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108-565: Rothenburg was a free imperial city (German: Reichsstadt) from the late Middle Ages to 1803. In 1884 Johann Friedrich (von) Hessing (1838–1918) built Wildbad Rothenburg o.d.T. 1884–1903. The name "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" is German for "Red castle above the Tauber", describing the town's location on a plateau overlooking the Tauber River. Rothenburg Castle , in close vicinity to the village and also called Alte Burg (old castle), gave

216-469: A plague outbreak in five Indian states caused an estimated 700 infections (including 52 deaths) and triggered a large migration of Indians within India as they tried to avoid the disease. It was during the 1894 Hong Kong plague outbreak that Alexandre Yersin isolated the bacterium responsible ( Yersinia pestis ), a few days after Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburō had isolated it. However,

324-594: A chapter, "The Old Red City of Rothenburg", about the city and its history. Rothenburg is the primary location for Elizabeth Peters 's mystery novel, Borrower of the Night (1973) about the search for a missing Tilman Riemenschneider sculpture. The town featured as the location in the Belgian comic book, The Adventures of Yoko Tsuno in the episode of La Frontière de la vie ( On the Edge of Life , 1977) and it inspired

432-502: A considerable time, even though no formal right to independence existed. These cities were typically located in small territories where the ruler was weak. They were the exception among the multitude of territorial towns and cities. Cities of both latter categories normally had representation in territorial diets , but not in the Imperial Diet. Free imperial cities were not officially admitted as individual Imperial Estates to

540-604: A few cases, such as in Cologne, the former ecclesiastical lord continued to claim the right to exercise some residual feudal privileges over the Free City, a claim that gave rise to constant litigation almost until the end of the Empire. Over time, the difference between Imperial Cities and Free Cities became increasingly blurred, so that they became collectively known as "Free Imperial Cities", or "Free and Imperial Cities", and by

648-526: A future Medal of Honor recipient, ordered six soldiers of the 15th Infantry Regiment , 3rd Division to march into Rothenburg on a three-hour mission and negotiate the surrender of the town. First Lieutenant Noble V. Borders of Louisville, Kentucky , First Lieutenant Edmund H. Austgen of Hammond, Indiana , Private William M. Dwyer of Trenton, New Jersey , Private Herman Lichey of Glendale, California , Private Robert S. Grimm of Tower City, Pennsylvania , and Private Peter Kick of Lansing, Illinois were sent on

756-680: A human case of bubonic plague was reported. Officials responded by activating a city-wide plague-prevention system for the remainder of the year. Also in July 2020, in Mongolia, a teenager died from bubonic plague after consuming infected marmot meat. Yersinia pestis has been discovered in archaeological finds from the Late Bronze Age (~3800 BP ). The bacteria is identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. Some authors have suggested that

864-721: A jurist in Europe. In 1274, Rothenburg was accorded privileges by King Rudolf of Habsburg as a free imperial city . Three famous fairs were established in the city and in the following centuries, the city expanded. The citizens of the city and the Knights of the Hinterland build the Franziskaner (Franciscan) Monastery and the Holy Ghost Hospital (1376/78 incorporated into the city walls). The German Order began

972-496: A large population of rats, the animals can harbor low levels of the plague infection without causing human outbreaks. With no new rat inputs being added to the population from other areas, the infection only spread to humans in very rare cases of overcrowding. After being transmitted via the bite of an infected flea, the Y. pestis bacteria become localized in an inflamed lymph node , where they begin to colonize and reproduce. Infected lymph nodes develop hemorrhages, which result in

1080-467: A role in controlling the 2003 Oran outbreak of the bubonic plague. Another means of prevention in large European cities was a city-wide quarantine to not only limit interaction with people who were infected, but also to limit the interaction with the infected rats. Several classes of antibiotic are effective in treating bubonic plague. These include aminoglycosides such as streptomycin and gentamicin , tetracyclines (especially doxycycline ), and

1188-516: A role in increasing the transmission effectiveness of the plague. The plague resurfaced for a third time in the mid-19th century; this is also known as "the modern pandemic". Like the two previous outbreaks, this one also originated in Eastern Asia , most likely in Yunnan , a province of China, where there are several natural plague foci . The initial outbreaks occurred in the second half of

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1296-425: A say in the government of the city, were the citizens or burghers, the smaller, privileged section of the city's permanent population whose number varied according to the rule of citizenship of each city. There were exceptions, such as Nuremberg , where the patriciate ruled alone. To the common town dweller – whether he lived in a prestigious Free Imperial City like Frankfurt, Augsburg or Nuremberg, or in

1404-438: A small market town such as there were hundreds throughout Germany – attaining burgher status ( Bürgerrecht ) could be his greatest aim in life. The burgher status was usually an inherited privilege renewed pro-forma in each generation of the family concerned but it could also be purchased. At times, the sale of burgher status could be a significant item of town income as fiscal records show. The Bürgerrecht

