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The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town Paperback – February 27, 1997

by Steven Ozment (Author)

26 customer reviews

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In an era when women were supposed to be disciplined and obedient, Anna proved to be neither. Defying 16th-century social mores, she was the frequent subject of gossip because of her immodest dress and flirtatious behavior. When her wealthy father discovered that she was having secret, simultaneous affairs with a young nobleman and a cavalryman, he turned her out of the house in rage, but when she sued him for financial support, he had her captured, returned home and chained to a table as punishment. Anna eventually escaped and continued her suit against her father, her siblings and her home town in a bitter legal battle that was to last 30 years and end only upon her death.

Drawn from her surviving love letters and court records, The Burgermeister's Daughter is a fascinating examination of the politics of sexuality, gender and family in the 16th century, and a powerful testament to the courage and tenacity of a woman who defied the inequalities of this distant age.

The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town

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Product Details

Paperback: 227 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1st Perennial ed edition (February 27, 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060977213
ISBN-13: 978-0060977214
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #184 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Europe > Germany
- #552 in Books > History > Europe > Germany
- #703 in Books > History > World > Women in History

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Customer Reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 star		50%
4 star		27%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		8%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

Love, Religion, Sex, Greed, and Germans--Can't Be Beat!!

By Daniel A. Stone on August 29, 2006

Format: Paperback

There are few stretches of the imagination by which Anna Büschler can be called typical of her time and place. First, she was a member of the embryonic bürger urban middle class in a society that was overwhelmingly rural and peasant. Secondly, she had the audacity consistently, and vocally, to defy authority. And finally, but most importantly by the standards that early modern historians, there is actually a fairly large record of what she did and what historian Steven Ozment argues was the consuming passion of her life: undoing the wrong done to her by her father disinheriting her in 1527. Through Ozment's interweaving of the social, political, and legal minefield which Anna was forced to navigate in her attempt to redress the wrong done to her by her father--an extremely interesting man in his own write--after he found a cache of love letters she both wrote and received. The reader is also given a bird's eye view into the workings of a fairly typical German town during the renaissance, Swabian Hall, and how its residents felt about the operation of the legal system in her regards. This is micro-history at its best.

Anna Büschler should have been able to enjoy as comfortable a life as a middle class woman was able to have by sixteenth century standards by the time she was thirty years old. Instead, she found herself locked in her father's home, perpetually chained to a table leg. The chain of events that led her to this unhappy situation begins with interpretations of her past behavior.Read more ›

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

Excellent source for sixteenth-century Germany

By Danielle Apodaca on October 26, 2003

Format: Paperback

Steven Ozment creates a book that is rich in research but also in storytelling. Ozment tells the story of Anna Buschler, the burgermeister of Hall's daughter and the scandal that erupted in this small sixteenth-century town. Ozment painstakingly recreates the small German town that Anna grew up in, we are introduced to her story through personal letters and court documents. His goal isn't to show that Anna was innocent of the crimes that were brought against her, but to show that the actions of her family and the courts were quite severe. Throughout the book we begin to understand the role of women, in particular daughters in sixteenth-century Germany.
Ozment relies on the personal letters of Anna, Daniel and Erasmus and he also looks at the court documents. He expertly tells the story of times and of the sources he had which is sadly not too much. But his use of his sources and the history of the period, Ozment creates a book that engrosses the reader into Anna's life and that of a daughter in sixteenth-century Germany. However, Ozment's sources are his greatest weakness. Since he has so few resources, there lies his limitations. Ozment is only able to tell the story that he is presented with and speculates on what he does not have. For example, in Chapter 3, Ozment brings forth the accusation of incest between Anna and he father. Ozment shows a quote out of the court documents from Anna saying that her father "abused her maidenly modesty" (121). With this quote, he takes the information to a new level. He does not really state that the quote could have been said to gain sympathy, but rather takes it that Anna's father could have molested her. Ozment wants to show Anna in a heroic light that he will stop at nothing to show her in nothing but a good perspective.Read more ›

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

A Superb Study of a Sixteenth-century ... Scandal

By K Scheffler on December 16, 2003

Format: Paperback

The Burgermeister's Daughter is a fascinating and highly readable study of a ... scandal that errupted in the German city of Schwabish Hall during the early years of the Reformation. The central figure, Anne Buschler, the daughter of a former Burgermeister and long-time city councilman, was a girl who liked to test the limits and would often have tongues wagging over her--for that day and age, at least--wild behaviour. It came to the point where she was having intimate relations with two guys, Erasmus of Limpurg and Daniel Treutwein. When this was discovered by her father, he disinherited her; but instead of allowing herself to be cast adrift in this manner, she fought back and thus ensued a protracted legal battle against her father, and, after his death, her siblings. In the end, we are presented with an extra-ordinary glimpse into the lives of (upper class) Germans during this era, German culture and society, the status of women, and the intricacies of the German legal system. It's a rare treat to find a book that is so meticulously researched but so readable. Highly recommended.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Excellent source for 16th century Germany

By Danielle Apodaca on October 25, 2003

Format: Hardcover

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

A very interesting look into the minds of the late middle ages in...

I was surprised at the legal system that had been established at this time in Germany and also how much legal control the father had over his daughter. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Percy Dovetonsils

very good

Published 5 months ago by ge_nyc

Five Stars

Great book for anyone wanting to know more about this region of Germany.

Published 7 months ago by Bettina A. Sullivan

A Remarkable History of Germany and its law with a hardly sympathetic...

One of the things I found interesting about this book were some of the blurbs plugging it. Particularly Elle magazine trumpeting what a great stand in feminism Anna was taking... Read more

Published 18 months ago by D. Matlack

Sins of a father

I love the book and the very intriguing story. It may be true that the daughter was unlady like and promiscuous in her behaviour especially during that period when the goodness of... Read more

Published 19 months ago by peter ceesay

The Girl Who Took On City Hall

That pun had to be used in the title of at least one review!
The whole book is about a girl/woman who ends up taking on the City of Hall's council. Read more

Published on March 26, 2013 by Bror Erickson

No comment

I purchased this book for my son for college and had to return it unused as the teacher changed the text at the last minute.

Published on October 31, 2011 by Anastasia Beaverhausen

Interesting Look at a Real Life Drama in Old Germany

This is a book by Steven Ozment.

We had a power failure recently, and I had to find something to do where there was power. Read more

Published on December 28, 2009 by C. Richard

Intriguing Read

This book was as interesting as my professor said. It was hard to put it down at night. Steven Ozment does a phenomenal job of interweaving history, politics, religion, and actual... Read more

Published on May 3, 2008 by S. Johnson

History Education

My son is a history major at college and needed this book for class. The price was affordable and a book he will have for many years to use in his teaching career.

Published on February 23, 2008 by Anne