Steven Ozment’s The Bürgermeister’s Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town, originally published in 1996, is a historical biography of Anna Büschler, a charismatic 16th-century woman from Schwäbisch Hall who famously feuded with her father, siblings, and hometown city council. Anna’s big personality, her affairs, her multiple legal battles, and the injustices imposed upon her by her family and the city caused wild speculation and gossip in the region during her lifetime.

Steven Ozment (1939-2019) was an American historian who specialized in German history and the Protestant Reformation, two subjects that The Bürgermeister’s Daughter explores prominently. Born in Mississippi and raised in Arkansas, Ozment received a doctorate from Harvard in 1967 and taught there from 1990 until his death. His long list of published works includes multiple books on medieval European history, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. His celebrated book Age of Reform, 1250-1550 was nominated for a National Book Award in 1981.

This guide refers to the 1997 paperback edition of the book published by Harper Perennial.

Summary

The book opens with an overview of Anna Büschler’s various feuds and explains that the survival of her various correspondences (including those with her lovers) gives us unparalleled insight into her life and personality. Ozment contextualizes Anna’s story in European history, including the advent of the Protestant Reformation and the rise of the university. The author briefly covers the legendary backstory of Hermann Büschler (Anna’s father), from his famous protest of an elitist taproom in the town of Hall to his long tenure as Hall bürgermeister.

Chapter 2 explores Anna’s love affairs with Erasmus Schenk von Limpurg, a relatively low-ranking royal who nonetheless outranked the Büschlers, and Daniel Treutwein, a rough-and-tumble mercenary. The entire record of Anna’s surviving correspondence with both men is reproduced. The tenor of the two relationships was strikingly different; Erasmus and Anna frequently argued about who should visit whom and about keeping their relationship a secret, while Daniel and Anna spoke more tenderly to each other, with Daniel occasionally asking Anna for financial assistance. Eventually, both men left Anna to fend for herself at a vulnerable time in Anna’s life when her relationship with her father was at a frightening low.

Anna’s troubles crescendo in Chapter 3. Her father kicked her out of his home upon discovering her two affairs and forbade relatives in the surrounding regions to assist his daughter. Anna began what would become a long series of legal battles at the imperial court in Esslingen by petitioning for financial support from her father, which she believed she was entitled to. Hall’s city council demonstrated its arrogance in its initial response to this petition; it ceased investigating once Hermann Büschler declared he was not interested in discussing the matter. He eventually petitioned the Esslingen court separately to legally kidnap Anna and held her prisoner in her home for six months—one of the major traumas Anna would face in her life. She later married Hans von Leuzenbrunn, a gambling addict.

After a period of refusing to acknowledge Anna’s marriage, Hermann reached out to Anna to make a deal regarding her maternal inheritance. Anna and her husband signed an agreement for less than half of what she was technically owed. Hermann exposed his favoritism of his son, Philip, by gifting a manor to Philip that was technically the rightful inheritance of all the Büschler children. Anna and her husband’s protestation of this illicit gifting led to a small legal victory, but not a practical one.

Hermann Büschler and Anna’s husband died in short succession, and Hermann all but wrote Anna out of his last will and testament. Philip and Agatha, Anna’s siblings, agreed to make a settlement with Anna giving her a greater portion of their father’s inheritance. This portion was still less than an equal share, but she agreed. This agreement became the source of more litigation, as Anna claimed she signed the unfair agreement under duress. After ignoring several summonses from Hall’s city council to defend herself against her siblings’ defamation claims, the council ordered her arrest and held her in prison, which she later escaped from.

Anna married Johann von Sporland in 1546 and successfully petitioned the Esslingen court for a grand review of the circumstances surrounding the agreement with her siblings. The court called 39 witnesses to hear testimony regarding Anna’s conduct and motivations. They largely concluded that Anna knew what she was getting into when she signed the agreement, although establishing whether she signed under duress was a more complicated matter. Anna died in 1552 before the legal matter with her siblings was resolved, and her death rendered the issue moot. Ozment derives several lessons from Anna’s story, including a warning about the hard road that awaits people like Anna, who dare to carve a path for themselves that is at odds with the expectations of society.