Bernhard Schöfferlin‹s ‹Römische Historie‹ (Roman History) (1505) is the first description of early Roman history in German which was compiled using predominantly ancient sources. Planned and written in the circle of the court of Württemberg under Eberhard the Bearded, it shaped the literary image of Rome at that time (Hans Sachs, Jakob Ayrer u.a.). Based on a text analysis of a selection of passages (kingship, class struggles etc), the work studies the nature of Schöfferlin‹s historiography and puts it in the context of the efforts influenced by humanism to write history.