a deadly wound to the dragon and saved Annemarie. However, as the dragon was writhing in pain, it curled its spiked tail around George's leg and pierced his skin with a venomous poison.

Both George and the dragon died from injuries sustained in the combat. According to legend, the rapidly flowing river is blackened by blood of the dragon.

Courtesy of Dimadick (according to Wikipedia):

*It was built by Lord Conrad II Reiz of Breuberg in the 13^th century, and is first mentioned in a document from 1252. Conrad started styling himself ''von und zu' Frankenstein". He was the first baron of the free imperial Barony of Frankenstein. Meaning that his feudal overlord was the Holy Roman Emperor himself, with no intermediaries.

*Close to the Frankenstein Castle are located the ruins of an older castle, thought to date to the 11^th century. It fell into disrepair by the time the new castle was built.

*Local folklore claims that there was an even older castle on the same hill as Castle Frankenstein, but there is no archeological evidence.

*The castle is located in proximity to a large ''felsenmeer'' ("sea of rocks"), where Siegfrid the Dragonslayer was supposedly murdered. A ''Siegfriedsquelle'' ("Siegfried's wellspring") is also located in this area.

*The castle is located in the mountain range Odenwald, which has several supernatural legends. The mountain range is thought to be named after the pagan god Odin, and its name means  "The Woods of Odin". 

    Supernatural Thrillers#3 did a story which indicated that the adventures of Beowulf/Saint George/Perseus three were actually all racial memories of a battle between a worm-like monster and an Aesir (as in the Hyborian Age Aesir) named Niord. At the link above you can see a great image of those three superimposed above the action of the story, Valley of the Worm. 
    --Per Degaton.
    That racial memory thing was probably good in terms of a Robert E. Howard story self-contained in his mythos, but not in the Marvel Universe, where all of the above characters existed.
    --Snood

    Georg von Frankenstein originally was covered within the von Frankensteins profile, first posted 01/06/2002. The von Frankensteins profile attempted to be all-encompassing, but it is limited in terms of breadth and depth. Hopefully profiling each of the von Frankensteins individually will allow superior coverage; I will whittle away at them slowly over time.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Georg von Frankenstein should be distinguished from:

• Georg Albert Freiherr von and zu Franckenstein - aka Sir George Franckenstein (1878-1953), an Austrian diplomat and member of the Franckenstein family who opposed the Nazis and became a British citizen when his post was suppressed in 1938
• St. George of Cappadocia - a real world saint who apparently lived in the 4th century A.D. (and became a saint in the 4th or 5th century); legends from the 11th century tell of his slaying a dragon and saving a would-be sacrificial maiden in Libya
• SAINT GEORGE (    ) - Triumph Division, slain by assassin empowered by Ezekiel Stane--Invincible Iron Man#2
• SAINT GEORGE of Earth-881994 (George of Cappadocia) - first Knight of the Order of St. George --Dr. Zero#1, Critical Mass#5/2
• SAINT GEORGE - see WAR-YORE (Eric Slaughter)--Master of Kung Fu I#54
• Georg von Trapp - historical father of the von Trapp family whose exploits were used as the basis for the Sound of Music play and movie. One of my all-time favorite movies....
• other "Georg" or "Frankenstein" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...

Appearances:
Savage Sword of Conan#22/5 "The Dragon at Castle Frankenstein" (September, 1977) - Don Glut (writer), Sonny Trinidad (art), Archie Goodwin and Roger Slifer (consulting editors), Roy Thomas (editor)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme#37 (January, 1992) - Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy & Dan Thomas (writers), Geof Isherwood (artist), Mike Rockwitz (editor)

First posted: 02/04/2022
Last updated: 02/04/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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