FREISCHUTZ, in German folklore, a marksman who by a compact with the devil has obtained a certain number of bullets destined to hit without fail whatever object he wishes. As the legend is usually told, six of the Freikugeln or "free bullets" are thus subservient to the marksman's will, but the seventh is at the absolute disposal of the devil himself. Stories about the Freischutz were especially common in Germany during the 14th, and 16th centuries; but the first time that the legend was turned to literary profit is said to have been by Apel in the Gespensterbuch or "Book of Ghosts." It formed the subject of Weber's opera Der Freischutz (1821). The name by which the Freischutz is known in French is Robin des Bois.
See Kind, Freyschiitzbuch (Leipzig, 1843) ; Revue des deux mondes (Feb. 1855) ; Grasse, Die Quelle des Freischutz (Dresden, 1875) .