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Wartburg Castle
The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German, the site of the Wartburg festival of 1817 and the supposed setting for the possibly legendary ''Sängerkrieg''. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle. Wartburg is the most-visited tourist attraction in Thuringia after Weimar. Although the castle today still contains substantial original structures from the 12th through 15th centuries, much of the interior dates back only to the 19th century. In 1999, Wartburg Castle was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its quintessential medieval architecture and its historical and religious significance. Etymology The name of the castle is probably d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eisenach
Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situated near the former Inner German border. A major attraction is Wartburg castle, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. Eisenach was an early capital of Thuringia in the 12th and 13th centuries. St.Elizabeth lived at the court of the Ludowingians here between 1211 and 1228. Later, Martin Luther came to Eisenach and translated the Bible into German. In 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was born here. During the early modern period, Eisenach was a residence of the Ernestine Wettins and was visited by numerous representatives of Weimar classicism like Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In 1869, the SDAP, one of the two precursors of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was founded in Eisenach. Car production is an important industry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Via Regia
The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The Via Regia ran west–east through the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, from the Rhine at Mainz-Kastel (''Elisabethenstraße'') to Frankfurt am Main, trade city and site of the election of the King of the Romans, continuing along Hanau, the ''Kaiserpfalz'' at Gelnhausen, the towns of Steinau an der Straße, Neuhof, Fulda and Eisenach to Erfurt, a centre of woad production. It ran further eastwards to Eckartsberga, crossing the Saale river between Bad Kösen and Naumburg and reached Leipzig, another trade city. The eastern part continued through Upper Lusatia ('' Via Regia Lusatiae Superioris'') along Großenhain, Königsbrück, Kamenz, Bautzen and Görlitz to Wrocław in Silesia with further connection to Kraków in Poland. Medieval p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landgrave
Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are in the same class of ranks as ' ("duke") and above the rank of a ' ("count"). Etymology The English language, English word landgrave is the equivalent of the German language, German ''Landgraf'', a compound (linguistics), compound of the words ''Land'' and ''Graf'' (German: Count). Description The title referred originally to a count who had imperial immediacy, or feudal duty owed directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. His jurisdiction stretched over a sometimes quite considerable territory, which was not subservient to an intermediate power, such as a duke, a bishop or count palatine. The title survived from the times of the Holy Roman Empire (first recorded in Lower Lotharingia from 1086: Henry III, Count of Lou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis I, Landgrave Of Thuringia
Louis I (died January 12, 1140) was ruler of Thuringia from 1123 to 1140. Biography The son of Count Louis the Springer ("the jumper") and his wife Adelheid, he was appointed Landgrave of Thuringia by the Emperor Lothair III in 1131. According to the succession in his line he should have been called Louis III, but he won Thuringia for his family and, in case of territorial expansion, it was customary to start counting from one. Thanks to his marriage with Hedwig of Gudensberg he obtained the rule over an extensive heritage, after the death of his father-in-law, Count Giso IV, which led to the union of Thuringia and Hesse. In 1137 Louis became Landgrave of Hesse-Gudensberg as well. His close relationship to the King Lothair III favoured his rise into the rank of a prince. After the death of Lothair, in 1137, Louis decided to support the Hohenstaufen in their struggle for power in the Reich against the Welf party. The Landgrave died on January 12, 1140 and was buried inside the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salian Dynasty
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the last Ottonian emperor in 1024, the Kingdom of Germany and later the entire Holy Roman Empire passed to Conrad II, a Salian. He was followed by three more Salian rulers: Henry III, Henry IV, and Henry V. They established their monarchy as a major European power. The Salian dynasty developed a permanent administrative system based on a class of public officials answerable to the crown. Origins and name Modern historians suppose that the Salians descended from the Widonids, a prominent noble kindred emerging in the 7th century. Their estates were located at the confluence of rivers Moselle and Saar and they supported the Carolingians. The Widonids' eastward expansion towards the river Rhine started after they founded Hornbach Abbey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor—the second monarch of the Salian dynasty—and Agnes of Poitou. After his father's death on 5 October 1056, Henry was placed under his mother's guardianship. She made grants to German aristocrats to secure their support. Unlike her late husband, she could not control the election of the popes, thus the idea of the "liberty of the Church" strengthened during her