Landsberg is a town in the
Saalekreis
Saalekreis is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The district seat is Merseburg. Its area is . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts Kyffhäuserkreis (Thuringia), Mansfeld-Südharz, Salzlandkreis, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Nor ...
in the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* '' Our ...
of
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
,
Germany
Geography
The town is located between the cities of
Halle, about in the southwest,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as we ...
, about in the southeast, and
Bitterfeld-Wolfen
Bitterfeld-Wolfen () is a town in the district Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated in south-eastern Saxony-Anhalt, west of the river Mulde, in an area that is dominated by heavy industry and lignite mining. The town was form ...
, about in the north. Located in the
Leipzig Bay
The Leipzig BayDickinson (1964), p. 29.[North German Plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Bal ...]
, Landsberg lies within the larger Leipzig-Halle agglomeration in the
Central German Metropolitan Region
The Central German Metropolitan Region (german: Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland) is one of the officially established metropolitan regions in Germany. It is centered on the major cities of Leipzig and Halle, extending over Central German parts o ...
.
The municipal area immediately borders the
independent city
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province).
Historical precursors
In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
of Halle in the southwest and the
Nordsachsen
Nordsachsen ("North Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany.
History
The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of August 2008.
On 10 December 200 ...
district of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
in the southeast. After several incorporations in recent years, it currently comprises 11 localities (''Ortschaften''):
[Hauptsatzung der Stadt Landsberg]
January 2020.
*
Braschwitz
*
Hohenthurm
*Landsberg
*
Niemberg
*
Oppin
Oppin is a village and a former municipality in the district Saalekreis, in Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower ...
*
Peißen
*Queis
*Reußen
*
Schwerz
*Sietzsch
*Spickendorf
Known far beyond Landsberg is the ''Felsenbad'' ("Cliff Bath"), a swimming pool complex with diving platforms, a stretch of competition swimming lanes, and a vast shallow pool where non-swimmers may bathe. Furthermore, the town is the namesake of the well known – in Germany – ''Landsberger Gemenge'' (roughly "Landsberg Batch"), a winter
catch crop
In agriculture, a catch crop is a fast-growing crop that is grown between successive plantings of a main crop.
For example, radishes that mature from seed in 25–30 days can be grown between rows of most vegetables, and harvested long before th ...
made out of
crimson clover, Italian
ryegrass
''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses in the bluegrass subfamily (Pooideae). It is often called ryegrass, but this term is sometimes used to refer to grasses in other genera.
They are characterized by bunch-like growth habits. ''Lolium'' i ...
and fodder
vetch
''Vicia'' is a genus of over 240 species of flowering plants that are part of the legume family (Fabaceae), and which are commonly known as vetches. Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. Some other ...
, which is used as livestock fodder or
silage
Silage () is a type of fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of acidification. It can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants (cud-chewing animals). The fermentation and storage pr ...
.
Landsberg station is a stop on the
Berlin–Halle railway
The Berlin–Halle railway, sometimes called the Anhalt railway (German: ''Anhalter Bahn''), is a twin-track, electrified main line found in the German city and state of Berlin, and the states of Brandenburg and Sachsen-Anhalt. The railway was or ...
,
Halle–Cottbus railway, and
Magdeburg-Leipzig railway lines.
History
The oldest known trace of early settlements in what is now Landsberg dates from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
. It is first documented as ''civitas holm'' in a 961 deed issued by King
Otto I of Germany
Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Hen ...
, then located in the
Slavic lands beyond the southeastern borders of the
Duchy of Saxony
The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the ...
along the
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, ...
River.
Landsberg Castle from the 12th century onwards was the seat of the
Margraves of Landsberg. Held by the Saxon noble
House of Wettin
The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of Germany, German monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of ...
, it was rebuilt when Margrave
Conrad of Meissen ceded the
March of Lusatia
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast ''Marca Geronis''. R ...
with Landsberg to his son
Theodoric I
Theodoric I ( got, Þiudarīks; la, Theodericus; 390 or 393 – 20 or 24 June 451) was the King of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila (the Hun) at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, wher ...
in 1156. A loyal follower of the
Hohenstaufen
The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
, Theoderic accompanied him on his
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional It ...
campaign of 1176/77 against the cities of the
Lombard League and witnessed the peace negotiations leading to the
Treaty of Venice
The Treaty or Peace of Venice, 1177, was a peace treaty between the papacy and its allies, the north Italian city-states of the Lombard League, and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily also took part in negotiations and ...
. Back in
Germany, he had a Staufian
double chapel erected on the Landsberg castle hill. Built in a
Romanesque style up on a cliff and visible even far from the town, it is one of Landsberg's landmarks up to today.
When the Wettin margrave
Henry III of Meissen
Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious (''Heinrich der Erlauchte'') (c. 1215 – 15 February 1288) from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia (as Henry IV) from 1221 until his death; from 1242 also Landgrave ...
about 1258 re-established the Margraviate of Landsberg for his second son
Theodoric
Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths.
Overview
The name ...
, Landsberg Castle had already lost its status as the margravial residence to
Weißenfels
Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle.
History
Perhaps the fi ...
. Upon the death of Theoderic's son
Frederick Tuta
Frederick Tuta (1269 – 16 August 1291), a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Landsberg from 1285 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1288 until his death. He also served as regent of the Margraviate of Meissen.
The origin and meaning ...
in 1291, Landsberg fell to the
Ascanian
The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.
The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...
margrave
Otto IV of Brandenburg. During decades of feuds between the Wettin and Ascanian dynasties the castle decayed and today only traces of wall remain.
The settlement at the foot of the castle arose around the St Nicholas parish church dating from the 13th century. In 1579, the citizens of Landsberg were granted
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
by the
Saxon electors, though on condition not to erect city fortifications. Severely damaged during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
, the Landsberg double chapel about 1658/62 was restored at the behest of the Wettin duke
Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg.
In 2019, two people were killed and two others were injured in a
terrorist attack
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
in the city of
Halle. Two of the injuries occurred in the city of Landsberg.
Coat of arms
The town's
coat of arms, called "Landsberg
Pales
In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. Regarded as male by some sources and female by others, ''Pales'' can be either singular or plural in Latin, and refers at least once to a pair of deities.
Pales' fes ...
" (''Landsberger Pfähle'') according to heraldic
blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visu ...
, is first known to have appeared in the late 12th century, and the margraves of the Wettin dynasty, local rulers since the 10th century, used it as their arms.
Heraldrywiki
/ref> The blue Landsberg Pales appear on the coat of arms of numerous towns and cities in Central Germany, such as Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany ...
, Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth lar ...
(in black), and Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as we ...
.
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Towns in Saxony-Anhalt
Saalekreis