Friar Rush
Medieval legend of a devilish kitchen servant in a monastery.
Friar Rush—also known as Broder Rusche, Bruder Rausch, or Broder Ruus—is the central figure of a medieval Low German legend that survives in a verse edition from 1488. The story became one of the most widely read popular works in 16th-century Germany, ranking alongside the tales of Till Eulenspiegel, Faust, and Marcolf. Over the 16th and 17th centuries, it appeared in numerous translations and adaptations across High German, Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish), Dutch, and English, often printed as Volksbuch or chapbook editions. The first High German version was printed in Strasbourg in 1515.
The various adaptations differ in style and intent: some aim to teach a moral lesson or criticize monastic excesses, while others simply seek to entertain.
The name *Bruder Rausch* (or *Broder Ruus*; in English, *Frier Rush*) derives from an Early Modern German term for a loud, swooshing noise.
In the narrative, the devil infiltrates a monastery full of young monks by posing as Friar Rush and getting hired as a kitchen servant. Acting as a prankster, he stirs up constant commotion among the monks. He is assigned the nightly task of procuring women for the abbot and the other monks. When the cook threatens to punish him for being late, Rush throws the cook into a boiling cauldron and takes his place. He works to the monks’ satisfaction for seven years, but keeps causing strife among them. The abbot eventually discovers Rush’s demonic identity and expels him from the monastery by means of the sacred mass. In the High German version, Rush then travels to England and possesses the king’s daughter. The abbot is summoned from Saxony to exorcize him, banishing the demon inside a hill near the monastery.
Shakespearean scholar George Lyman Kittredge (1900) analyzed the tale, conceding it may have originated in Low German but also noting the possibility that the Icelandic *Frá þvî er púkinn gjörðiz ábóti* represents an earlier, simpler version. He suggested that this version, combined with elements of the German house-kobold tale about “Hödeken,” produced the familiar story. The episode of Rush boiling the cook parallels a story about another kobold, the Chimmeke of Loitz in Pomerania. The English version’s episode of Rush guarding a man’s wife has a parallel in the Hödeken story.
- Field
- Folklore and popular literature
- Nationality
- Low German (origin)
- Known for
- Protagonist of a medieval legend about a devil who infiltrates a monastery as a kitchen servant and prankster
- First known edition
- 1488, Low German verse
- First high german edition
- 1515, Strasbourg
Lore & Background
In the narrative, the devil infiltrates a monastery full of young monks, posing as one Bruder Rausch and getting hired as a kitchen servant. Acting as a prankster, Friar Rausch causes various episodes of commotion among the monks. Rausch is assigned the task of procuring women for the abbot and the other monks every night. On one occasion, he is about to be chastised by the cook for being delayed; Rush throws the cook into a boiling cauldron and takes his place, working to the satisfaction of the monks for seven years, but constantly causing strife among them. Rausch's demonic identity is finally discovered by the abbot, who expels him from the monastery by means of the sacred mass. In the High German version, Rush then travels to England and possesses the king's daughter. He is again exorcized after the abbot is called in from Saxony for the purpose, who banishes the demon inside a hill near the monastery.
Reader's Guide
The various adaptations of Friar Rush vary in their style and focus, some intending to set a moral example or criticize excesses in monastic life, others simply intending to amuse the reader. An analysis by Shakespearean scholar George Lyman Kittredge (1900) discusses various possibilities, perhaps inconclusively. He concedes that the tale may well have originated in Low German, but also seized on the possibility that the Icelandic Frá þvî er púkinn gjörðiz ábóti may represent an earlier simplistic version that survived, combined with elements of the German house-kobold tale about the 'Hödeken' to produce the familiar version. The episode of Friar Rush boiling the cook is paralleled in the story of another kobold, the Chimmeke of Loitz in Pomerania. Kittredge credited Reginald Scott's Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) for recognizing a parallel between Rush and the kobold Hödeken (spelt Hudgin or Hutgin). The figure also appears in Elizabethan playwright Thomas Dekker's If This Be Not a Good Play the Devill is in It, and 19th-century German writer Wilhelm Hertz published a novel Bruder Rausch in 1882 based on the story.
Did You Know?
- The first known edition of the Friar Rush legend is a Low German verse edition from 1488.
- The first High German edition was printed in Strasbourg in 1515.
- In the High German version, after being expelled from the monastery, Rush travels to England and possesses the king's daughter.
- Shakespearean scholar George Lyman Kittredge analyzed the tale in 1900, noting possible connections to Icelandic and German kobold stories.
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