1512-606: A state after the war due to its special position in divided post-war Germany. Regensburg was, apart from hosting the Imperial Diet , a most peculiar city: an officially Lutheran city that was the seat of the Catholic prince-bishopric of Regensburg, its prince-bishop and cathedral chapter. The Imperial City also housed three Imperial abbeys: St. Emmeram , Niedermünster and Obermünster . They were five immediate entities fully independent of each other existing in

1620-607: A vector to jump from animals to humans. The mortality rate is highest in the summer and early fall. The successful control of rat populations in dense urban areas is essential to outbreak prevention. One example is the use of a machine called the Sulfurozador , used to deliver sulphur dioxide to eradicate the pest that spread the bubonic plague in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the early 18th century. Targeted chemoprophylaxis , sanitation , and vector control also played

1728-413: Is a notable renaissance building. The rear Gothic part of the building dates from 1250, and the attached front Renaissance building was started in 1572. This building served as the seat of government for the city-state during the medieval ages and for the city of Rothenburg since the formation of the federalist government. The town hall tower of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is one of the only accessible towers in

1836-425: Is also noteworthy that while the eastern walls and towers received bomb damage, they, unlike the houses in that part of town, remained relatively intact; many parts even survived completely because of their sturdy stone construction. In most cases, only the wooden upper portions or roofs of the eastern towers and walls needed to be rebuilt, and most of their stone structure had been preserved. The Rathaus (town hall)

1944-427: Is now Switzerland with cities like Bern, Zürich and Luzern, but also cities like Ulm, Nuremberg and Hamburg in what is now Germany possessed substantial hinterlands or fiefs that comprised dozens of villages and thousands of subject peasants who did not enjoy the same rights as the urban population. At the opposite end, the authority of Cologne, Aachen, Worms, Goslar, Wetzlar, Augsburg and Regensburg barely extended beyond

2052-421: Is one or more infected, enlarged, and painful lymph nodes, known as buboes . Buboes associated with the bubonic plague are commonly found in the armpits, upper femoral area, groin, and neck region. These buboes will grow and become more painful over time, often to the point of bursting. Symptoms include heavy breathing, continuous vomiting of blood ( hematemesis ), aching limbs, coughing, and extreme pain caused by

2160-636: The Medal of Honor video game series, features a level in which the player must fight their way through a snowy town near the Siegfried Line in Germany that is strikingly similar to Rothenburg, buildings with similar architecture can be seen throughout the town, as well as similar-looking streets, as the player makes their way through. Free imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire ,

2268-575: The Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The three other Free Cities became constituent states of the new German Empire in 1871 and consequently were no longer fully sovereign as they lost control over defence, foreign affairs and a few other fields. They retained that status in the Weimar Republic and into Nazi Germany , although under Hitler it became purely notional. Due to Hitler's distaste for Lübeck and its liberal tradition,

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2376-507: The Great Plague of London in 1665–66. Later works, such as Albert Camus 's novel The Plague or Ingmar Bergman 's film The Seventh Seal have used bubonic plague in settings, such as quarantined cities in either medieval or modern times, as a backdrop to explore themes including the breakdown of society, institutions, and individuals during the plague; the cultural and psychological existential confrontation with mortality; and

2484-467: The Holy Roman Emperor , as opposed to a territorial city or town ( Landstadt ), which was subordinate to a territorial prince  – be it an ecclesiastical lord ( prince-bishop , prince-abbot ), or a secular prince ( duke ( Herzog ), margrave , count ( Graf ), etc.). The evolution of some German cities into self-ruling constitutional entities of the Empire

2592-574: The Imperial Diet until 1489, and even then their votes were usually considered only advisory ( votum consultativum ) compared to the benches of the electors and princes. The cities divided themselves into two groups, or benches, in the Imperial Diet, the Rhenish and the Swabian benches. These same cities were among the 85 free imperial cities listed on the Reichsmatrikel of 1521,

2700-497: The Meistertrunk states that when General Tilly condemned the councilmen to death and was set to burn the city down, the councilmen tried to sway him with a large drink of 3 1/4 liters wine. Tilly proclaimed that if anyone could drink it all in one drink, he would spare the city. The mayor at the time, Georg Nusch , succeeded, and General Tilly kept his word. However, the story is almost certainly apocryphal. It does not appear in

2808-680: The Perpetual Imperial Diet was located, were represented by various Regensburg lawyers and officials who often represented several cities simultaneously. Instead, many cities found it more profitable to maintain agents at the Aulic Council in Vienna, where the risk of an adverse judgment posed a greater risk to city treasuries and independence. The territory of most Free Imperial Cities was generally quite small but there were exceptions. The largest territories formed in what

2916-548: The Western canon . The Decameron , by Boccaccio, is notable for its use of a frame story involving individuals who have fled Florence for a secluded villa to escape the Black Death. First-person, sometimes sensationalized or fictionalized, accounts of living through plague years have also been popular across centuries and cultures. For example, Samuel Pepys 's diary makes several references to his first-hand experiences of

