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

by Ozment, Steven E.

• ISBN13: 9780060977214
• ISBN10: 0060977213
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
One The Story	1	(34)
Two The Affairs	35	(68)
Three On the Run	103	(22)
Four Half a Loaf	125	(18)
Five Siblings	143	(24)
Six Witnesses	167	(18)
Seven The Moral	185	(10)
Notes	195	(26)
Appendix: Biographical/Genealogical Essay	221	(3)
Acknowledgments	224	(1)
Index	225	(3)
About the Author	228