Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty of Verdun in acquiring the western third of the Carolingian Empire, he was the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith. He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder brothers were adults and had been assigned their own regna, or subkingdoms, by their father; the attempts made by Louis the Pious to assign Charles a subkingdom, first Alemannia and the country between the Meuse and the Pyrenees were unsuccessful. The numerous reconciliations with the rebellious Lothair and Pepin, as well as their brother Louis the German, King of Bavaria, made Charles's share in Aquitaine and Italy only temporary, but his father did not give up and made Charles the heir of the entire land, once Gaul. At a diet in Aachen in 837, Louis the Pious bade. Pepin of Aquitaine died in 838, whereupon Charles at last received that kingdom, which angered Pepin's heirs and the Aquitainian nobles.
The death of the emperor in 840 led to the outbreak of war between his sons. Charles allied himself with his brother Louis the German to resist the pretensions of the new Emperor Lothair I, the two allies defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye on 25 June 841. In the following year, the two brothers confirmed their alliance by the celebrated Oaths of Strasbourg; the war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Verdun in August 843. The settlement gave Charles the Bald the kingdom of the West Franks, which he had been up until governing and which corresponded with what is now France, as far as the Meuse, the Saône, the Rhône, with the addition of the Spanish March as far as the Ebro. Louis received the eastern part of the Carolingian Empire, known as East Francia and as Germany. Lothair retained the Kingdom of Italy, he received the central regions from Flanders through the Rhineland and Burgundy as king of Middle Francia. The first years of Charles's reign, up to the death of Lothair I in 855, were comparatively peaceful.
During these years the three brothers continued the system of "confraternal government", meeting with one another, at Koblenz, at Meerssen, at Attigny. In 858, Louis the German, invited by disaffected nobles eager to oust Charles, invaded the West Frankish kingdom. Charles was so unpopular that he was unable to summon an army, he fled to Burgundy, he was saved only by the support of the bishops, who refused to crown Louis the German king, by the fidelity of the Welfs, who were related to his mother, Judith. In 860, he in his turn tried to seize the kingdom of his nephew, Charles of Provence, but was repulsed. On the death of his nephew Lothair II in 869, Charles tried to seize Lothair's dominions by having himself consecrated as King of Lotharingia at Metz, but he was compelled to open negotiations when Louis found support among Lothair's former vassals. Lotharingia was partitioned between Louis in the resulting treaty. Besides these family disputes, Charles had to struggle against repeated rebellions in Aquitaine and against the Bretons.
Led by their chiefs Nomenoë and Erispoë, who defeated the king at the Battle of Ballon and the Battle of Jengland, the Bretons were successful in obtaining a de facto independence. Charles fought against the Vikings, who devastated the country of the north, the valleys of the Seine and Loire, up to the borders of Aquitaine. At the Vikings' successful siege and sack of Paris in 845 and several times thereafter Charles was forced to purchase their retreat at a heavy price. Charles led various expeditions against the invaders and, by the Edict of Pistres of 864, made the army more mobile by providing for a cavalry element, the predecessor of the French chivalry so famous during the next 600 years. By the same edict, he ordered fortified bridges to be put up at all rivers to block the Viking incursions. Two of these bridges at Paris saved the city during its siege of 885–886. In 875, after the death of the Emperor Louis II, Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, traveled to Italy, receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial insignia in Rome on 29 December.
Louis the German a candidate for the succession of Louis II, revenged himself by invading and devastating Charles' dominions, Charles had to return hastily to West Francia. After the death of Louis the German, Charles in his turn attempted to seize Louis's kingdom, but was decisively beaten at the Battle of Andernach on 8 October 876. In the meantime, John VIII, menaced by the Saracens, was urging Charles to come to his defence in Italy. Charles again crossed the Alps, but this expedition was received with little enthusiasm by the nobles, by his regent in Lombardy and they refused to join his army. At the same time Carloman, son of Louis the German, entered northern Italy. Charles, ill and in great distress, started on his way back to Gaul, but died while crossing the pass of Mont Cenis at Brides-les-Bains, on 6 October 877. According to the Annals of St-Bertin, Charles was hastily buried at the abbey of Nantua, Burgundy because the bearers were unable to withstand the stench of his decaying body.
