A TOUR THROUGH GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 195, 16 August 1923, Page 7

A TOUR THROUGH GERMANY.

MEDIEVAL TOWNS OF BAVARIA.

UNFIiIASANT WAYS OF EARLIER TIMES.

(By FREDERICK STUBBS, F.R.E.S.)

The finest example of a medieval city that I have seen in any country is Rothenburg-on-the-Taubcr I Bavaria), one of the most :inei<>nt tu'.vna in Germany. It ia ft eU, ..f son,. 0000 inhabitants, and is in nhnost prei-isely the same condition fts it was hundreds of years I possess an old plan of the city and you can still sec the same walls, towers, town hall, churches, houses as existed then. The little city is surrounded by a moat, and is still completely walled, with 37 towers and six eatea. Some of the gates are still closed at nine o'clock. The earliest wall was pulled down in the year 1204, and a new one built. The towers and gates are very strong, but of course would be quite useless against modern artillery. In the council chamber of the Rathaus there are fine canvases depicting the Thirty Years' War, and every year a play "is still produced in the town, reenactinn- the scenes in that great war a war in which, it may be remembered, we English also took part. One picture is especially interesting. Tilly, who occupied the town in 1631. had condemned the town councillors to death. i The burgomaster himself was ordered to fetch the executioner, but this heroic ; man refused, offering his own head. The delay thus caused was used by the butler to offer Tilly a cup of welcome, for which purpose the huge Imperial goblet was filled with the best and strongest wine. Tilly was not used to such Strong wine, and soon got merry. Turning to the condemned councillors, he exclaimed: "If one of you can drink this, cupful of wine (it holds nearly a gallon) at one draught, all of you shall be spared." The second burgomaster. Nusch, a man well used to wine, successfully undertook the task, and saved the town from pillage and burning, and the whole of the magistrates from death. This scene has naturally become famous, and I was shown the great mug which was used on the occasion. My winedrinking friends may make what use of the incident they please. A VICTIM OF SLANDER. Another interesting building that I visited wae the house of Rothenburg'a greatest burgomaster, Heinrich Toppler who died in 1408. He had saved his town from destruction and made it famous, but, being fond of play, wae falsely accused of offering to stake the town "at a game of dice. In those days of fear and suspicion, this was enough to cause the inhabitants to cast him into prison and to leave him there to starve to death. To prevent this miserable end, however, a Jewish girl brought him Borne poison which epeedly put a period to .hie sufferings. The accusation, like many since, was afterwards proved to be false, but it was too late; the heroic magistrate who had saved the town was dead—an ancient illustration of many a modern man's fate. A glanderous tongue and a too ready ear were followed by unmerited suffering and death. The great round tower of the city had its foundations deep down in the earth, with damp, dark dungeons, where prisoners were kept, and where, in quite recent times, skeletons have been found. Such dungeons were, of course, common in Europe at one time, and the scenes of unspeakable and often innocent suffering. These days are not always rosy, but I am glad I did not live in those. Always disposed to epeak frankly about the things I see and hear, I am sure I could not have escaped the hangman. By living a couple of centuries later, I have managed to cheat him. NUREMfeURG. Leaving Rothenburg, I visited another old-world city, the second city of Bavaria—much larger, much better known, but, to mc. less interesting because more modernised —viz., Nuremburg (population 370,000). It lies 05 miles north-west from Munich, in the nridst of a sandy plain, surrounded by pine forests. A 6trange place to found a city, but conveniently situated for commerce, being near both the Rhine and the Danube. In the case of Nuremburg we have two distinct cities side by side, the older- and smaller city with its redroofed houses and gables, and innumerable monuments and narrow, crooked ' streets; and the larger, more convenient, but less interesting, less picturesque, modern city. The chief ' sight" is, of course, the castle, situated on rocky eminence, with massive grey walls . and battlements and towers, overlooking and formerly overawing the city—not j particularly striking inside, except as showing the conditions under which even , princes lived in those days, but very impressive outside. It is now used ns a royal residence, and the ex-Emperor ' sometimes stayed there. Of the great city wall, only small portions are now [ extant. t THE CURSING SCHOOLBOY. Tn this city also I visited the great : Gothic church of St. Lawrence, begun 7 in 1278 and finished two centuries later; • with its twin spires, 250 ft high; its '- rose windows. 30ft in diameter; Its i famous fountain, erected in memory of ' the cursing schoolboy, whoso neck was . twisted by the devil'; the 14th century i church of the Virgin Mary, with its i extraordinary clock, where Charles IV. I pits on his throne whilst at 12 o'clock E each day the seven electors pass before i him and make obeisance; the 13th eeni tury church of St. Sebaldus, with its 1 Brides' Door (special door for the entry r of brides, etc.) and its statues of the 1 Five Wise and the. Five Foolish Virjrins; hut whether the wise virgins were those i that did not marry, we were not told. I • rather think these were the foolish ones! Then the Fruen church of the 14th cenr tury, small, but richly decorated; the , Katherine Church, where the meistert singers held their competitions, now used ! as a hall for music. I also visited the . house where Hans Sachs—a real person- _ age —lived, and the house' of Albert j Durer (15th century), the most famous of all German painters. A SHREW. Poor Durer. like many a humbler man. married a shrew, who made earth a bell ' for him. And I lum-hed in the tavern • where both Sachs and Durer, and many 'l another artist, used to eat and drink. f and perchance carouse. Nuremburg has also a splendid market place, where the ■ curious costumes and customs of tlie ' peasantry are" displayed each day; a r Town Hall, of course, and an excellent i tram service, where one can ride quite . a long distance for two-thirda of a penny. 1 The great majority of the inhabitants a are Protestant. It is interesting to , note that it was in thie city that the . watch was invented, being originally 8 known as the Xuremburg egg. And * c i very good egg, too!