3024-490: The World Health Organization recommends that only high-risk groups, such as certain laboratory personnel and health care workers, get inoculated. Several antibiotics are effective for treatment, including streptomycin , gentamicin , and doxycycline . Without treatment, plague results in the death of 30% to 90% of those infected. Death, if it occurs, is typically within 10 days. With treatment,

3132-620: The Yunnan Province in 1855. The term bubonic is derived from the Greek word βουβών , meaning ' groin ' . The bubonic plague is an infection of the lymphatic system , usually resulting from the bite of an infected flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (the Oriental rat flea ). Several flea species carried the bubonic plague, such as Pulex irritans (the human flea ), Xenopsylla cheopis , and Ceratophyllus fasciatus . Xenopsylla cheopis

3240-516: The besiegers and from them penetrated the town. The Mongol forces catapulted plague-infested corpses into Caffa as a form of attack, one of the first known instances of biological warfare . When spring arrived, the Italian merchants fled on their ships, unknowingly carrying the Black Death. Carried by the fleas on rats, the plague initially spread to humans near the Black Sea and then outwards to

3348-516: The fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin . Mortality associated with treated cases of bubonic plague is about 1–15%, compared to a mortality of 40–60% in untreated cases. People potentially infected with the plague need immediate treatment and should be given antibiotics within 24 hours of the first symptoms to prevent death. Other treatments include oxygen, intravenous fluids, and respiratory support. People who have had contact with anyone infected by pneumonic plague are given prophylactic antibiotics. Using

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3456-703: The "Hessingsche Wildbad". Rothenburg held a special significance for Nazi ideologists. For them, it was the epitome of the German 'Home Town', representing all that was quintessentially German. Throughout the 1930s, the Nazi organization KDF ( Kraft durch Freude ) " Strength through Joy " organized regular day trips to Rothenburg from all across the Reich. This initiative was staunchly supported by Rothenburg's citizenry – many of whom were sympathetic to National Socialism – both for its perceived economic benefits and because Rothenburg

3564-553: The 18th century. The disease remained localized in Southwest China for several years before spreading. In the city of Canton , beginning in January 1894, the disease had killed 80,000 people by June. Daily water traffic with the nearby city of Hong Kong rapidly spread the plague there, killing over 2,400 within two months during the 1894 Hong Kong plague . The third pandemic spread the disease to port cities throughout

3672-547: The 1968 family movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . It is sometimes mistaken as the town at the end of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971); that town was Nördlingen . The town served as a loose basis for the fictional town of Lebensbaum ("life tree") in the video game Shadow of Memories ( Shadow of Destiny in the American market). Shots of the town are shown in some parts of The Wonderful World of

3780-508: The 50 free imperial cities that took part in the Imperial Diet of 1792. They are listed according to their voting order on the Rhenish and Swabian benches. By the time of the Peace of Westphalia, the cities constituted a formal third "college" and their full vote ( votum decisivum ) was confirmed, although they failed to secure parity of representation with the two other colleges. To avoid

3888-468: The 8th century. Because the infectious disease spread inland by the transferring of merchandise through Justinian's efforts in acquiring luxurious goods of the time and exporting supplies, his capital became the leading exporter of the bubonic plague. Procopius, in his work Secret History , declared that Justinian was a demon of an emperor who either created the plague himself or was being punished for his sinfulness. Medieval society's increasing population

3996-682: The Brothers Grimm and the trailer for the film. The camera flies over the town from the direction of the valley towards the Town Hall. A plaque exists on the rebuilt town wall to commemorate this. Filming was done in Rothenburg for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011), but didn't make it into the final version of the movies. Robert Shackleton's Unvisited Places of Old Europe contains

4104-698: The Democratic Republic of the Congo had the most plague cases, with over 1,100 cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. From 1,000 to 2,000 cases are conservatively reported per year to the WHO . From 2012 to 2017, reflecting political unrest and poor hygienic conditions, Madagascar began to host regular epidemics. Between 1900 and 2015, the United States had 1,036 human plague cases, with an average of 9 cases per year. In 2015, 16 people in

4212-597: The Diet could vote a second and a third simplum , in which case each member's contribution was doubled or tripled. At the time, the free imperial cities were considered wealthy and the monetary contribution of Nuremberg, Ulm and Cologne for instance were as high as that of the Electors ( Mainz , Trier , Cologne , Palatinate , Saxony , Brandenburg ) and the Dukes of Württemberg and of Lorraine . The following list contains

4320-687: The European population. Because the plague killed so many of the working population, wages rose due to the demand for labor. Some historians see this as a turning point in European economic development . The disease is also considered to have been responsible for the Plague of Justinian , originating in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century CE, as well as the third epidemic , affecting China , Mongolia , and India , originating in

4428-737: The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806. By 1811, all of the Imperial Cities had lost their independence – Augsburg and Nuremberg had been annexed by Bavaria , Frankfurt had become the center of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt , a Napoleonic puppet state , and the three Hanseatic cities had been directly annexed by France as part of its effort to enforce the Continental Blockade against Britain. Hamburg and Lübeck with surrounding territories formed

