lly
contributed very little to genuine morality: the theory of the
veneration of women and the practice of unrestrained lust were
absolutely opposed. The history of prostitution during this period is
divided into two chapters: one treats of the women who remain stationary
in their cities; the other of the migratory women who travel to fairs,
church councils, tournaments, imperial diets, coronations. Scherr gives
some statistics of the high prices paid for lust; he mentions the gain
by one woman of eight hundred gilders on such an excursion, a sum which
at that time represented a fortune. The armies, too, were accompanied by
hosts of women who, with the other baggage, were under the control of
the general provost (_Hurenweibel_). This stage of corruption, however,
belongs more immediately to the abominations of the Thirty Years' War.

The settled prostitutes lived in public houses (_Frauenhduser_) of
which, in large cities, there were several, usually under communal
administration. We read that entertainment in these houses was then part
of the hospitality offered to honored guests, just as at present the
privileges of our clubs are extended as a courtesy. The houses were
built and maintained avowedly for "a better protection of womanly and
virgin honor" of the burgher wives and daughters. Emperor Sigismund and
his suite were entertained without expense in the bawdy houses of Bern
and Ulm, in 1413 and 1434 respectively, as is proved by historical
evidence. Such houses, under the directorship of a landlord, called
"ruffian," were the property of the communities, nay, they sometimes
belonged to the "regalia" of secular or spiritual princes. The inmates
must be strangers and unmarried. Married men, clerics, and Jews were to
be excluded, but this was only a paper law. According to the spirit of
accurate definition prevalent at the time, everything was strictly
regulated: payment, food for the inmates, etc. The houses were closed on
Sundays and holidays and on the eves before these festivals. The inmates
were treated harshly in some cities, were under the surveillance of the
hangman, and when dead they were buried in the potter's field; in other
cities they were privileged; in Leipzig they had even the freedom of the
city to pass yearly in solemn procession at the beginning of the fasting
period. A certain professional or guild pride existed among them; they
rigidly persecuted the unlicensed, unprivileged prostitutes. Some cit