1 - Anatomy of a rural society

Summary

Setting

Two days after leaving the imperial city of Frankfurt am Main, just south of the town of Mergentheim a traveler on his way to Augsburg entered one of the most remote rural areas of Renaissance Germany. The important waterways and heavily traveled roads that linked Frankfurt with South Germany's rapidly growing, wealthy, and powerful imperial cities largely bypassed the tiny towns and villages of the Hohenlohe plain in 1500 (see Map 1.1). To reach Öhringen, the largest and most important town in Hohenlohe in 1500, one had first to travel either overland or by boat on the Main River to Wertheim. From there the road to Öhringen led overland on the major north–south axis of South Germany, the Emperor's Highway, up the winding valley of the Tauber River to Mergentheim. But here one had to branch off the main thoroughfare and head south on a smaller road to the tiny market town of Künzelsau on the Kocher River (see Map 1.2). Only then did a road lead on to the small town of Öhringen. Travelers heading east from the imperial city of Wimpfen to Schwäbisch Hall might take the older and more direct route to Öhringen. But in 1500 none of the major roads would take the traveler quickly and easily to this remote part of the German Southwest.