Overview
Rothenburg, situated on the Tauber river at the crossing point of the ‘Romantische Strasse’ and the ‘Burgenstrasse’, is perhaps the finest and best preserved of Germany’s walled medieval towns.
It was founded in the 9th C, when the first of several castles was built on the Burggarten spur, which juts into an enclosed bend in the Tauber. The castle gardens can still be visited, though nothing remains of the original structure apart from the Balsiuskapelle (the St Blasius Chapel, now a war memorial). The town continued to flourish thanks to its geographical postition, and a thriving market town grew up around the castle. By the 12th C, the first city wall had been built to protect a community of prosperous merchants, and one of the original gates (the White Tower) can still be seen today, though it is now in the centre of the town, thanks to further expansion in the 15th and 16th centuries. After the castle was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14 the C, the citizens set about enriching and beautifying their city, and indeed the life of a rich merchant during this period must have been a pleasant and comfortable one. The centre of town is filled with elegant and spacious residences built to house the various rich patrician families who were the principal beneficiaries of Rothenburg’s economic success. Together they were able to commission splendid churches, decorated by the finest craftsmen, a magnificent town hall designed by a renowned master builder, intricately carved fountains bringing fresh water into the heart of the town, a hospital and a system of justice which ensured the orderly running of the community.
In 1572 the Renaissance town was started and the increased area enclosed by the new city wall allowed for a larger population and better services. Driving along the Romantic Road, even now it is easy to imagine the relief of the medieval traveller, who, after a long day’s journey on horseback through a beautiful but lawless landscape, reached the safety of a walled town, where he could find food and a bed for the night, or a market to sell his wares. At nightfall the world outside the walls became the preserve of dragons, witches and outlaws, as chronichled in contemporary German myths and legends. The oral tradiditon of relating folk-tales is perhaps stronger in Germany than anywhere else in Europe, and this has influenced many German writers and musicians, in particular those who are now classified as Romantics.
Rothenburg’s golden age came to an end with the advent of the terrible Thirty Years War (1618-1648), which ravaged most of central Europe and left three quarters of the population dead. The Reformation and Martin Luther’s efforts to purify the Catholic Church ended in an ideological split from the spiritual authority of Rome. Rothenburg sided with the Protestants and thus found itself in opposition to the powerful forces of the Holy Roman Empire. It was besieged and conquered three times by Tilly (1631), Piccolomini (1634) and Turenne (1645) and, in spite of the heroism of Burgermeister Nusch (see Walking Tour), the economy of the town never recovered from the war, and it lapsed into comparative obscurity.
Thus, due to lack of funds, no further expansion of the town was possible after the 17th C. It has been preserved in, and in some cases restored to, its original 16th C condition. With the arrival of the railway in 1905, Rothenburg was opened up for the first time to tourism, and since then the 12,500 citizens have lived almost exclusively from this trade. Many of the towns finest buildings have now been converted into shops, restaurants, taverns and museums, each embelished with the traditional wrought iron sign, indicating to the illiterate medieval traveller or the non-German speaking tourist the trade practised within. Similarly, significant events from the town’s history are commemorated in revived pageants staged by townspeople in medieval costume; the ‘Meistertrunk’ and the ‘Shepherds’ Dance’ are the most famous of these.
More recently, Rothenburg had a close brush with disaster towards the end of the Second World War. In 1945 the Allied armis were advancing rapidly into German territory ant most commanders, hardened by six years of conflict, were none too particular about preserving Germany’s heritage. During the attack the eastern parts of the town and the area around the Town Hall were badly damaged. The ancient buildings were carefully reconstructed after the war, but walking along the Rödergasse you will notice that the houses are of post war construction. Further damage was averted when the American commander, whose wife was a lover of European art and culture, remembered her description of the beautiful buildings within the walls, and called off further bombardment.