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4536-590: The Middle Ages. A staple pastry of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the Schneeball , deep-fried dough shaped like a snowball and covered in either confectioner's sugar or chocolate. From 1988 until March 2006, Herbert Hachtel ( SPD ) was the mayor of Rothenburg. He was succeeded by Walter Hartl. Rothenburg has appeared in several films, notably fantasies. It was the location for the Vulgarian village scenes in

4644-640: The Reformation, and of the sixty Free Imperial Cities that remained at the Peace of Westphalia , all but the ten Alsatian cities which were annexed by France during the late 17th century continued to exist until the mediatization of 1803. The Empire had approximately 4000 towns and cities, although fewer than 400 of these had more than a thousand inhabitants around the year 1600. During the Late Middle Ages, fewer than 200 of these places ever enjoyed

4752-684: The St. Blaise chapel is the last remnant today. In October 1631, during the Thirty Years' War , the Catholic Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly , wanted to quarter his 40,000 troops in Protestant Lutheran Rothenburg. Rather than allow entrance, the town defended itself and intended to withstand a siege . However, Tilly's troops quickly defeated Rothenburg, losing only 300 soldiers. A popular legend called

4860-584: The Wars , of his personal encounter with the plague and the effect it had on the rising empire. In the spring of 542, the plague arrived in Constantinople, working its way from port city to port city and spreading around the Mediterranean Sea , later migrating inland eastward into Asia Minor and west into Greece and Italy. The Plague of Justinian is said to have been "completed" in the middle of

4968-644: The areas west of the Rhine were annexed to France by the revolutionary armies, suppressing the independence of Imperial Cities as diverse as Cologne, Aachen, Speyer and Worms. Then, the Napoleonic Wars led to the reorganization of the Empire in 1803 (see German Mediatisation ), where all of the free cities but six – Hamburg , Bremen , Lübeck , Frankfurt, Augsburg , and Nuremberg  – lost their independence and were absorbed into neighboring territories. Under pressure from Napoleon,

5076-661: The bacterium reproduces in the person's blood and lungs respectively. Laboratory testing is required in order to diagnose and confirm plague. Ideally, confirmation is through the identification of Y. pestis culture from a patient sample. Confirmation of infection can be done by examining serum taken during the early and late stages of infection . To quickly screen for the Y. pestis antigen in patients, rapid dipstick tests have been developed for field use. Samples taken for testing include: Bubonic plague outbreaks are controlled by pest control and modern sanitation techniques. This disease uses fleas commonly found on rats as

5184-508: The broad-based antibiotic streptomycin has proven to be dramatically successful against the bubonic plague within 12 hours of infection. Globally between 2010 and 2015, there were 3,248 documented cases, which resulted in 584 deaths. The countries with the greatest number of cases are the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Madagascar , and Peru . For over a decade since 2001, Zambia, India, Malawi, Algeria, China, Peru, and

5292-430: The bubonic form of plague, the bacteria enter through the skin through a flea bite and travel via the lymphatic vessels to a lymph node , causing it to swell. Diagnosis is made by finding the bacteria in the blood, sputum , or fluid from lymph nodes. Prevention is through public health measures such as not handling dead animals in areas where plague is common. While vaccines against the plague have been developed,

5400-434: The building of St. James' Church, which the citizens have used since 1336. The Heilig Blut (Holy Blood) pilgrimage attracted many pilgrims to Rothenburg, at the time one of the 20 largest cities of the Holy Roman Empire . The population was around 5,500 people within the city walls and another 14,000 in the 150 square miles (390 km) of the surrounding territory. The Staufer Castle was destroyed by an earthquake in 1356;

5508-420: The case of Hamburg in 1708, the situation was considered sufficiently serious to warrant the dispatch of an Imperial commissioner with troops to restore order and negotiate a compromise and a new city constitution between the warring parties. The number of Imperial Cities shrank over time until the Peace of Westphalia. There were more in areas that were very fragmented politically, such as Swabia and Franconia in

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5616-460: The chronicle of Sebastian Dehner, written about fifteen years after the facts, the earliest account. The Meistertrunk appears for the first time in the chronicle of Georg Heinrich Schaffert, more than a century later. After the winter, they left the town poor and nearly empty, and in 1634 a bubonic plague outbreak killed many more townsfolk. Without any money or power, Rothenburg stopped growing, thus preserving its 17th-century state. Since 1803,

5724-612: The city its name. The location was most likely inhabited by Celts before the first century CE. In 950, the weir system in today's castle garden was constructed by the Count of Comburg-Rothenburg. In 1070, the counts of Comburg-Rothenburg, who also owned the village of Gebsattel, built Rothenburg castle on the mountain top high above the River Tauber. The counts of the Comburg-Rothenburg dynasty died out in 1116 with

