The Guglmänner - A Bavarian Secret Society

Following medieval German custom, the Guglmänner were black-hooded mourners who accompanied the funeral processions of Bavaria’s kings, preceding the coffin bearing crossed torches and the royal arms. Their motto, Media in vita in morte sumus - In the midst of life we are surrounded by death.

These modern-day Guglmänner mourn the Bavarian monarchy itself- overthrown along with the rest of the German Empire in 1918- but their attention is particularly focused on the mysterious death of the eccentric and much-loved King Ludwig II. The Märchenkönig who lived a Wagnerian dream in his grandiose palaces, while generally neglecting the business of state, was declared insane by his ministers and, on the night of the 13th of June 1886, found dead along with his physician by the shore of Lake Starnberg. Many then and now question the verdict of suicide and argue that the king was assassinated trying to escape across the lake.

The current goals of the Guglmänner are to exonerate Ludwig of the charges of suicide and murder, and to promote Bavarian autonomy, cultural preservation and the restoration of the monarchy. As a secret society neither their names nor their constitutions are published, and membership is by invitation.