History
The Thirty Years War
This was one of the messiest and least conclusive conflicts in human history. It grew out of the religious differences created by the Reformation and gradually developed into a continental dispute involving most of the major European powers, all of whom began by claiming religious motives, but soon used the war as a means to further territorial and dynastic ambitions. The only people to benefit from the war were the generals who grew rich on the spoils of conquered towns and covered themselves with glory in the chronicles of their own historians.
The war started as an internal conflict between states of the Habsburg Empire, which hin the 17th C covered not only Austro-Hungary but Spain and the Low Countries as well. Bohemian rebels were the first to trouble the massive Habsburg armies, but they were quickly joined by sympathisers in Protestant Germany and Sweden. The French, under cardinal Richelieu also entered the war against the Habsburgs, a turn of events which diffused religious motivation by setting Catholic against Catholic.
The outcome was a fudge. The peace of Westphalia, signed in Münster on October 24th 1648, left open the question of religious supremacy and divided Germany up between the main protagonists, though with considerable loss of prestige for the Emperor. A graphic picture of the war is to be found in Berthold Brecht’s play ‘Mother Courage and her Children’.
Siege Warfare
By the time of the Thirty Years War and Tilly’s assault on Rothenburg, siege warfare had evolved into a straightforward strategy of attempting to blow down the defences of a town or castle with heavy canon. But the drive along the Romantic Road gives ample opportunity to discuss the development of this colourful technique, with plenty of illustrations in the form of walled towns and castles to stress the importance of stout fortifications to ensure protection against attack.
The history of siege warfare is a long one and it has profoundly affected the shape of all European towns constructed before the 18th C. The necessity of enclosing all buildings within city or castle walls accounts for the narrow streets and tall gabled houses of towns such as Rothenburg, the scarcity of windows in medieval dwellings and the tendency to build only in places which could be easily defended.
The Crusaders returning from the Holy Land brought back tales of long campaigns waged against Saracen strongholds which often lasted months and even years. Starvation and disease were often the most potent weapons in a lengthy siege, but speedier resolutions were often sought by local barons and princes in Europe who regarded war as a sport, and would ride out with a band of attendants in an effort to win riches and power. The map of central Europe in the Middle Ages was a patchwork of constantly shifting borders, as towns and regions changed hands according to the strength of various rival armies. Most of these owed nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, but in reality were more interested in self-promotion and the growth of their own particular city-state. To this end it is worth remembering that Germany was not truly unified until the first Treaty of Versailles in 1871, which brought the Franco-Prussian war to an end, and proclaimed Wilhelm I of Prussia as Emperor of all Germany.
To return to siege warfare, the techniques used were various and ingenious. A thick city wall being the principal obstruction to the successful destruction of the enemy, the attacking army would do their best to weaken the fortifications by raining down a series of heavy boulders onto a particular spot in the wall. Catapults and mangonels (a variation of the former) would be wheeled into place at a range of some two hundred yards, and the barrage would begin. By night the more intrepid soldiers would advance to the base of the wall and begin to dig under its foundations in an effort to further weaken the superstructure. If necessary the moat would be filled in to allow battering rams and mobile towers covered with cow hide to approach the walls, though scaling these or breaching the sturdy doors of the town was no easy task even then. Not until the introduction of cannon was the balance tipped in favour of the attacker.
The defending forces meanwhile could rain arrows down on their tormentors from the comparative safety of the battlements. If ladders or mobile towers were set against the walls they would happily pour boiling oil and burning pitch onto the soldiers below. Their greatest fear was that they would run out of provisions or that the water supply would become polluted. Many tales are told of communities reduced to eating rats, or killing each over the meagre rations remaining to them.
But why did war break out so often in the Middle Ages? Life in medieval Europe was boring for the aristocract. There was not much to do except hunt and make tapestries, with the occasional diversion of a colourful jousting tournament or visit from a wandering minstrel telling tales of courtly love. War was a vocation and the ignorant peasant had little choice but to follow his lord into battle if he wanted to keep his lands. Cruelty and raw courage were commonplace in medieval times and human life was the cheapest of commodities.