rule. Taking advantage of her weakness, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne kidnapped Henry in April 1062. He administered Germany until Henry came of age in 1065. Henry endeavoured to recover the royal estates that had been lost during his minority. He employed low-ranking officials to carry out his new policies, causing discontent in Saxony and Thuri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monasteries and the pope himself. A series of popes in the 11th and 12th centuries undercut the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and other European monarchies, and the controversy led to nearly 50 years of conflict. It began as a power struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV (then King, later Holy Roman Emperor) in 1076. The conflict ended in 1122, when Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V agreed on the Concordat of Worms. The agreement required bishops to swear an oath of fealty to the secular monarch, who held authority "by the lance" but left selection to the church. It affirmed the right of the church to invest bishops with sacred authority, symbolized by a ring and staff. In Germany (but not Italy and Burgundy), the Emperor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruno The Saxon
Bruno the Saxon (Latin: ''Bruno Saxonicus''), also known as Bruno of Merseburg (German: ''Brun von Merseburg'') or Bruno of Magdeburg, was a German chronicler of the eleventh century and author of the ''Historia de Bello Saxonico'' ('History of the Saxon War'). Life Little is known of his life. Bruno was probably from an aristocratic background. He was a Saxon monk belonging to the household of Archbishop Werner of Magdeburg, who was a vigorous opponent of Henry IV and one of the leaders of the Saxon uprising against the emperor. After the death of the archbishop in 1078 at the hands of peasants, Bruno attached himself to Werner of Wolkenburg, Prince-Bishop of Merseburg, to whom, in 1082, he dedicated the work, "De Bello Saxonico" by which he is chiefly known. As its name indicates, it is a record of the struggles of the Saxons with the Emperor Henry IV. The author begins with an account of the youth of Henry and the evil influence exerted over him by Archbishop Adalbert of Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuenburg Castle (Freyburg)
Neuenburg Castle (German: ''Schloss Neuenburg'') is a hilltop castle overlooking Freyburg, a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The castle was built around 1090 by the Thuringian count Ludwig der Springer, securing his territory in the east, as did its sister castle Wartburg in the west. The name Neuenburg derives from German for "new castle". From 1656 until 1746 it was a secondary residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Weissenfels
Saxe-Weissenfels (german: Sachsen-Weißenfels) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire from 1656/7 until 1746 with its residence at Weißenfels. Ruled by a cadet branch of the Albertine House of Wettin, the duchy passed to the Electorate of Saxony u ... ...
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Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia (largest cities, respectively: Würzburg, Nuremberg and Bamberg) in the State of Bavaria are part of the cultural region of Franconia, as are the adjacent Franconian-speaking South Thuringia, south of the Rennsteig ridge (largest city: Suhl), Heilbronn-Franconia (largest city: Schwäbisch Hall) in the state of Baden-Württemberg, and small parts of the state of Hesse. Those parts of the Vogtland lying in the state of Saxony (largest city: Plauen) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves as Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian-speaking parts of Lower Franconia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Of Rieneck
The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria (in the west of Lower Franconia). It bore the same name as its original ruling family, the Counts of Rieneck, from whom the county and its main seat, the town of Rieneck, got their names. History The first documentary evidence of what is now the town of Rieneck surfaces in AD 790. Rieneck gained its name from the Counts of Rieneck, who founded the line of Burgraves of Gerhart at the end of the 11th century from the ''Vogtei'' over the Archbishopric of Mainz between Neustadt am Main, Lohr am Main and Karlstadt am Main. The family line died out with Gerhard I, Count of Rieneck in 1108. His only daughter married Arnold, Count of Loon (1101–39), inheriting Rienecker territory and, around 1156/7 by Louis I, Count of Loon, the family name, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis The Springer
Louis the Springer (german: Ludwig der Springer), sometimes called Louis the Jumper or Louis the Leaper (died 8 May 1123), was a German nobleman and count in Thuringia from 1056 until his death. Little is known about him, although he is mentioned in many legends. He was a prominent opponent of the Salian emperors Henry IV and Henry V during the Investiture Controversy. Life Louis was a son of Louis the Bearded and a member of the Franconian noble Ludowingians dynasty. He was baptized in the parish church in Altenbergen (today part of Leinatal). Around 1080, Louis and his brother Beringe founded the Schönrain Priory. In a document dated 1100, the two brothers are called "of Schauenburg", after a castle which their father had built near Friedrichroda. Louis continued the policy of his father of expanding his influence into the Thuringian Basin by founding castles and monasteries. His marriage to Adelheid of Stade, widow of the Saxon count palatine Frederick III, brought him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
