In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the free imperial city of Nuremberg assumed great economic importance through the production of metal goods and trade in metals, textiles and spices. Nuremberg proudly displayed the wealth it had amassed: not only was the splendour of the city’s civic buildings and ceremonies unsurpassed, but also that of both its Gothic parish churches, St Lorenz and St Sebald. In each parish, a member of the city council was appointed as trustee and business administrator overseeing the finances that the city provided to support and furnish the parishes and their edifices. The parish churches also reflected the self-assurance of the city musically, through their festive liturgies. To this end both churches sponsored well-known schools, the task of which was to train singers for the liturgy. Nuremberg was part of the diocese of Bamberg and had to take its lead from the