Every bend in the river reveals another castle.  Perhaps there are too many.  Every petty noble who can haul a few stones has built a castle and declared a toll for passage.  Merchants pay because they have no choice.  The Rhine is the main commercial artery for the region.  Bronze cannons aim at their ships if they refuse.

 

The real center of the Renaissance may be across the alps in Italy, but the Rhineland has a few achievements of its own.  Johannes Gutenberg printed his bible in Mainz not long ago.  The bishop there established a university just three years ago.  Not everyone in town is happy to live under direct church administration.  Some still alive remember when Mainz was a free city with its own democratic government.  The new bishop is powerful: one of a handful of electors who choose the Holy Roman Emperor.

 

A little north of Mainz, the village of Bingen is home to a famous convent.  Founded three centuries ago by Hildegard, a poet, mystic, and composer, the place remains a retreat for high born ladies whose families either can't afford a dowry or who wish to retreat from the world in widowhood.

 

East of Mainz on the river Main is Frankfurt, a major commercial center.  Another important city Cologne, farther downriver on the Rhine.  A few ruins remind the Cologne residents of their Roman past.

 

Our story begins in Koblenz, a town on the verge of cityhood midway between Mainz and Cologne.