ABSTRACT
If historians could hear the proverbial “voices of the past,” in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, an imperial city in Middle Franconia, during the late fall of 1394 and winter of 1395, these voices would be arguing about whether Hans Wern was a heretic or not. The opening salvo of the inquisition occurred when Heinrich Angermeier arrived in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in early November of 1394 and accused Hans Wern of being “a leader and founder of all heretics. However, just like in the case of the inquisition, the trial of Hans Wern provides a unique glimpse into the processes that instrumentalized Waldensianism and its persecution in urban conflicts. The inquisition in Rothenburg is an example of a less direct form of urban competition. The case studies of Augsburg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber demonstrate the instrumentalization of heresy in ecclesiastical, political, and social conflicts between the cities and within their walls.
