The article discusses the medieval stories about stealing the heart when sleeping at night and later tearing or eating it. One of the most important and beautiful depictions of the „stealing heart“ scene is to be found in the famous love allegory Le livre du couer d‘amours épris by „king“ René Ier d‘Anjou, dit le Bon (1409–1480). A bizarre motif in medieval European literature should also be mentioned: the topic of „eating one‘s lover‘s heart“. Usually called by the German name Herzmäre (= Heart-story), the story might stem from Late Ancient India. European witchcraft texts refer often to heart eating women. As for the belief on the origin of witches, eating the heart, early German sources rejecting (and thus quoting) pagan beliefs are of utmost importance.