He was to have been may have been transferred there later. It was recorded that there was a memorial brass there, melted down at the Revolution. Charles was succeeded by Louis. Charles was
Treaty of Meerssen
The Treaty of Mersen or Meerssen, concluded on 8 August 870, was a treaty of partition of the realm of Lothair II, by his uncles Louis the German of East Francia and Charles the Bald of West Francia, the two surviving sons of Emperor Louis I the Pious. The empire of Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, had split in three parts by the 843 Treaty of Verdun: Lothair I, his eldest son, received the Imperial crown and the personal realm of Middle Francia Louis the German, the second born son, received East Francia Charles the Bald, his half-brother, received West Francia, although this was disputed by Pepin II of Aquitaine until he was captured Upon the death of Lothair I in 855, his realm of Middle Francia was partitioned between his sons by the Treaty of Prüm: Louis II of Italy, the eldest son, received the imperial crown and Italy Charles of Provence became King of Provence partitioned by Louis II and Lothair II Lothair II received Austrasia and Upper Burgundy - this realm came to be named Lotharii Regnum East Francia and West Francia remained as before: Louis the German ruled East Francia Charles the Bald ruled West Francia Lothair II ceded the southeastern parts of Upper Burgundy to his brothers, whereas Charles of Provence received the bishoprics of Belley and Tarentaise in 859, Louis II of Italy the bishoprics of Geneva and Sion a year later.
Charles of Provence suffered from epilepsy and died heirless in 863, his kingdom was partitioned between his brothers. Lothair II, his heir, received only the western Lower Burgundian parts which were bordering his western Upper Burgundy, while Louis II received the whole rest of the Kingdom of Provence. In 869 Lothair II died without legitimate children so his heir was his brother, Emperor Louis II of Italy; as Louis was at that time campaigning against the Emirate of Bari, his uncles, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, took his inheritance. Charles had himself crowned in Metz the same year, but was forced by his brother to partition the short-lived Lotharingia, together with the lands Lothair II acquired after the death of Charles of Provence, as they had agreed at Metz in 868, their contract of 870 at Meerssen replaced the 843 Treaty of Verdun, after which the Carolingian Empire was split into three parts, by dividing the northern half of Middle Francia stretching from the Rhone valley to the North Sea, in effect recombining sundered territories of Francia into two larger east and west divisions.
However, at this time large parts of the Frisian coast were under Viking control and therefore only divided on paper. The borderline ran along the rivers Meuse, Moselle and Rhone. In the north, Louis received most of Lothair's Austrasia, with his eastern part including both Aachen and Metz, most of Frisia, but in the south, while Louis received most of Upper Burgundy, left to Lothair, Charles received Lothair's inheritance in Lower Burgundy and a small western part of Upper Burgundy - this opened him the way to Italy. Louis joined the newly acquired parts of central Austrasia to the subkingdom of his son Louis the Younger in eastern Austrasia, while the illegitimate son of Lothair II, was granted the Duchy of Alsace; the arrangement did not endure more than ten years. Upon the death of Louis the German in 876, Charles the Bald, by King of Italy and Emperor, attacked eastern Lotharingia, but was defeated by Louis the Younger in the Battle of Andernach. In turn, after Charles the Bald had died and his successors struggled to consolidate their rule over West Francia, Louis the Younger campaigned in western Lotharingia in 879.
Charles's grandsons were forced to cede the whole Lotharingia to him, sealed by the 880 Treaty of Ribemont, according to which it became part of East Francia. Carolingian dynasty Treaty of Verdun Treaty of Prüm Treaty of Ribemont Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Mersen, Treaty of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press
Slavs
Slavs are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group who speak the various Slavic languages of the larger Balto-Slavic linguistic group. They are native to Eurasia, stretching from Central and Southeastern Europe all the way north and eastwards to Northeast Europe, Northern Asia, Central Asia, as well as in Western Europe and Western Asia. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit the majority of Central and Southeastern Europe. Today, there is a large Slavic diaspora throughout North America in the United States and Canada as a result of immigration. Slavs are the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe. Present-day Slavic people are classified into East Slavs, West Slavs, South Slavs. Slavs can be further grouped by religion. Orthodox Christianity is practiced by the majority of Slavs; the Orthodox Slavs include the Belarusians, Macedonians, Russians, Rusyns and Ukrainians and are defined by Orthodox customs and Cyrillic script, as well as their cultural connection to the Byzantine Empire.