The Walking Tour
If you are approaching from the south, you will be able to see the town from some distance, surrounded by its walls with their gate towers, and with the town hall tower and twin spires of St Jakob’s Church in the centre.
From the bus park, walk the group up the Spitalgasse to the first gate tower. This is the Sieberstor – a relic of the 14th C fortifications. Walk through the gate and pause for a photo on the Plönlein, one of the most picturesque spots in Rothenburg. The fountain basin here was used for keeping fish fresh for market. Continue up the Schmiedgasse, passing the Kriminal Museum, located next to the 14th C church of St John (Catholic), and gather the group up in the Marktplatz in front of the Town Hall.
Marktplatz
This square has been the scene of many important and dramatic events in Rothenburg’s history. The Danish King Christian was crowned here by the Holy Roman Emperor; in 1525 seventeen rebels of the Peasants’ Revolt were executed on the square and contemporary reports tell how ‘the blood ran like a stream down the Schmied Lane’. The Town Hall itself was partially destroyed by fire on several occasions, and the present structure is a mixture of styles. The rear section with bell-tower is Gothic and was completed in the late 14th C. The front section dates from the Renaissance period and was built by the famous sculptor Leonhard Weidmann. During the construction the town council built a magnificent house for the master builder known as the ‘Baumeisterhaus’. It is one of the last houses in the Schmiedgasse and is richly decorated with statues representing the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Cardinal Virtues. Inside is a beautiful covered courtyard and a fine restaurant which features many of the local culinary specialities.
The building closing the square to the right of the Town Hall is the ‘Ratsherrntrinkstube’ (City Councillors’ Tavern) with, on its facade the carillon clock that re-enacts the principal scene from the story of the Meistertrunk at 11,12,13,14,15,21 and 22 hours
The Meistertrunk
In 1631, at the height of the Thirty Years War, the Protestant town of Rothenburg was besieged by the Imperial Catholic army of general Tilly. The citizens of the town defended it bravely but they were surrounded by 300,000 men all intent on getting inside and defeat was inevitable. A cannon bombardment commenced and after thirty hours of fighting the wall was breached and Tilly’s army flooded into the town.
The general rode triumphantly into the main square as women and children fell to their knees and begged for mercy. It was normal to sack and pillage a conquered town to satisfy the enlisted soldiers whose pay was otherwise irregular and uncertain, and the assembled townsfolk stood trembling before their conqueror. Tilly outlined his demands: four councillors were to be executed, then the rest of the town was to be put to the sword. A servant was dispatched to fetch the executioner, but he refused to move and offered his own head, rather than co-operate.
The general’s patience was wearing thin, but the buxom daughter of the Town Hall Kellermeister came up with a brave plan. She bustled down to her father’s cellars and emerged with a brimming six pint tankard of best Franconian wine which she offered to Tilly and his officers. It had been a hot day and the fighting had been hard, so he accepted the gift and passed the flagon on to his men. The wine rushed to the head of the normally abstemious general and his mood began to improve. He handed back the empty flagon to the Kellermeister’s daughter and offered to spare the town if one of the town coucillors could drink the tankard dry in one draught.
The city elders looked nervously at each other in search of a saviour but none appeared. Then slowly the considerable figure of Bürgermeister Nusch, former mayor of the town, edged forward to take up the challenge. The tankard was refilled and the people stood with bated breath as the Bürgermeister began to drink. All went well to begin with, and Nusch’s elbow rose slowly into the air, but as the minutes ticked by, his belly seemed to swell visibly and his legs began to buckle. Finally, after ten agonising minutes he turned the flagon upside down over his head and not a drop was left. As the crowd erupted in joyful celebration, Nusch collapsed in a heap on the cobblestones and was carried home where he slept peacefully for three days and nights. When he awoke the town was still standing and the danger was past..
Now Bürgermeister Nusch’s feat is commemorated daily by the tavern clock which re-enacts his heroism, as General Tilly looks on in astonishment, and annually on Whit Monday in a play written by Adam Hörder, when the townspeople, dressed in costumes of the period, relive this dramatic moment in the town’s history.