5832-632: The city of Rothenburg was founded at the time of the building of Staufer Castle. The center was the marketplace and St. James' Church (in German: the St. Jakob ). The development of the oldest fortification can be seen, the old cellar/old moat and the milk market. Walls and towers were built in the 13th century. Preserved are the “White Tower” and the Markus Tower with the Röder Arch. From 1194 to 1254,

5940-524: The city wall. While buildings within the walled city reflect the city's medieval history, this part of the city is in many ways a normal, modern German town with some concession to the tourist trade. Many stores and hotels catering to tourists are clustered around the Town Hall Square and along several major streets (such as Herrngasse, Schmiedgasse). Also in the town is a Criminal Museum, containing various punishment and torture devices used during

6048-442: The city walls. The constitution of Free and Imperial Cities was republican in form, but in all but the smallest cities, the city government was oligarchic in nature with a governing town council composed of an elite, hereditary patrician class, the so-called town council families ( Ratsverwandte ). They were the most economically significant burgher families who had asserted themselves politically over time. Below them, with

6156-580: The city was temporary, such as wintering noblemen, foreign merchants, princely officials, and so on. Urban conflicts in Free Imperial Cities, which sometimes amounted to class warfare, were not uncommon in the Early Modern Age, particularly in the 17th century (Lübeck, 1598–1669; Schwäbisch Hall, 1601–1604; Frankfurt, 1612–1614; Wezlar, 1612–1615; Erfurt, 1648–1664; Cologne, 1680–1685; Hamburg 1678–1693, 1702–1708). Sometimes, as in

6264-419: The collective term free and imperial cities (German: Freie und Reichsstädte ), briefly worded free imperial city ( Freie Reichsstadt , Latin : urbs imperialis libera ), was used from the 15th century to denote a self-ruling city that had a certain amount of autonomy and was represented in the Imperial Diet . An imperial city held the status of imperial immediacy , and was subordinate only to

6372-441: The country. Unusually, most of the cases were pneumonic rather than bubonic. In June 2018, a child was confirmed to be the first person in Idaho to be infected by bubonic plague in nearly 30 years. A couple died in May 2019, in Mongolia, while hunting marmots . Another two people in the province of Inner Mongolia, China, were treated in November 2019 for the disease. In July 2020, in Bayannur , Inner Mongolia of China,

6480-444: The course of the Middle Ages, cities gained, and sometimes – if rarely – lost, their freedom through the vicissitudes of power politics. Some favored cities gained charters by gift. Others purchased one from a prince in need of funds. Some won it by force of arms during the troubled 13th and 14th centuries and others lost their privileges during the same period by the same way. Some cities became free through

6588-554: The dark discoloration of skin, is another symptom. Occasionally, swollen lymph nodes, known as " buboes ", may break open. The three types of plague are the result of the route of infection: bubonic plague, septicemic plague , and pneumonic plague . Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals . It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague-infected animal. Mammals such as rabbits , hares , and some cat species are susceptible to bubonic plague, and typically die upon contraction. In

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6696-473: The death of the last count, Count Heinrich. Emperor Heinrich V instead appointed his nephew Konrad von Hohenstaufen as the successor to the Comburg-Rothenburg properties. In 1142, Konrad von Hohenstaufen , who became King Konrad III (1138–52) traded a part of the monastery of Neumünster in Würzburg above the village Detwang and built the Stauffer-Castle Rothenburg on this cheaper land. He held court there and appointed officials to act as caretakers. In 1170,

6804-512: The death of tissue. Y. pestis bacilli can resist phagocytosis and even reproduce inside phagocytes and kill them. As the disease progresses, the lymph nodes can hemorrhage and become swollen and necrotic . Bubonic plague can progress to lethal septicemic plague in some cases. The plague is also known to spread to the lungs and become the disease known as the pneumonic plague . Symptoms appear two to seven days after getting bitten and they include: The best-known symptom of bubonic plague

6912-437: The decay or decomposition of the skin while the person is still alive. Additional symptoms include extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, spleen inflammation, lenticulae (black dots scattered throughout the body), delirium, coma , organ failure, and death. Organ failure is a result of the bacteria infecting organs through the bloodstream. Other forms of the disease include septicemic plague and pneumonic plague , in which

7020-454: The diminutive Free Imperial City of Isny was the equal of the Margraviate of Brandenburg . Having probably learned from experience that there was not much to gain from active, and costly, participation in the Imperial Diet's proceedings due to the lack of empathy of the princes, the cities made little use of their representation in that body. By about 1700, almost all the cities with the exception of Nuremberg, Ulm and Regensburg, where by then

7128-415: The duties of administration and justice; some prominent examples are Colmar , Haguenau , and Mulhouse in Alsace or Memmingen and Ravensburg in upper Swabia . The Free Cities ( Freie Städte ; Urbes liberae ) were those, such as Basel , Augsburg , Cologne or Strasbourg , that were initially subjected to a prince-bishop and, likewise, progressively gained independence from that lord. In

7236-402: The département of Bouches-de-l'Elbe , and Bremen the Bouches-du-Weser . When the German Confederation was established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen, and Frankfurt were once again made Free Cities, this time enjoying total sovereignty as all the members of the loose Confederation. Frankfurt was annexed by Prussia in consequence of the part it took in

