37 pages • 1 hour read
The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town
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Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
The 1520s were notoriously tumultuous years in Europe. They marked the beginning of the Habsburg-Valois wars between Spain and France in 1525; the sacking of Rome on May 6, 1527 by “mutinous Spanish and German soldiers” (127), as well as religious conflict between Catholics and Lutherans (including the rise of competing Protestant sects like the Anabaptists), characterized the era. This was the violent backdrop to Anna’s own pressing legal and familial conflicts.
Anna’s father refused to acknowledge her 1526 marriage to Hans von Leuzenbrunn until 1528, when he suddenly offered to make a deal with the couple regarding Anna’s maternal inheritance. With some exceptions, German law was strict regarding the maintenance of a child’s rightful inheritance upon the death of a parent, and it was not unreasonable for the Leuzenbrunns to expect Anna’s full maternal inheritance, especially given Anna’s marriage and her father’s remarriage to Elisabeth Krauss. Furthermore, a prior agreement between Hermann Büschler and his late wife regarding the “disposition of maternal and joint marital property by either surviving spouse” seemed to favor Anna’s position (131). However, the maternal inheritance Anna would finally receive was a mere 397 gulden instead of the expected 850. Still, the Leuzenbrunns signed this agreement, which favored Hermann Büschler and Anna’s brother, Philip.
Anna’s father often favored Philip with gifts and made the mistake of providing his son with a wedding gift—a manor—that “was uncontestably joint marital property and had possibly been brought into the marriage by Anna’s mother as part of her dowry” and should rightfully have been split between the children (135). The Leuzenbrunns protested this to Hall’s city council, which concluded that Büschler did violate his 1495 marriage contract in giving the Lindenau manor to Philip. Practically speaking, apart from the Leuzenbrunns being awarded their legal fees, nothing much changed: Philip and his wife were permitted to remain in the manor despite not technically being the full owners.
Chapter 4 Analysis
Hermann Büschler greatly favored his son and neglected his daughter Anna, especially when it came to important family business like the agreement for Anna’s maternal inheritance. Ozment’s narrative leaves little doubt that this document was drafted cynically and selfishly by Anna’s father: “[F]or what was for him a very manageable sum of money, he had settled the matter of Anna’s maternal inheritance and apparently silenced her for the remainder of his life” (134). The author suggests that Anna and her husband’s decision to sign this unfavorable agreement is indicative of Anna’s tendency “to grab what the moment offers and not to ponder what the future holds” (134), although it is worth reflecting on whether Anna had also become understandably jaded toward a family that seemed intent on swindling her out of her rightful fortune.
The issue of Anna’s inheritance raises a question that Ozment will later consider explicitly—namely, whether Anna’s difficulties were largely the product of a patriarchal society. The fact that her father favored his son, particularly in the distribution of property, lends credence to this idea. On the other hand, it is notable that the contested inheritance came from Anna’s mother, who herself had a contractual agreement with Hermann regarding the disposal of their individual and joint holdings. This supports Ozment’s later claim that 16th-century German women were not as powerless as a modern reader might assume.
Nevertheless, Anna’s successes in court were rare and small, and even these successes can seem like a slap in the face. For example, Anna’s complaint to Hall’s city council regarding the Lindenau manor was successful; the council agreed that Hermann should not have given this to Philip as per the agreement governing the Büschler children’s maternal inheritance. However, the practical result was that Philip and his wife remained in the manor despite Anna’s success on paper. By Chapter 4, the author has established that Anna was fighting an uphill and losing battle every time she entered the arena with her family and with Hall, rendering her tenacity in pursuing justice for herself even more impressive.
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