Their second most common religion is Roman Catholicism. The Catholic Slavs include Croats, Kashubs, Poles, Slovaks and Sorbs and are defined by their Latinate influence and heritage and connection to Western Europe. There are substantial Protestant and Lutheran minorities among the West Slavs, such as the historical Bohemian Hussites; the second-largest religion among the Slavs after Christianity is Islam. Muslim Slavs include the Bosniaks, Gorani, Torbeši, other Muslims of the former Yugoslavia. Modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are diverse both genetically and culturally, relations between them – within the individual groups – range from ethnic solidarity to mutual hostility; the oldest mention of the Slavic ethnonym is the 6th century AD Procopius, writing in Byzantine Greek, using various forms such as Sklaboi, Sklabēnoi, Sthlabenoi, or Sklabinoi, while his contemporary Jordanes refers to the Sclaveni in Latin. The oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic, dating from the 9th century, attest the autonym as Slověne.
These forms point back to a Slavic autonym which can be reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural Slověne. The reconstructed autonym *Slověninъ is considered a derivation from slovo denoting "people who speak", i. e. people who understand each other, in contrast to the Slavic word denoting German people, namely *němьcь, meaning "silent, mute people". The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλέος, as in the name Pericles, Latin clueo, English loud. Ancient Roman sources refer to the Early Slavic peoples as Veneti, who dwelled in a region of central Europe east of the Germanic tribe of Suebi, west of the Iranian Sarmatians in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD; the Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni first appear in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Byzantine historiographers under emperor Justinian I, such as Procopius of Caesarea and Theophylact Simocatta describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea, invading the Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire.
Jordanes, in his work Getica, describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae had a single name in the remote past; the name Sporoi derives from Greek σπείρω. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, believe in one god, "the maker of lightning", to whom they made sacrifice, they lived in scattered housing, changed settlement. In war, they were foot soldiers with small shields and battle axes clothed, some entering battle naked with only genitals covered, their language is "barbarous", the two tribes are alike in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither fair or blond, nor indeed do they incline to the dark type, but they are all ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."
Jordanes described the Sclaveni having forests for their cities. Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius who slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars. According to eastern homeland theory, prior to becoming known to the Roman world, Slavic-speaking tribes were part of the many multi-ethnic confederacies
March of Pannonia
The Eastern March or March of Pannonia was a frontier march of the Carolingian Empire, named after the former Roman province of Pannonia. It was erected in the mid-ninth century in the lands of the former Avar Khaganate against the threat of Great Moravia and lasted only as long as the strength of that state, it was referred to in some documents as terminum regni Baioariorum in Oriente or "the end of the kingdom of the Bavarians in the east" and from this is sometimes called the " eastern march," a term more used to refer to the Margraviate of Austria, established in 976 as a sort of late successor state. The East Frankish rulers appointed margraves to govern the March. Charlemagne, temporarily allied with Khan Krum of Bulgaria, from 791 onwards had launched several military camapaigns against the Avars and had established the Avar March on the southeastern frontier of his realm, ruled by his brother-in-law Prefect Gerold of Bavaria; when the Avar Khaganate collapsed in 804, Emperor Charlemagne re-arranged Avaria into: Upper Pannonia, stretching from the Enns River and the Vienna Woods in the north down to the Drava River in the south which became the Balaton Principality, Lower Pannonia, between the Drava and Sava rivers ruled by semi-autonomous Dukes of Pannonia seated at Sisak, as vassals of the Frankish Dukes of Friuli.
The eastern part of the former Khaganate between the Danube and Tisza Rivers was occupied by the Bulgars. In 817 Emperor Louis the Pious granted Bavaria with Avaria to his minor son Louis the German; when the Avars disappeared in the 820s, they were replaced by West Slavs, who settled Pannonia from the state of Great Moravia. From 819 Lower Pannonia was the site of a rebellion led by Duke Ljudevit Posavski against the rule of Duke Cadolah of Friuli and his successor Baldric. By resolution of an 828 Imperial Diet, Baldric of Friuli was deposed and the March of Pannonia was set apart as a frontier march against Moravia within the Frankish regnum of Bavaria; this march called marcha orientalis, corresponded to a frontier along the Danube, from the Traungau and the former Slavic principality of Carantania to Szombathely and the Rába River including the Vienna basin. The Bavarian prefects had to face the rising threat by the Moravian ruler Mojmir I, who pursued separatist policies in the Eastern March.