7344-411: The eastern half of the town, had to be repaired or rebuilt after being bombed in World War II (with most outer walls still standing and used for the rebuild houses). Many of the rebuilt facades can now be distinguished from the surviving medieval structures as being plainer, reconstruction aiming not to replicate exactly what stood before, only to rebuild in the same style as the surviving buildings so that

7452-411: The gut of infected fleas, and this results in the flea regurgitating ingested blood, which is now infected, into the bite site of a rodent or human host. Once established, the bacteria rapidly spread to the lymph nodes of the host and multiply. The fleas that transmit the disease only directly infect humans when the rat population in the area is wiped out from a mass infection. Furthermore, in areas with

7560-444: The imperial civil and military tax-schedule used for more than a century to assess the contributions of all the Imperial Estates in case of a war formally declared by the Imperial Diet. The military and monetary contribution of each city is indicated in parentheses. For instance Cologne (30-322-600) means that Cologne had to provide 30 horsemen, 322 footsoldiers and 600 gulden. These numbers are equivalent to one simplum . If need be,

7668-434: The late 15th century, many cities included both "Free" and "Imperial" in their name. Like the other Imperial Estates, they could wage war, make peace, and control their own trade, and they permitted little interference from outside. In the later Middle Ages, a number of Free Cities formed City Leagues ( Städtebünde ), such as the Hanseatic League or the Alsatian Décapole , to promote and defend their interests. In

7776-533: The latter's description was imprecise and also expressed doubts of its relation to the disease, and thus the bacterium is today only named after Yersin. The scale of death and social upheaval associated with plague outbreaks has made the topic prominent in many historical and fictional accounts since the disease was first recognized. The Black Death in particular is described and referenced in numerous contemporary sources , some of which, including works by Chaucer , Boccaccio , and Petrarch , are considered part of

7884-539: The look of the town in the Japanese manga and anime series A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (2001). Rothenburg's famous street Kobolzeller Steige and Spitalgasse is depicted on the cover of two Blackmore's Night albums, 1999's Under a Violet Moon and their 2006 album Winter Carols . It is often thought to have inspired the town center of Mêlée Island in the 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island , but creator Ron Gilbert has claimed

7992-575: The mass mortality rate cheapened life and thus increased warfare, crime, popular revolt, waves of flagellants , and persecution. The Black Death originated in Central Asia and spread from Italy and then throughout other European countries. Arab historians Ibn Al-Wardni and Almaqrizi believed the Black Death originated in Mongolia. Chinese records also show a huge outbreak in Mongolia in the early 1330s. In 2022, researchers presented evidence that

8100-433: The mission. When stopped by a German soldier, Private Lichey, who spoke fluent German and served as the group's translator, held up a white flag and explained, “We are representatives of our division commander. We bring you his offer to spare the city of Rothenburg from shelling and bombing if you agree not to defend it. We have been given three hours to get this message to you. If we haven’t returned to our lines by 1800 hours,

8208-547: The need was devised to compensate Prussia for territorial losses under the Greater Hamburg Act , and Lübeck was annexed to Prussia in 1937. In the Federal Republic of Germany which was established after the war, Bremen and Hamburg, but not Lübeck, became constituent states , a status which they retain to the present day. Berlin , which had never been a Free City in its history, received the status of

8316-429: The new buildings would still fit into the overall aesthetic of the town. Any surviving walls of bombed-out buildings were kept in their reconstructed facades as much as possible. In the case of more significant or iconic structures, such as the town hall, whose roof was destroyed, and parts of the town wall, restoration to their original state was done as accurately as possible, and they now appear exactly as they did before

8424-550: The origin of the plague and how it traveled through the continent. Mitochondrial DNA of modern rats in Western Europe indicated that these rats came from two different areas, one being Africa and the other unclear. The research regarding this pandemic has greatly increased with technology. Through archaeo-molecular investigation, researchers have discovered the DNA of plague bacillus in the dental core of those that fell ill to

8532-406: The plague as an allegory raising contemporary moral or spiritual questions. Some of the earliest instances of biological warfare were said to have been products of the plague, as armies of the 14th century were recorded catapulting diseased corpses over the walls of towns and villages to spread the pestilence. This was done by Jani Beg when he attacked the city of Kaffa in 1343. Later, plague

8640-615: The plague originated near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan . The Mongols had cut the trade route (the Silk Road ) between China and Europe, which halted the spread of the Black Death from eastern Russia to Western Europe. The European epidemic may have begun with the siege of Caffa , an attack that Mongols launched on the Italian merchants' last trading station in the region, Caffa , in the Crimea . In late 1346, plague broke out among

8748-712: The plague was responsible for the Neolithic decline . The first recorded epidemic affected the Sasanian Empire and their arch-rivals, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and was named the Plague of Justinian (541–549 AD) after emperor Justinian I , who was infected but survived through extensive treatment. The pandemic resulted in the deaths of an estimated 25 million (6th century outbreak) to 50 million people (two centuries of recurrence). The historian Procopius wrote, in Volume II of History of

