Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg stands on a plateau above the Tauber, its walls and towers enclosing a Franconian town that grew beside a royal castle. King Rudolf of Habsburg granted it the privileges of a Free Imperial City in 1274. Fairs, religious houses and the Church of Saint James helped it prosper, while its council governed a substantial surrounding territory. An earthquake destroyed the old castle in 1356.

During the Thirty Years' War, the Protestant city resisted Count Tilly's army but was taken in 1631. The occupation impoverished Rothenburg, and plague killed many more inhabitants in 1634. Its independence lasted until 1803, when the city became part of Bavaria. The towers and walls of the old town recall the centuries in which its citizens governed themselves under the Empire.