He took in an old man who came towards him from the flames during the fire in the city, but then left the house himself through the back entrance and sought refuge elsewhere. This is how a priest recounts a traumatic event from his life, burdened by the guilt of the old man's suffocating death. Arnold Esch has uncovered entire life worlds of medieval people through letters to the Pope: whether it be first love or the not entirely voluntary entry into a monastery, financial difficulties or a brawl in the tavern, the failure of a marriage or an unpleasant encounter with robbers on the country road. In his elegantly narrated pieces, the Middle Ages are viewed from an exceptionally close perspective, making them unusually vivid.