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Eisenach is the sixth largest city in Thuringia and is located in
the west of Thuringia. It is one of the so-called Luther cities. The
Mittelstadt has been an independent city since 1998 and is the
center of western Thuringia and the adjacent north-eastern Hessian
areas. In spatial planning, the city assumes the position of a
medium-sized center with partial functions of a regional center and
is assigned to the planning region of Southwest Thuringia. Eisenach
is located on the Hörsel on the northern edge of the Thuringian
Forest.
Eisenach is known for the Wartburg above the city,
which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the seat of the
Landgraves of Thuringia in the Middle Ages. There Martin Luther
translated the New Testament from Greek into German in the autumn of
1521. In 1817 the Wartburg Festival took place there, one of the
most important events of Vormärz. Eisenach has been a university
town since February 2017, unofficially the town is nicknamed
Wartburgstadt.
The composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in
Eisenach in 1685.
Industrialization began in Eisenach in the
second half of the 19th century. In 1896, for example, the Eisenach
vehicle factory was founded, which belonged to BMW from 1928 and
later built the Wartburg as the Eisenach automobile factory. The
tradition of automobile construction was continued after 1990 by
Adam Opel AG. The factories of the automotive industry such as Opel
and Bosch employ over 4,000 people today, which makes Eisenach an
industrial center in Thuringia.
The oldest traces of settlement go back around 5500 years. Traces
of the band ceramists were found at the Eisenach brickworks west of
Mühlhäuser Chaussee. They lived in rectangular post houses. Further
archaeological finds from the area of the former clay pits
indicate that arable farming and livestock were also practiced here.
In the 2nd millennium BC Celts settled the Eisenach area.
End
of the 1st millennium BC The Germanic Hermundurs settled in the
region, their and the Celtic settlements were on the rivers near
Hörschel, Stregda, Stockhausen and Sättelstädt. The Thuringian
Museum in Eisenach contains the artifacts from these excavations.
Until 531 the settlement area belonged to the Kingdom of
Thuringia. In older research it was assumed that the Thuringians
("Toringi") appearing in the sources in late antiquity were partly
derived from groups of the Hermunduren, but this is now denied.
After the Thuringian Empire was broken up by the Franks, it is said
to have been Frankish settlers who settled on the banks of the
Hörsel near the Petersberg in the 8th century. This settlement is
considered to be the origin of today's city of Eisenach.
According to legend, Ludwig the Springer had the Wartburg built in
1067. At that time, the Ludowingians, from whom the count was
descended, tried to consolidate and expand their territorial power
by building castles. In 1080 the Wartburg was first mentioned in a
document by the Saxon chronicler Bruno von Merseburg. The name
Eisenach first appeared in a written source in 1150 when a knight
Berthold de Isenacha was about to be buried.
From the civitas
to the main residence of the Landgraves of Thuringia (until the
middle of the 13th century)
Eisenach was first mentioned in a
document in the 1180s as a landgrave's civitas near an already
existing village on Petersberg. The origins of the city of Eisenach
can be traced back to three (customs) separate market settlements:
the Saturday market (today Karlsplatz), the Wednesday market (on
Frauenplan) and the Monday market on today's market square. The
city's location at the crossroads of long-distance trade routes
enabled the rapid development of trade and commerce, which were
protected by the Eisenach city wall, which was built in the second
half of the 12th century. The Nikolaitor, one of the oldest city
gates in Thuringia, is reminiscent of these fortifications.
In addition to the right to build the city fortifications, Eisenach
was given the (limited) administrative right, the right to hold
markets and collect taxes, a city coat of arms and the right to mint
as characteristics of the city's development. The parallel and
right-angled alleys, the placement of the churches and the layout of
the craftsmen's quarters point to a planned construction of the
city.
At the end of the 12th century, the Wartburg became the
main residence of the Landgraves of Thuringia. Eisenach occupied a
central position within the Ludowingian dominion, it was the link
between the Hessian and Thuringian areas. The court of Landgrave
Hermann I of Thuringia was considered the center of minstrel singing
and poetry in the empire. In 1206 the legendary Singers' War is said
to have taken place on the Wartburg.
From 1211 Elisabeth of
Thuringia lived as the wife of Landgrave Ludwig IV on the Wartburg.
She appeared in Eisenach as a benefactor and, among other things,
founded a hospital in which she devoted herself to the poor, sick
and lepers. After the death of Ludwig IV, Elisabeth left the
Wartburg in 1228 and was taken over by Pope Gregory IX in 1235.
canonized.
Ludwig's successor Heinrich Raspe donated the
preacher's monastery in Eisenach in her honor. In 1246 Heinrich
Raspe confirmed the city of Eisenach's rights and freedoms. In 1247
he died in the Wartburg and was buried in Eisenach.
War of
Succession, Wettin rule, town charter (mid-13th century to late 14th
century)
With Heinrich's death, the Ludowinger dynasty became
extinct, leading to the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession between
the grandson of Hermann I, the Meissen margrave Heinrich the
Illustrious, to whom Heinrich Raspe had promised the contingent loan
in the event of his death in 1243, and Sophie von Brabant, a
daughter of Ludwig IV. Led. After the end of the war (1264) Eisenach
fell to the Wettin Heinrich the illustrious. As a direct consequence
of this war, the areas that have since been known as the
Landgraviate of Hesse and other parts of the rulership were lost.