In turn, King Louis the German had the Slavic Duchy of Lower Pannonia established in 839, ruled by Mojmir's opponent Prince Pribina with his residence at Zalavár on Lake Balaton. By the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the Pannonian march together with Bavaria became part of Louis' kingdom of East Francia. Meanwhile the Moravian threat continued. Two years King Louis ceded the march directly to his son Carloman of Bavaria, who had the fortifications of Herzogenburg and Wilhelmsburg erected along the Traisen River by the Wilhelminer margraves William and Engelschalk I; the castle of Tulln on the Danube is documented in 859. In 871 William and Engelschalk died in battle against the Moravians, whereafter Carloman vested their rival Aribo of Austria with Upper Pannonia; when his father Louis died in 876, Carloman succeeded him as East Frankish king and gave Lower Pannonia to his son Arnulf of Carinthia. From 882, the rule was enfeebled by the Wilhelminer War of Margrave Engelschalk II against the Aribonids, whereafter Prince Svatopluk I of Moravia took the occasion to invade the Pannonian lands.
In 893 Arnulf, East Frankish king since 887, installed Margrave Luitpold. By the 890s, the Pannonian march seems to have disappeared, along with the threat from Great Moravia, during the Hungarian invasions of Europe. Upon the defeat of Margrave Luitpold at the 907 Battle of Pressburg, all East Frankish lands beyond the Enns river were lost; the Pannonian march. Radbod, prefect or margrave of the Eastern March or Pannonia, 833–854 Carloman of Bavaria, from 856 William, until 871, jointly with his brother Engelschalk I, until 871 Aribo, 871–909 Engelschalk II, son of Engelschalk I, in opposition to Aribo until 893 Luitpold, 893–907 Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991. Medieval Lands Project: Nobility of Austria
Carolingian dynasty
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family founded by Charles Martel with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Germanic Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, a Carolingian Pepin the Short was crowned King of the Franks; the Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of Romans in the West in over three centuries. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian empire and decline that would lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire; the Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of Charles Martel, de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death.
The name "Carolingian" or "the family of Charles." Traditional historiography has seen the Carolingian assumption of the Frank kingship as the product of a long rise to power, punctuated by a premature attempt to seize the throne through Childebert the Adopted. This picture, however, is not accepted today. Rather, the coronation of 751 is seen as a product of the aspirations of one man, whose father, dynastic founder Charles Martel, had been a Frankish high court official military commander, of the Roman Catholic Church, always looking for powerful secular protectors and for the extension of its spiritual and temporal influence; the greatest Carolingian monarch was Pepin's son. Charlemagne was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800, his empire, ostensibly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, is referred to historiographically as the Carolingian Empire. The Carolingian rulers did not give up the traditional Frankish practice of dividing inheritances among heirs, though the concept of the indivisibility of the Empire was accepted.
The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons minor kings in the various regions of the Empire, which they would inherit on the death of their father, which Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious both did for their sons. Following the death of the Emperor Louis the Pious in 840, his surviving adult sons, Lothair I and Louis the German, along with their adolescent brother Charles the Bald, fought a three-year civil war ending only in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which divided the empire into three regna while according imperial status and a nominal lordship to Lothair who at 48, was the eldest; the Carolingians differed markedly from the Merovingians in that they disallowed inheritance to illegitimate offspring in an effort to prevent infighting among heirs and assure a limit to the division of the realm. In the late ninth century, the lack of suitable adults among the Carolingians necessitated the rise of Arnulf of Carinthia as the king of East Francia, a bastard child of a legitimate Carolingian king, Carloman of Bavaria, himself a son of the First King of the Eastern division of the Frankish kingdom Louis the German.
It was after Charlemagne's death that the dynasty began to crumble. His kingdom would end up splitting into three, each being ruled over by one of his grandsons. Only the kingdoms of the eastern and western portions survived, would go on to become the countries known today as Germany and France; the Carolingians were displaced in most of the regna of the Empire by 888. They ruled in East Francia until 911 and held the throne of West Francia intermittently until 987. Carolingian cadet branches continued to rule in Vermandois and Lower Lorraine after the last king died in 987, but they never sought thrones of principalities and made peace with the new ruling families. One chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, thus beginning the Capetian dynasty; the dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of Count of Vermandois. His sister Adelaide, the last Carolingian, died in 1122; the Carolingian dynasty has five distinct branches: The Lombard branch, or Vermandois branch, or Herbertians, descended from Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne.
