Freiman's Missive to the populace
Tenth Edition
Fall Missive
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Unto my brothers and sisters in the Legion of Shadows come greetings from freiman the minstrel Greeting brethren, I am sorry I havee not been able to report in lately, but I had an entirely understandable disagreement with the elector of Nuremberg. He, impressed with my great skills of satire and performance, insisted that I spend a great deal of time visiting the lower floors of his castle. The lower floors are the section in which he keeps those guests he wishes to keep close to him, as it were. I protested again and again that I had pressing duties to my own liege, the duke, but he was so enchanted with my performances that he instructed his guards to make ever more strident demands that I stay. It took me weeks to scratch the mortar out from around those bars. While there, I did manage to gather some intelligence. Neurnberg makes a considerable amount of money from the production of wool. As all of you undoubtedly know, wool is big money. Only the nearby town of Rothenburg, on the Tauber River, rivals them locally in the production of quality wool. The Elector of Neurnberg also makes a considerable amount of gold taxing the caravans that arrive via the THREE trade routes that run past the city. The city also provide both the goods and services that merchants require weeks journey from their homes and wives. They are famous for it. Nuremberg's bread and butter, however, comes from supplying the weapons required to guard the caravans, and the trained men (and some women) who wield them. The term is "Neurnberg Plate". The waffenschmits of Neurnberg are particularly good at zweihander swords, and a particular form of halberd with a short haft, and (instead of the usual spike) a sabre blade extending from the top of the axe head. This blade is easily three feet long and sharpened along the length of the curved cutting edge. The weapon has a head that is considerably heavier than a standard halberd head, and I expected the weapon to be very slow to and unwieldy. much to my surprise, the guards kept the hafts of the weapons close to their bodies, sweepin those wicked sabre blades around in tight, nasty little arcs. I later learned that these weapons (which the Neurnberger claim to have invented) are called "Sabre Halberds" or "Bavarian War Sickles". This confused me, as Neurnberg is part of the Region of Franconia, not Bavaria. The locals feel very strongly about this. they even have been known to throw tankards, dinner wear, and even knives at unsuspecting minstrels who start their shows with "Hello, Bavaria!" I did have a small chance to observe the more civilized sections of the Electors Palace. There is a lovely romanesque chapel, called the triple chapel. The place has three floors from which the worshipers watch the services. The lowest is for the servants of low class who work in the residence. The second is for those servants and soldiers of the lesser nobility and burghers. The third level is for the elector, his wife, his three lovely daughters, and their invited guests. I was delighted to note the face of Jesus, carved into the ceiling, looked stern and judgmental when viewed from the lower two levels. From the third level, it appears that Jesus is bowing. There is also one other thing I would like to relate. There is a little piece of engineering that, despite myself, impressed me. In the elector's palace is a well, carved from the solid bedrock of the mountain, which is so deep, that a minstrel dropped into it takes five full seconds to hit the water at the bottom. Luckily, the sides of the well are rough, and easily climbed by one with a minimum of training. From here I journey south hoping to cross the Danube in the roman built city of Regensburg, about four days ride to the south of Neurnberg. Regensburg has the only bridge across the Danube, so I hope to find the people more accepting and cosmopolitan.
until then I remain, |
