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1.	Peace Treaties of Westphalia (October 14/24, 1648)* In 1643, negotiations began on a general peace to end the Thirty Years War. The Peace of Westphalia,....
2.	The Commander of Imperial Jewry – Josel von Rosheim (c. 1480-1554) Josel (Joselin, Yoselmann, Joseph ben Gershon mi-Rosheim) was the Empire’s leading Jewish political figure under emperors ....
3.	A Brave Woman Steals the Royal Crown – Helene Kottannerin (c. 1400-after 1458) Helene Kottannerin (c. 1400-after 1458) composed what is possibly the earliest known autobiographical text written in German by a woman. The daughter of a lesser nobleman, she was probably born in....
4.	A Commune’s Oath of Loyalty – Herbolzheim (Upper Rhine) (16th Century) While villages and small towns normally possessed some rights of self-governance, these were frequently embedded in their relations with their seigneur(s), who might include a noble, a city government,....
5.	A Local Apocalypse – The Sack of Magdeburg (1631) When King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and his army landed on German territory in June 1630, Catholic....
6.	A Nobleman Lives for War, Plunder, and Adventure – Götz von Berlichingen (1480-1562) Götz (= Gottfried) von Berlichingen zu Hornberg (ca. 1480-1562), called “the Knight with the Iron....
7.	A Nobleman Transformed by Education and Travel – Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) Perhaps the most famously atypical Imperial knight of his generation, Ulrich von Hutten attended....
8.	A Rural Commune Organizes its own Affairs – Ingenried (Bavaria) (1549) Most villages in the Empire enjoyed some measure of self-governance. In this document from May 31, 1549, the village mayor, court, and commune of the village of Ingenried, which lay under the authority....
9.	A Skeptic Looks at Witch Hunting – Friedrich von Spee (1631) The early modern idea of witchcraft – injury committed through supernatural powers by someone in alliance with the Devil – was never entirely unchallenged. Johan Wier (also: Johann or Johannes Weyer)....
10.	A Swabian Cobbler-Farmer Survives the Thirty Years War – Hans Heberle (1597-1677) Hans Heberle (1597-1677) had attended school before starting an apprenticeship at the age of fourteen. A cobbler by trade, he worked a small farm a few kilometers north of Ulm. His Zeytregister,....
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