Rothenburg ob der Tauber

After touring Lowenburg Castle in Kassel, we had a looooong bus ride along the Romantic Road to the preserved, walled town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This Medieval town has been frozen in time.  We saw lots of half-timbered buildings, and all streets were narrow and made of cobble stone.  Before dinner, we headed to the nearest entrance point to the city wall and walked along a portion of it.  We noticed that the homes don’t really have yards, but almost all homes have flower boxes in the windows.  Houses were brightly colored, and signs in front of the shops were made of wrought iron and used symbols to advertise their wares since most citizens in the medieval period could not read or write.  Walt Disney visited this region early in his career and was so inspired by the architecture that he chose this setting for Pinocchio even though Pinocchio is of Italian origin.  If you’ve seen Walt Disney’s Pinocchio or Disneyland’s Fantasyland in California, you can easily picture this town.  Also, if you’ve ever visited the German pavilion at EPCOT, the fountain there is an exact copy of Rothenburg’s fountain in their town square.

After dinner, we were very excited to join the Night Watchman on a twilight tour of the city.  To set the proper mood and atmosphere, it started to rain lightly.  The weather truly added to the effect.  The Night Watchman shared stories and myths about the town’s history, and explained how life in the medieval times really was.  As we learned at Lowenburg Castle, it was not glamorous.   On any given night, there were six Night Watchmen on duty.  He carried a lantern so that he could see but more importantly, so that his fellow watchmen could see him and know he posed no danger.  He also carried a horn he would blow to warn the townspeople of fire, and a hellebarde, a fierce weapon for defense.  He explained that his main job was to watch for fires because the half-timbered homes could easily go up in flames if sparks flew.  This job was incredibly important, but it was not thought highly of.  Only the gravedigger and the executioner ranked lower in this society.

Salt was as important as money in these times, and people traded salt for other goods.  Citizens were expected to store a year’s worth of grain in case of invasion, but wealthy people also stored salt.  The English word “salary” is derived from this idea of using salt to buy things.  The Germans also had a saying for wealthy people – Salty Rich.

Next, the Night Watchman shared some of the medieval punishments that were handed down to the citizens.  Bakers were placed into a cage and dropped into water for a time “long enough to teach a lesson” for making their loaves either too small or too big.  Prices were regulated, and too small loaves were thought to be cheating the patrons.  Too big loaves were thought to be unfairly persuading patrons to buy from you instead of your competitor.  Unfortunately, “long enough to teach the lesson” often resulted in a dead baker.  Many other punishments and torture devices still exist in the Crime and Punishment Museum.  We checked those out the following day, and let’s just say that In School Detention (ISD) or Suspension look like mighty kind punishments.  A miniature of a school house showed children being whipped in the front of the classroom and a jail cell in the back of the room for time out.  Adults were required to wear shame masks or other embarrassing devices to correct the misbehaviors.

We learned that the 30 Years War was quite difficult on the once prosperous town.  It was often invaded because of its wealth and because it was a crossroads of two major trading routes.  It withstood many of these invasions but suffered many casualties and could not maintain its wealth.  It survives today as a blast to the past mostly because there wasn’t enough money to modernize completely.  Now, 97% of its income comes from tourism.  If not for tour groups, this wonderful little town would be quite poor.