Though he did not outlive his father, his son Bernard was allowed to retain Italy. Bernard rebelled against his uncle Louis the Pious, lost both his kingdom and his life. Deprived of the royal title, the members of this branch settled in France, became counts of Vermandois, Valois and Troyes; the counts of Vermandois perpetuated the Carolingian line until the 12th century. The Counts of Chiny and the lords of Mellier, Neufchâteau and Falkenstein are branches of the Herbertians. With the descendants of the counts of Chiny, there would have been Herbertian Carolingians to the early 14th century; the Lotharingian branch, descended from Emperor Lothair, eldest son of Louis the Pious. At his death Middle Francia was divided between his three surviving sons, into Italy and Lower Burgundy; the sons of Emperor Lothair did not have sons of their own, so Middle Francia was divided between the western and eastern branches of the family in 875. The Aquitainian branch, descended from Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious.
Since he did not outlive his father, his sons were deprived of Aquitaine in favor of his younger brother Charles the Bald. Pepin'
Frankfurt
Frankfurt is a metropolis and the largest city of the German federal state of Hesse, its 746,878 inhabitants make it the fifth-largest city of Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. On the River Main, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring city of Offenbach am Main, its urban area has a population of 2.3 million. The city is at the centre of the larger Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.5 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr Region. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the geographic centre of the EU is about 40 km to the east of Frankfurt's central business district. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area. Frankfurt was a city state, the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries, was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire, as a site of imperial coronations, it has been part of the federal state of Hesse since 1945.
A quarter of the population are foreign nationals, including many expatriates. Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce, education and transportation, it is the site of many European corporate headquarters. Frankfurt Airport is among the world's busiest. Frankfurt is the major financial centre of the European continent, with the headquarters of the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW, several cloud and fintech startups and other institutes. Automotive and research, consulting and creative industries complement the economic base. Frankfurt's DE-CIX is the world's largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the world's largest trade fairs. Major fairs include the Frankfurt Motor Show, the world's largest motor show, the Music Fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest book fair. Frankfurt is home to influential educational institutions, including the Goethe University, the UAS, the FUMPA, graduate schools like the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, Europe's largest English theatre and many museums. Frankfurt's skyline is shaped by some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers; the city is characterised by various green areas and parks, including the central Wallanlagen, the City Forest and two major botanical gardens, the Palmengarten and the University's Botanical Garden. Important is the Frankfurt Zoo. In electronic music, Frankfurt has been a pioneering city since the 1980s, with renowned DJs including Sven Väth, Marc Trauner, Scot Project, Kai Tracid, the clubs Dorian Gray, U60311, Omen and Cocoon. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top tier football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the Löwen Frankfurt ice hockey team, the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, the Frankfurt Marathon and the venue of Ironman Germany. Frankfurt is the largest financial centre in continental Europe, it is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange and several large commercial banks.
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the world's largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market. In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had their registered offices in Frankfurt, including Germany's major banks, notably Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW and Commerzbank, as well as 41 representative offices of international banks. Frankfurt is considered a global city. Among global cities it was ranked 10th by the Global Power City Index 2011 and 11th by the Global City Competitiveness Index 2012. Among financial centres it was ranked 8th by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and 9th by the Global Financial Centres Index 2013, its central location within Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air and road transport hub. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world's busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest rail stations in Europe and the busiest junction operated by Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, with 342 trains a day to domestic and European destinations.
