GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN: SOLDIER, ENTREPRENEUR, RACONTEUR by Bradley M. Fansher A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History Thesis Committee: Dr. Suzanne Sutherland, Chair Dr. Molly Taylor-Poleskey Middle Tennessee State University August 2020 ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of the life and times of Götz von Berlichingen (1480-1562), a German nobleman known for his iron fist and his legendary feuds. It argues that three identities defined Götz: a soldier, an entrepreneur, and a raconteur. The different layers of Götz’s identity emerged in response to the challenges in his life that sprang from the changes of the sixteenth century. These changes included the growth of the state, the decline of the nobility, the divisiveness of the Reformation, and the advent of a world view based on measurement. Despite some costly missteps, Götz responded well to new circumstances, so that by the end of his life he was more prosperous than many of his noble peers. Through a close reading of Götz’s autobiography, a social network analysis, and a comparative spatial study, the thesis elucidates the means of and the mentality behind Götz’s success. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 Historiography ................................................................................................................. 5 Sources, Methods, Structure ......................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER I: SOLDIER, 1480-1505 ............................................................................. 19 Upbringing and Early Education ................................................................................... 19 The Diet of Worms ........................................................................................................ 21 The Burgundy Campaign .............................................................................................. 24 The Swiss War .............................................................................................................. 27 First Feud Experience with Hans von Thalacker .......................................................... 30 The Schott-Nuremberg Feud ......................................................................................... 33 The Affalterbach Dispute .............................................................................................. 36 Second Feud Experience with Hans Thalacker ............................................................. 39 The Landshut War of Succession .................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER II: ENTREPRENEUR, 1506-1518 ............................................................ 46 The Waldstrom and Meuterer Feuds ............................................................................. 46 The Feud with Cologne ................................................................................................. 48 The Feud with Nuremberg ............................................................................................ 54 The Feud with Mainz .................................................................................................... 61 The Hornberg ................................................................................................................ 67 CHAPTER III: RACONTEUR, 1519-1562 .................................................................. 69 The Feud with Konrad Schott ....................................................................................... 69 Duke Ulrich of Württemberg ........................................................................................ 72 Capture at Reutlingen .................................................................................................... 75 Imprisonment at Heilbronn ........................................................................................... 77 The Peasants’ War ......................................................................................................... 81 Imprisonment at Augsburg and House Arrest ............................................................... 86 In the Service of the Emperor ....................................................................................... 88 The Autobiography ....................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER IV: THE SOCIAL NETWORK OF GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN .. 93 Process ........................................................................................................................... 93 iii Analyzing Götz’s Social Network................................................................................. 97 Patrons, Clients, and State Building ............................................................................ 105 CHAPTER V: FROM PEOPLE TO PLACES .......................................................... 108 Mapping the Autobiography ....................................................................................... 108 Sebastian von Rotenhan .............................................................................................. 110 The First Map of Franconia ......................................................................................... 113 Ptolemy’s Geography and the Logic of the Coordinate Grid ..................................... 117 The Spatial Consciousness of Götz von Berlichingen ................................................ 120 The Production of Space ............................................................................................. 125 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 129 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 131 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 136 APPENDIX A: VISUALIZATIONS OF GÖTZ’S SOCIAL NETWORK ................ 137 APPENDIX B: TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS IN GÖTZ’S LIFE ..................... 142 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Significant Individuals Network...................................................................... 137 Figure 2. Kin Network. ................................................................................................... 138 Figure 3. Titled Nobility Network.. ................................................................................ 139 Figure 4. Patron Network ................................................................................................ 140 Figure 5. Feud with Konrad Schott Network .................................................................. 141 Figure 6. Map of Places in the Autobiography ............................................................... 108 Figure 7. Map of Most Mentioned Places in the Autobiography ................................... 109 Figure 8. The First Map of Franconia ............................................................................. 115 Figure 9. Geographic Scope of the Feud with Mainz.. ................................................... 121 v 1 INTRODUCTION In 1731, Adam Jonathan Felßecker, a publisher in Nuremberg who operated under the pseudonym Veronus Franck von Steigerwald, printed the first edition of the autobiography of Götz von Berlichingen (1480-1562), a sixteenth-century German knight known for his iron fist and legendary feuds.1 The memoir failed to generate much interest at the time of its publication despite the enthusiasm of its editor, Georg Tobias Pistorius, who had brought the memoir to Felßecker’s attention after stumbling across one of the few manuscript copies of the autobiography. Forty years later, Götz became the most famous knight of the sixteenth century when a young playwright by the name of Johann Wolfgang Goethe used the memoir as the inspiration for his first successful drama, Götz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand. Goethe’s Götz was a proto-nationalist German hero who died with freedom on his lips.2 This characterization could not have been more different from that of Johannes Müllner, author of the Annals of the Imperial City of Nuremberg, who described Götz as a robber and a bandit.3 1 On Götz von Berlichingen, see Helgard Ulmschneider, Götz von Berlichingen: Ein adeliges Leben der deutschen Renaissance (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1974); Henry J. Cohn, "Götz von Berlichingen and the Art of Military Autobiography," in War, Literature and the Arts in Sixteenth-Century Europe, ed. J.R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989), 22-40; Volker Press, "Götz Von Berlichingen (ca. 1480-1562) - vom 'Raubritter' zum Reichsritter," Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 40 (1981): 305-326; Frank Göttmann, "Götz Von Berlichingen - überlebter Strauchritter oder moderner Raubunternehmer?," Jahrbuch für Fränkische Landesforschung 46 (1986): 83-98. Older literature with good information about Götz’s includes Johann Kamann, Die Fehde des Götz von Berlichingen mit der Reichsstadt Nürnberg und dem Hochstifte Bamberg, 1512-1514: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der öffentlichen Zustände Frankens nach dem ewigen Landfrieden und zur Characteristik des Ritters mit der eisernen Hand (Nuremberg: Verlag John. Leonh. Schrag, 1893); Wilhelm Nestle, “Götz von Berlichingen,” Württembergische