11. We demand the end of internal tolls and tariffs, those imposed by the local lords and the imperial knights whose lands are enclaves within Franconia, saying that if such lords and knights are willing to become citizens of Franconia, they shall have all the rights of other men;
12. We demand standardized weights and measures, so that it is less easy for the clever and cunning to cheat the simple and trusting, that a bushel may everywhere be a bushel and a tun everywhere a tun.
Frankenwinheim, Franconia, February, 1634
"It is safe for Pastor Meyfarth, I think," Old Kaethe said. "At least as safe as anything can be in these latter days. I am glad that Frau Else thought of her. Die alte Neideckerin."
Constantin Ableidinger nodded. He tried to get back to Frankenwinheim on a regular basis. The villagers there were the closest thing he had to friends. He had finally, since his obligations to the ram had become so heavy, sent Matthias to the gymnasium in Coburg. The boy should be safe there. As safe, as Old Kaethe had said, as anyone could be in these latter days. But he missed his son. Since the remarkable episode of the three auditors, he had returned to Frankenwinheim twice.
"At least, in Bamberg, the ram's men can continue to keep an eye on Meyfarth." He tilted back on two legs of his stool and waved his stein at Old Kaethe.
"What do you think?" She poured his beer.
"I would have preferred, if possible, to keep religion out of it altogether. Since I can't, apparently, it's just as well that the religious points are being pushed by a rational man rather than by some visionary on the model of the 1536 Muensterites. Or by an uptimer such as this Herr Thornton. If he were writing this propaganda, as they call it, Fuchs von Bimbach and his followers would rejoice. As it is . . . Well, the radical demands of a century ago seem comparatively conservative in this day and age." He laughed. "Which may represent progress."
Rudolph Vulpius stroked his goatee. "What about von Bimbach? He's the leader of the most intransigent of the knights and little nobles. I think we need to do something about him. What about the request that we have received from this Miss Noelle Murphy through the Hearts and Minds Team? Have you taken my suggestion seriously? That we should contact Judith Neideckerin? It's not the only possibility. I have ties to other people on the estates of various branches of the Fuchs family. Not amicable ties, necessarily, but ties."
The villagers present looked at each other.
Ableidinger, a comparative newcomer to Frankenwinheim, cleared his throat.
"In the days of my grandfather," Vulpius said, "there was a maid serving on their estates here in the Steigerwald. Children for whom the Freiherr of that day provided funds for education. A lease on favorable terms for the man the maid eventually married that set him up as one of the village's most prosperous tenants. An appointment as bailiff. The kind of thing that got a boy sent to school to the point he Latinized his name to Vulpius."
Ableidinger grinned.
"Judith owes us," Old Kaethe insisted, refusing to let irrelevant history distract her from more immediate concerns. "We are the ones who took her out of Bamberg in 1628 and saw to it that she reached Bayreuth safely. Now that Pastor Meyfarth is living in her mother's house in Bamberg . . ."
Her voice trailed off until a new grievance crossed her mind. "Not to mention that Pastor Schaeffer is over in Bimbach's castle serving as a chaplain since he left the village. And is suing to try to force us to continue paying his stipend on the grounds that he did not leave voluntarily . . ." Old Kaethe snorted. "I can't imagine that Judith Neideckerin likes Pastor Schaeffer. He's probably condemning her as a scarlet woman, sermon after sermon."
Ableidinger chewed on his upper lip. "Did von Bimbach force her to become his mistress? Does she hold a grudge against him?"
"He made it plain that if she wanted him to continue providing her with a refuge from Bamberg's witch-hunters, he expected adequate compensation for the risk. Otherwise, if she valued her virtue too highly, she was quite free to return to her parents' house. That was at the height of the burnings."
"She's good looking."
Everyone jumped a little when Vulpius' grandson Tobias threw his opinion into the conversation.
"I've seen her. Hefty, but good looking. Clear skin and strong teeth."
"Bimbach must feed her well enough, then," Old Kaethe said sourly.
Ableidinger's mind wandered. What looked like "hefty" to a skinny teenager whose standard of comparison was Old Kaethe might look . . . well, "voluptuous" to a thickset middle-aged man like himself.