Neustadt bei Coburg (also written ''Neustadt b. Coburg'') is a town in the district of Coburg in northern

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated 15 km northeast of

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

, as its name indicates.

Local subdivisions

Neustadt bei Coburg is subdivided into 22 local unites (Ortsteile):

History

The Middle Ages

In the second half of the 12th century, Count Hermann von Wolweswac founded the town of Neustadt with the building of a castle. Governance of the city was left to the Counts of

Andechs Andechs is a municipality in the district of Starnberg in Bavaria in Germany. It is renowned in Germany and beyond for Andechs Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that has brewed beer since 1455. The monastery brewery offers tours to visitors. The 2 ...

, the later Dukes of Meranien. Neustadt is first mentioned in a document from the 16th of June, 1248, describing the "market forum" ("Marktflecken") of Neustadt. In 1316, Neustadt was designated a City, and in 1353, Neustadt came under the care of Coburg, making it a possession of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, 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 the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

, which is remained until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Under Wettin rule, the city acquired the two-tailed, red and black lions which grace its coat of arms. Neustadt lay on a major trade route between

Nürnberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...

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 wel ...

, and in the 14th century, the city received a parish church. By the end of the Middle Ages, the city had a population of roughly 570.

Thirty Years' War

By the time the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

began, Neustadt's population had grown to roughly 1000. When the war began, the leaders of Coburg declared their neutrality. However, because the trade route on which Neustadt lay came to be used as a route of transportation by the various combatants, the city suffered greatly. Still greater damage came in 1636, when a large fire, unrelated to the war, which burnt down over half of the city. In 1839, a second, larger fire destroyed 179 of the city's 226 houses, as well as the city hall and archives, and heavily damaged the church.

End of World War I, decision to join Bavaria

When the

ended in 1918 and the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

was founded, the

Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present- ...

ceased to be a

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

. At first, it formed the Free State of Coburg. This state proved so small as an administrative unit that the decision was made to have the Free State become a part of either

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. A referendum, held in 1919, saw Neustadt (and the rest of the Free State of Coburg) decide, by overwhelming majority, against Thuringia and thus for Bavaria. Neustadt politician and industrialist

Max Oscar Arnold Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

had actively campaigned for union with Bavaria.

Religion

Most residents of Neustadt bei Coburg are members of the

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

(

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

). But there are also communities of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Mayor

The mayor of the town is Frank Rebhan (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

). Frank Rebhan started in office in 1995. The predecessor was Irene Schneider-Böttcher (independent). Rebhan was reelected in 2001, 2007, 2013 and 2020.

References

External links

www.neustadt-bei-coburg.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neustadt Bei Coburg Coburg (district) Saxe-Coburg and Gotha