Paul Schreckenbach

The King of Rothenburg Paul Schreckenbach

The novel "The King of Rothenburg" appeared in 1910. The main character of the story is Heinrich Toppler, a man whom historians compared with the uncrowned kings of cities-republics of the Italian Renaissance. With him, a small settlement Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber turned into one of the wealthiest and most influential cities of the German Empire with the status of an imperial city. An active expansionist policy of Rothenburg was hampered primarily through internal struggles among old noble families. The ancient clans ruled the city and refused the rising merchants and craftsmen the participation in political power. Toppler saw that the economic and social transformation process was unstoppable and wanted to integrate the members of professional guilds into Rothenburg political life. The novel describes the conflict of the free imperial city Rothenburg under the leadership of burgomaster Heinrich Toppler with the burggrave of Nuremberg, Friedrich von Hohenzollern. Hohenzollern intended to bend the city to his influence, while Toppler wanted to keep Rothenburg as an independent imperial city. This conflict dramatically changed the fate of both Rothenburg and Heinrich Toppler himself.