8856-538: The plague. Analysis of teeth of the deceased allows researchers to further understand both the demographics and mortuary patterns of the disease. For example, in 2013 in England, archeologists uncovered a burial mound to reveal 17 bodies, mainly children, who had died of the Bubonic plague. They analyzed these burial remains using radiocarbon dating to determine they were from the 1530s, and dental core analysis revealed

8964-565: The possibility that they would have the casting vote in case of a tie between the Electors and the Princes, it was decided that these should decide first and consult the cities afterward. Despite this somewhat unequal status of the cities in the functioning of the Imperial Diet, their full admittance to that federal institution was crucial in clarifying their hitherto uncertain status and in legitimizing their permanent existence as full-fledged Imperial Estates. Constitutionally, if in no other way,

9072-515: The presence of Yersinia pestis. Other evidence for rats that are currently still being researched consists of gnaw marks on bones, predator pellets and rat remains that were preserved in situ . This research allows individuals to trace early rat remains to track the path traveled and in turn connect the impact of the Bubonic Plague to specific breeds of rats. Burial sites, known as plague pits, offer archaeologists an opportunity to study

9180-684: The representatives of the Staufer dynasty governed the area around Rothenburg. Around this time, the Order of St. John and other orders were founded near St. James' Church and a Dominican nunnery (1258). From 1241 to 1242, the Staufer Imperial tax statistics recorded the names of the Jews in Rothenburg. Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch of Rothenburg (died 1293, buried 1307 in Worms) had a great reputation as

9288-406: The resemblance is a coincidence. The video game Team Fortress 2 features a map titled "Rottenburg", a play on the original's namesake along with visually similar architecture. The southern part of the marketplace is prominently featured in the video game Gabriel Knight 2 depicting the fictional town of Rittersberg. The WWII-era first-person shooter Medal of Honor: Allied Assault , from

9396-481: The rest of Europe as a result of people fleeing from one area to another. Rats migrated with humans, traveling among grain bags, clothing, ships, wagons, and grain husks. Continued research indicates that black rats , those that primarily transmitted the disease, prefer grain as a primary meal. Due to this, the major bulk grain fleets that transported major city's food shipments from Africa and Alexandria to heavily populated areas, and were then unloaded by hand, played

9504-514: The risk of death is around 10%. Globally between 2010 and 2015 there were 3,248 documented cases, which resulted in 584 deaths. The countries with the greatest number of cases are the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Madagascar , and Peru . The plague is considered the likely cause of the Black Death that swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century and killed an estimated 50 million people, including about 25% to 60% of

9612-424: The same small city. Bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis . One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever , headaches , and vomiting , as well as swollen and painful lymph nodes occurring in the area closest to where the bacteria entered the skin. Acral necrosis ,

9720-721: The southwest, than in the North and the East where the larger and more powerful territories, such as Brandenburg and Saxony, were located, which were more prone to absorb smaller, weaker states. In the 16th and 17th century, a number of Imperial Cities were separated from the Empire due to external territorial change. Henry II of France seized the Imperial Cities connected to the Three Bishoprics of Metz , Verdun and Toul . Louis XIV seized many cities based on claims produced by his Chambers of Reunion . That way, Strasbourg and

9828-580: The status of Free Imperial Cities, and some of those did so only for a few decades. The Imperial military tax register ( Reichsmatrikel ) of 1521 listed eighty-five such cities, and this figure had fallen to 65 by the time of the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. From the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 to 1803, their number oscillated at around 50. Unlike the Free Imperial Cities, the second category of towns and cities, now called "territorial cities", were subject to an ecclesiastical or lay lord, and while many of them enjoyed self-government to varying degrees, this

9936-561: The ten cities of the Décapole were annexed. When the Old Swiss Confederacy gained its formal independence from the Empire in 1648, it had been de facto independent since 1499, the independence of the Imperial Cities of Basel , Bern , Lucerne , St. Gallen , Schaffhausen , Solothurn , and Zürich was formally recognized. With the rise of Revolutionary France in Europe, this trend accelerated enormously. After 1795,

10044-432: The town has been a part of Bavaria. The famous German landscape painter Eugen Bracht visited Rothenburg in 1877; although he stayed only two days, he was clearly impressed. Some years later, especially artists of Romanticism , such as Hans Thoma and Carl Spitzweg , visited Rothenburg, too, followed by the first tourists. Laws were created to prevent major changes to the town. In 1884 Friedrich Hessing built up till 1903

10152-482: The town of Rothenburg. The other is the Roedertor tower at the east end of the city and is open daily for visitors to climb. It is almost 61 meters (200 feet) tall. At the top of the tower, an admission fee of 2 euros is charged to enter the room with a scenic view of almost the entire town. The room also contains manuscripts providing the visitor with historical information about the construction and relevant history of

