Pouting Meg

"Pouting Meg" Maultasch wasn't her real name. Her preferred residence was the Neuhaus Castle which became known as The Maultasch Castle many centuries after the ugly Countess passed away. Or was it " the Maultasch Castle becomes the Neuhaus Castle ?

Was Quentin Massys thinking
Pouting Meg Maultasch
when he painted
A Grotesque Women
in 1515 ?

Here is an excerpt from Tales and legends of the Tyrol by Comptesse Marie Alker Gunther which describes the eerie Gothic nature of Margeret Maultasch.....


The Treasure of Maultasch

Above the route which leads from Meran to Botzen, not far from Terlan, are to be seen the ruins of the old castle of Maultasch, which was once the favorite residence of a Princess of the same name, and from her appears to have inherited this name, while another legend says the Princess derived her name from the castle.
There have been two different parts of this building, the principal one of which used to stand below the valley to guard the route, and on that spot is still to be seen a hole in the rock, which leads into an underground passage, through which Margaretha Maultasch, the last proprietress of the castle, used to ascend to the upper part of it on the heights above, called Neuhaus.
In this passage is said to lie a hidden treasure, guarded by a fearful keeper, who is said to be the devil himself. Many people have tried to get at this treasure, but no one has ever succeeded; and the inhabitants of the surrounding country recount that, some years ago, two young peasants of Meran had resolved upon going to take the envied treasure.
On their way there, they said to one another, " Today the devil will never escape us. " So they entered the passage, and began to repeat the incantations they had learnt by heart for the purpose, while throwing around them consecrated powders; but all at once a huge black dog rushed upon them, and they fled away, terrified by death, believing that the devil himself was at their heels ; and, since that time, no one has ever again tried to discover the treasure of Maultasch.

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Why Pouting Meg ?

"It is commonly said that she was called Maultasch (Mouth-Pocket), on account of the largeness of her mouth". quote from p.104 History of Christian Church - James Craigie Robertson

" Bishop Hefele says that she got her name from the castle of Maultasch, where she was born. " viz. p.104


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Pouting Meg or Countess of Tyrol Margaret was born in 1318. The Duke of Carinthia, Henry of Gorizia Tyrol was her father. Adelaide of Brunswick Grubenhagen was Pouting Meg's mother. At the age of 12, in 1330, through a marriage of convenience, Meg is married off to John Henry of Luxembourg who is the son of the Bohemian King. John Henry is but 8 years old. Therefore her real name was Margarete Gorizia-Tyrol.  Her aunt is Elizabeth Gorizia-Tyrol and she is the wife of King Albert I of Germany who is also the founder of the House of Habsburg. She gains succession to the Tyrol powerful estate when Duke Henry, who who has no sons by any of his marriages, dies in 1335.

The Emperor in 1335 is Louis IV and he gives the Duchy of Carinthia to the son of Albert I. Albert II is now both Duke of Corinthia and Duke of Austria.

At the age of 17 in 1335 Pouting Meg and John Henry are residing in Castle Tyrol but their marriage of convenience is about to come to an end. She has him excommunicated from the Castle lands. To protect herself and her Countess estates from the wrath of the House of Luxembourg, which John Henry was a member of, she turned to the Bavarian Wittelsbachs where Louis the IV had affiliations.

Before passing away Duke Henry had made arrangements with Louis IV that would allow Margarete to keep her title of Countess of Tyrol. Duke of Bavaria, Louis V of Wittelsbach marries Pouting Meg in 1342 after declaring the marriage of Meg and John Henry null and void. Pope Clemens VI proclaims this an illegal scandal and excommunicates the newly wed couple. For a decade and a half attempts are made to overthrow the Tyrolean seat of power at Castle Tyrol. In 1359 Pope Innocent VI overturns the previous excommunications orders against Pouting Meg and Louis V. Pope Innocent VI is an interesting figure. For example he is said to have survived the Black Death by sitting many hours between fires thinking that the smoke would purify the air which he believed was foul of death. His family lineage continues to this day under the family name of Aubert but more mysteriously the Aubert family is aligned with the Compte of Saint Germain.  A certain legend of this Count St Germain paints him as the immortal German alchemist who plays a role in the diplomacy of Louis XV. Voltaire, said of Saint Germain, " He is a man who knows everything and who never dies. ".

" In ecclesiastical propoganda of the day she received the nickname " Maultasch " (literally, "bag mouth " ), which means whore , or ugly women. - source - wikipedia

Pouting Meg and Louis V have a son in 1344 and name him Meinhard III. He succeeds Louis V to the role of Count of Tyrol from the House of Wittelsbach when his father dies in 1361. However Meinhard III loses his life in 1363 and leaves no male descendents. Within a few years Margarete Gorizia-Tyrol seizes control of the the Tyrolean estates to the Habsburgs.