Dillingen or Dillingen an der Donau (Dillingen at the Danube) is a town in

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

, Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative center of the district of Dillingen. Besides the town of Dillingen proper, the municipality encompasses the villages of Donaualtheim, Fristingen, Hausen, Kicklingen, Schretzheim and Steinheim. Schretzheim is notable for its 6th to 7th century

Alemannic cemetery A grave field is a prehistoric cemetery, typically of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. Grave fields are distinguished from necropoleis by the former's lack of remaining above-ground structures, buildings, or grave markers. Types Grave fields can b ...

, 630 row graves in an area of 100 by 140 metres.

History

The counts of Dillingen ruled from the 10th to the 13th century; in 1258 the territory was turned over to the Prince Bishops of Augsburg. After the Reformation, the prince-bishops of Augsburg moved to the Catholic city of Dillingen and made it one of the centers of the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

. In 1800, during the War of the Second Coalition, the armies of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

, under command of Jean Victor Moreau, fought

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

regulars and Württemberg contingents, under the general command of

Pál Kray Baron Paul Kray of Krajova and Topolya (german: Paul Freiherr Kray von Krajova und Topola; hu, Krajovai és Topolyai báró Kray Pál; 5 February 1735 – 19 January 1804), was a soldier, and general in Habsburg service during the Seven Y ...

. Kray had taken refuge in the fortress at Ulm; Moreau diverted his army to approach Ulm from the east and, after a small group of men captured a foothold on the northern bank of the Danube, his forces were able to move against the fortress on both sides of the river. At this battle, the culmination of the Danube Campaign of 1800, Moreau forced Kray to abandon Ulm and withdraw into eastern Bavaria. A university was established in 1549, but was closed by Napoleon in 1804. The philosophical and theological faculties still existed in the 20th century. In 1971, however, it became a part of the Bavarian Center for the Education and Training of Teachers and Personnel Management (Akademie für Lehrerfortbildung und Personalführung). One of the largest employers in the city is Bosch and Siemens Household Appliances, producer of household appliances. Studienkirche Dillingen (Donau)

Local council

The elections in March 2014 had the following results:

Notable people

* Heinrich Vogtherr (1490-1556), painter * Max Joseph Oertel (1835-1897), university professor and pioneer of medical science Max Oertel

* Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872-1938), Protestant theologian and co-founder of the

Christian Community The Christian Community (german: Die Christengemeinschaft) is an esoteric Christian denomination. It was founded in 1922 in Switzerland by a group of ecumenically oriented, mainly Lutheran theologians and ministers led by liberal theologian Frie ...

* Georg Philipp Wörlen (1886-1954), painter and graphic artist Sebastian Kneipp

* Matthias Klostermayr (1736-1771), leader of a gang of robbers, convicted in Dillingen and strangled, then smashed, beheaded and quartered. * Johann Michael Sailer (1751-1832), a Catholic theologian, professor of ethics and pastoral theology in Dillingen 1821 Domkapitular and 1822 auxiliary bishop with right of succession, in 1829 Bishop of Regensburg *

Christoph von Schmid Christoph von Schmid (15 August 1768 Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria – 3 September 1854 Augsburg) was a writer of children's stories and an educator. His stories were very popular and translated into many languages. His best known work in the English-sp ...

(1768-1854), Catholic theologian * Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897), Catholic priest and hydrotherapist, began in 1848 his studies of theology in Dillingen. *

Heinz Piontek Heinz Piontek (15 November 1925 – 26 October 2003) was a German writer. He was born in Upper Silesia. In 1976, he was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung for his literary oeuvre with the words "ei ...

(1925-2003), writer

Twin towns

Bondeno Bondeno ( Bondenese: ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ferrara in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about north of Bologna and about northwest of Ferrara. The municipality of Bondeno contains the '' frazioni'' (su ...

, Italy * Brand-Erbisdorf, Germany * Naas, Ireland

References

External links