Frankfurter Kreuz, the Autobahn interchange close to the airport, is the most used interchange in the EU, used by 320,000 cars daily. In 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual'Quality of Living' survey of cities around the world. According to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germany's most expensive city and the world's 10th most expensive. Frankfurt has many high-rise buildings in the city centre, forming the Frankfurt skyline, it is one of the few cities in the European Union to have such a skyline and because of it Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, a portmanteau of the local Main River and Manhattan. The other well known and obvious nickname is Bankfurt. Before World War II the city was globally noted for its unique old town with timber-framed buildings, the largest timber-framed old town in Europe; the Römer area was rebuilt and is popular with visitors and for eve
Speyer
Speyer is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, with 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities. Speyer is dominated by a number of churches and the Altpörtel. In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman Emperors and German kings; the city is famous for the 1529 Protestation at Speyer. The first known names were Noviomagus and Civitas Nemetum, after the Teutonic tribe, settled in the area; the name Spira is first recorded in the 7th century, taken from villa Spira, a Frankish settlement situated outside of Civitas Nemetum. In 10 BC, the first Roman military camp is established. In AD 150, the town appears as Noviomagus on the world map of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. In 346, a bishop for the town is mentioned for the first time. 4th century, Civitas Nemetum appears on the Peutinger Map. 5th century, Civitas Nemetum is destroyed. 7th century, the town is re-established, named Spira after a nearby Frankish settlement.
In 1030, emperor Conrad II starts the construction of Speyer Cathedral, today one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In the 11th century, the first city wall is built. In 1076, emperor Henry IV embarks from his favourite town, for Canossa. In 1084, establishment of the first Jewish community in Speyer. In 1096, as Count Emicho's Crusader army rages across the Rhineland slaughtering Jewish communities, Speyer's Bishop John, with the local leader Yekutiel ben Moses, manages to secure the community's members inside the episcopal palace and leads them to stronger fortifications outside the town, it was ruled. In 1294, the bishop loses most of his previous rights, from now on Speyer is a Free Imperial Town of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1349, the Jewish community of Speyer is wiped out. Between 1527 and 1689, Speyer is the seat of the Imperial Chamber Court. In 1526, at the Diet of Speyer interim toleration of Lutheran teaching and worship is decreed. In 1529, at the Diet of Speyer the Lutheran states of the empire protest against the anti-Reformation resolutions.
In 1635, Marshal of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé, together with Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force, conquers Heidelberg and Speyer at the head of the Army of Germany. In 1689, the town is damaged by French troops. Between 1792 and 1814, Speyer is under French jurisdiction after the Battle of Speyer. In 1816, Speyer becomes the seat of administration of the Palatinate and of the government of the Rhine District of Bavaria, remains so until the end of World War II. Between 1883 and 1904, the Memorial Church is built in remembrance of the Protestation of 1529. In 1947, the State Academy of Administrative Science is founded. In 1990, Speyer celebrates its 2000th anniversary. Cathedral Altpörtel – old town gate Gedächtniskirche – memorial church Dreifaltigkeitskirche – trinity church Jewish courtyard – remnants of medieval synagogue and intact mikve Technikmuseum Speyer – transportation museum Historical Museum of the Palatinate Speyer lies on the Schifferstadt-Wörth railway and offers hourly connections to Mannheim and Karlsruhe.
Since 1923 the mayor was a Lord Mayor. Speyer is twinned with: Spalding, United Kingdom, since 1956 Chartres, since 1959 Kursk, since 1989 Ravenna, since 1989 Gniezno, since 1992 Yavne, since 1998 Rusizi, since 1982/2001 Ningde, since October 2013 together with: Worms, since October 2014 Samuel of Speyer, Exeget of Torah and Midrash Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg and philosopher Julian of Speyer, medieval choir master and poet from the Order of the Franciscans Gabriel Biel, scholastic philosopher Dietrich Gresemund, author Egon VIII of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg, Reichsgraf of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg Johann Joachim Becher, German physician, precursor of chemistry and adventurer Moritz Georg Weidmann and bookseller Adolf von Dalberg, Prince of Fulda Simha of Speyer German rabbi and tosafist, he was one of the leading signatories of the Takkanot Shum. Philipp Hieronymus Brinckmann and historical painters as well as copper cutters Johann Martin Bernatz, landscape painter Anselm Feuerbach, German painter Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt, German physician Henry Villard, German-American journalist Hermann von Stengel, Bavarian Administrative Officer Wilhelm Meyer, classical philologist and librarian Karl Heinrich Emil Becker, general of the artillery and defense scientist Hans Purrmann, graphic artist, art writer and collector Hermann Detzner, leader of the German Schutztruppe in German New Guinea Karl-Adolf Hollidt, Army officer and war criminal George Waldbott, German-American physician Jakob Brendel, wrestler Karl Haas, German-American music educator and radio presenter Helmut Bantz, gymnast Alfred Cahn, German musician and composer Edgar E. Stern, clinical social worker and aut
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