Renaissance Hygiene During the restoration work in the 1990's, wall toilets from the Renaissance were reopened. These are flat (seat) niches which were closed with a small wooden door flush with the wall. These had to remain open during use, as the legs of the user protruded into the room. Drop chutes with the thickness of the walls led from the toilets into the trench of the former water-surrounded castle.
Resistance in Mergentheim The residents of Mergentheim practiced active and passive resistance to the new lords from the House of Württemberg during the secularization on 13 June 1809. When the oath of allegiance was spoken publicly, it is said that no one raised their hand to swear. During the conscription of recruits, the farmers gave the Württemberg soldiers sent to protect the government officials a sound thrashing.
The Duke and the Indians In a gouache that hangs in the "Deutschordensmuseum" (Museum of the Teutonic Order) in Mergentheim, Duke Paul of Württemberg is shown in conversation in the midst of a group of American Indians camping on the ground. The Duke had visited the area around the mouth of the Kansas river during his travels through America in the first half of the 19th century. Here he had contact with the Kansa Indians, who are partially shown in the painting. This very probably also depicts the half-Indian Baptiste Charbonneau, whom Duke Paul had taken to Europe in 1823 and had brought back to his home country six years later.
Poet Looking for a Bride In April 1845 the 40 year old poet Eduard Mörike, who had retired from the profession of pastor in 1843, moved with his sister Klara to Mergentheim and lived there in the house of Lieutenant Colonel von Speeth, who already died in the summer of 1845. A warm friendship developed between the two Mörikes and the daughter of the Speeth family, Margarethe. Seven years later Margarethe and Mörike married and moved (with Klara) to Stuttgart, where the poet took a position as a teacher at the "Katharinenstift" (secondary school).
An M.
Ich sehe dich mit rein bewußtem Willen
-Ach leider oft den Nächsten selbst entgegen-,
Noch sanft durchglüht vom letzten Vatersegen,
Streng deines Tages Pflichtenkreis erfüllen.
Du magst so gerne unbelauscht im stillen,
Was himmlisch blüht und unverwelklich, pflegen
Und, kindlich, um das höchste Wort verlegen,
Den Reichtum deiner tiefen Brust verhüllen
Wer so dich kennet, ja, der glaubt aufs neue,
Daß Wahrheit, Tugend, Lieb und fromme Treue
Noch immer nicht von dieser Erde schieden.
Oft seh ich, wenn du trüb die Stirne senkest,
Den Stern, den du dir gar verloren denkest,
Dich überm Haupt dir stehn, - den selgen Frieden.