Before you leave the square take a look at the well in the corner, adorned with a stauue of St George. It was already functioning in the mid 15th C and received its present decoration in the 17th C. In the Middle Ages this was the spot where the gallows, pillory and other instruments of punishment would be raised. Once a year, the shepherds danced around the well in the belief that they could drive away the threat of plague. A revived form of this traditional dance is still performed several times a year in front of the Town Hall.
Walk a little way down the Herrngasse (Gentry Lane), the widest street in Rothnburg, lined with fine patrician houses, and take the first little street to your right which leads to St Jakob’s Church (Protestant).
St Jakob’s Church
The church is Gothic and dates back to the 14th C. Various master builders were involved in its construction, but according to legend the twin towers brought about the downfall of one of their number. The master mason set about building the south tower, leaving the north tower to his assistant. When the two were completed, public opinion favoured the north tower and the master was so ashamed he threw himself from the top and fell to his death.
The interior of the church is elegant and relatively simple, focussing attention rather on the rich carving of two wooden altar-pieces. The main altar is the Zwölfbotenaltar or Altar of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the 15th C. It was paid for by a gift from Mayor Toppler and made by several of Swabia’s finest carvers. The Crucifixion figure is flanked by four angels representing Faith and Prayer (on the right) and Unbelief and Doubt (on the left). Under the crucifix are six delicately carved figures representing, from left to right, the Saints Elizabeth, James, the Virgin Mary, John, Leonard and Antonius. The twleve apostles are seated in a row either side of Christ right at the bottom. The wings of the altar tell stories from the life of the Virgin Mary, while the reverse illustrates the life of St James (patron saint of the church) and the saint’s intervention to save the life of two pilgrims (father and son) falsely accused by an innkeeper on their way to his tomb. Look out for the panel showing the Marktplatz of Rothenburg as it appeared in the 15th C, before the Renaissance reconstruction of the Town Hall.
The church’s other great treasure is housed at the opposite end of the church, up some steps in the west gallery. The ‘Heiligenblutaltar’ (Holy Blood Altar) is one of the major works of Tilmann Riemenschneider (1460-1431) and was commissioned by the Rothenburg Council to provide a worthy setting for the rock crystal capsule containing three drops of Christ’s blood shed on the cross.
The medieval obsession with relics is a puzzling one to modern day observers. The idea sprang from a pilgimage to the Holy Land made by the Emperor Constantine’s mother, after he accepted Christianity as the official religion of the Empire. Apart from establishing, in somewhat arbitrary fashion, the traditional sites of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection in and around Jerusalem, she returned laden with souvenirs and relics which quickly became venerated by the faithful. The fashion spread and before long, every self respecting church, whether large or small, laid claim to a relic of some kind, whose status was confirmed by some miraculous cure or prophecy. Whether or not these relics are genuine no longer matters. What is important is that people believed in them and, perhaps more importantly, they inspired some of Europe’s finest examples of relitious art.
The Holy Blood Altar consists of a central compostition of the Last Supper, flanked by two wings and a magnificent canopy, containing the crystal set in a simple cross. But the viewer’s eye is drawn to the dramatic representaion of the Last Supper carved in limewood. As the disciples look to each other to find out who will betray their master, Christ passes a morsel of bread to Judas to indicate that he is the one. Get them to look particularly at the sensitive representation of faces and hands, the natural and elegant folds of the drapery and the artist’s command of perspective, creating a sense of depth which is remarkable for a relief carving. The wings show Christ entering Jerusalem on an ass on Palm Sunday and Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
Riemenschneider was an extraordinarily gifted artist in his chosen field. But, according to legend his skill aroused much jealousy and whilst in captivity his hands were smashed with a sculptor’s mallet, ironically on the grounds that such perfection could only come from the devil.
Leave the church and go back to the Herrengasse. The group may have had enough sightseeing by now, in which case you can finish your walking tour here. Otherwise continue on to the Castle Gardens, from where you have a splendid view of the medieval double arched bridge over the Tauber.