PREFACE
I AM painfully aware of the defects of this little book, and still more painfully unaware of its errors. The best excuse for the mistakes that have surely crept in is the vast scope and variety of my subject—the story of the old mediæval town which was for long the centre of German industry and thought. But, for a guide-book, accuracy is above all things desirable, and I shall therefore be deeply grateful to the courtesy of any of my readers, who, having discovered any error or omission, will kindly point it out to me.
The sources from which I have drawn are far too numerous to acknowledge in detail. But in the matter of topography and architecture a more express note of indebtedness is due to the devoted labours of R. von Rettberg, A. von Essenwein, and Ernst Mummenhoff. Above all, I must pay my tribute of gratitude and acknowledgment to the enthusiastic erudition of Dr Emil Reicke,[1] whose mighty volume, Geschichte der Reichsstadt Nürnberg, is a mine of information from which I have freely quarried. Lastly, to those old chroniclers at whom I have sometimes laughed, but whose quaint phrases and legends may have saved these pages from too serious a dulness, I now hasten to make amends and to assure them that I am very conscious of my own inferiority as a storyteller.
The object of this book will have been in great part achieved if it succeeds in reviving the memories and quickening the affections of old lovers of Nuremberg; if it awakens a desire in those who have not yet known and loved her, to visit the old “White City,” and join the band of her worshippers.
CONTENTS
| [CHAPTER I] | |
| PAGE | |
| The Origin of Nuremberg | [1] |
| [CHAPTER II] | |
| The Development of Nuremberg | [35] |
| [CHAPTER III] | |
| Nuremberg and the Reformation | [55] |
| [CHAPTER IV] | |
| Nuremberg and the Thirty Years War | [93] |
| [CHAPTER V] | |
| The Castle and the Walls | [114] |
| [CHAPTER VI] | |
| The Council and the Council-House. Nuremberg Tortures | [150] |
| [CHAPTER VII] | |
| Albert Durer and the Arts and Crafts of Nuremberg | [171] |
| [CHAPTER VIII] | |
| Hans Sachs and the Meistersingers | [215] |
| [CHAPTER IX] | |
| The Churches of Nuremberg | [225] |
| [CHAPTER X] | |
| Old Houses, Bridges and Wells | [267] |
| [CHAPTER XI] | |
| German Museum | [275] |
| [CHAPTER XII] | |
| Arms of Nuremberg | [289] |
| [CHAPTER XIII] | |
| Hotels, Itinerary, etc. | [294] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| [Frontispiece]. Portrait of Albert Durer, from the Painting by himself at Munich | |
| The Heathen Tower | [4] |
| Luginsland, Kaiserstallung, and Five-Cornered Tower | [6] |
| Nürnberger Zeidler (Beefarmer) armed with crossbow | [9] |
| Nassauer Haus | [22] |
| The Pegnitz | [27] |
| Oriel Window of the Parsonage | [42] |
| Beautiful Well | [57] |
| Frauen Thor | [63] |
| Rothenburg | [79] |
| Pellerhof | [90] |
| The Castle from the Hallerthorbrücke | [117] |
| Sinwel or Vestner Thurm | [122] |
| The Walls and Ditch | [139] |
| The Walls (Interior) | [144] |
| The Rathaus. Old Window | [155] |
| Henkersteg (Hangman’s Tower) | [165] |
| Albert Durer’s House | [173] |
| Albert Durer as a boy. From a drawing by himself at the age of thirteen | [179] |
| St. Anthony, from the engraving by Albert Durer. Background of Nuremberg Scenery | [189] |
| Sakramentshäuslein. Adam Krafft | [203] |
| Nuremberg Spruchsprecher or State Poet | [223] |
| Brautthüre, St. Sebalduskirche | [232] |
| St. Lorenzkirche. From the river | [241] |
| Hauptthor, St. Lorenzkirche | [244] |
| St. Lorenzkirche. North side | [246] |
| St. Lorenzkirche. Interior | [251] |
| West Door, Frauenkirche | [255] |
| House on the Pegnitz | [268] |
| Fleischbrücke | [271] |
| The Nuremberg Madonna | [279] |
| The Seals of Nuremberg | [291] |
All the illustrations with the exception of the frontispiece, “St. Anthony” and “Albert Durer as a boy” have been drawn by Miss James, or cut in wood from the beautiful photographs by Captain Gladstone, R.N., to whose generosity the publishers are indebted for permission to reproduce the pictures in this volume.