Germanic Languages & Literatures

Private Life in the Public Sphere in Early Modern Freiburg. Regina Smith, Grand Valley State University The quaint old cities of Germany offer a charming picture, often leading us to project an idealized image of life in earlier times. However, what we imagine as snug and cozy was in fact usually crowded, with a house often being occupied by more than one family. There were servants, apprentices, and hoarders, and sometimes even soldiers who were quartered in private homes. This crowding, along with the tightly knit social network of the neighborhood, led to much that we now consider part of private life being conducted in the public sphere, often literally on the street. Since there was no police force to maintain the peace, conflict could--and often did--escalate into violence, especially tinder the influence of alcohol. This paper will examine the issues arising between neighbors in the early modern city, with examples taken from the Criminalia files in the Municipal Archive of Freiburg im Breisgau from 1600 to 1750. These documents show bow closely neighbors monitored one another, and record details of behavior such as theft, drunkenness, discord, physical violence, and extramarital sex, as well as the consequences of these actions, and give insight into some of ("he behaviors and the values of the city's inhabitants.