10260-541: The town will be bombed and shelled to the ground.” The local military commander Major Thömmes gave up the town, ignoring the order of Hitler for all towns to fight to the end and thereby saving it from total destruction by artillery. American troops of the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division occupied the town on April 17, 1945, and in November 1948, McCloy was named an honorary citizen ( German : Ehrenbürger ) of Rothenburg. Around 32% of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, mainly in

10368-649: The void created by the extinction of dominant families, like the Swabian Hohenstaufen . Some voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of a territorial ruler and therefore lost their independence. A few, like Protestant Donauwörth , which in 1607 was annexed to the Catholic Duchy of Bavaria , were stripped by the Emperor of their status as a Free City – for genuine or trumped-up reasons. This rarely happened after

10476-433: The wall. Because incendiary bombs were used most outer walls still stood after the attack and were used to rebuild the newer eastern part of the old town. Around 265 houses were rebuilt. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of War , John J. McCloy , knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg, so he ordered U.S. Army General Jacob L. Devers not to use artillery in taking Rothenburg. Battalion commander Frank Burke ,

10584-460: The war. Donations for the rebuilding works in Rothenburg were received from all over the world, and rebuilt parts of the walls feature commemorative bricks with donor names. The older western section from which the medieval town originated and contains most of the town's historic monuments, did not suffer from the bombing. Thus, most of the buildings in the west and the south of Rothenburg still exist today in their original medieval or prewar state. It

10692-606: The western United States developed plague, including 2 cases in Yosemite National Park . These US cases usually occur in rural northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada. In November 2017, the Madagascar Ministry of Health reported an outbreak to the WHO (World Health Organization) with more cases and deaths than any recent outbreak in

10800-688: The world in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century via shipping routes. The plague infected people in Chinatown in San Francisco from 1900 to 1904, and in the nearby locales of Oakland and the East Bay again from 1907 to 1909. During the former outbreak, in 1902, authorities made permanent the Chinese Exclusion Act , a law originally signed into existence by President Chester A. Arthur in 1882. The Act

10908-451: Was a precarious privilege which might be curtailed or abolished according to the will of the lord. Reflecting the complex constitutional set-up of the Holy Roman Empire, a third category, composed of semi-autonomous cities that belonged to neither of those two types, is distinguished by some historians. These were cities whose size and economic strength was sufficient to sustain a substantial independence from surrounding territorial lords for

11016-500: Was hailed as "the most German of German towns". In October 1938, Rothenburg expelled its Jewish citizens, much to the approval of Nazis and their supporters across Germany. In March 1945, during World War II , German soldiers were stationed in Rothenburg to defend it. On March 31, bombs were dropped over Rothenburg by 16 planes, killing 37 people and destroying around 275 houses (around 32% of all houses), six public buildings and damaging nine watchtowers and over 2,000 feet (610 m) of

11124-429: Was local and not transferable to another city. The burghers were usually the lowest social group to have political power and privilege within the Holy Roman Empire. Below them was the disenfranchised urban population, maybe half of the total in many cities, the so-called "residents" ( Beisassen ) or "guests": smaller artisans, craftsmen, street venders, day laborers, servants and the poor, and those whose residence in

11232-571: Was put to deadly halt when, in the Late Middle Ages , Europe experienced the deadliest disease outbreak in history. They called it the Great Dying or The Great Pestilence, later coined The Black Death. Lasting in potency for roughly six years, 1346–1352, the Black Death claimed one-third of the European human population, with mortality rates as high as 70%–80%. Some historians believe that society subsequently became more violent as

11340-513: Was slower than that of the secular and ecclesiastical princes. In the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities were promoted by the emperor to the status of Imperial Cities ( Reichsstädte ; Urbes imperiales ), essentially for fiscal reasons. Those cities, which had been founded by the German kings and emperors in the 10th through 13th centuries and had initially been administered by royal/imperial stewards ( Vögte ), gradually gained independence as their city magistrates assumed

11448-576: Was supposed to last for 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 with the Geary Act , then followed by the 1902 decision. The last major outbreak in the United States occurred in Los Angeles in 1924, though the disease is still present in wild rodents and can be passed to humans who come in contact with them. According to the World Health Organization , the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. In 1994,

11556-402: Was the most effective flea species for transmission. The flea is parasitic on house and field rats and seeks out other prey when its rodent host dies. Rats were an amplifying factor to bubonic plague due to their common association with humans as well as the nature of their blood. The rat's blood allows the rat to withstand a major concentration of the plague. The bacteria form aggregates in

11664-969: Was used during the Second Sino-Japanese War as a bacteriological weapon by the Imperial Japanese Army . These weapons were provided by Shirō Ishii 's units and used in experiments on humans before being used in the field. For example, in 1940, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service bombed Ningbo with fleas carrying the bubonic plague. During the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials , the accused, such as Major General Kiyoshi Kawashima, testified that, in 1941, 40 members of Unit 731 air-dropped plague -contaminated fleas on Changde . These operations caused epidemic plague outbreaks. Substantial research has been done regarding

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