History of the city of Freising

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Town details on the high altar wing from Weihenstephan Monastery (1489): Between the columns you can see the monastery on the left, the town in the middle and the Domberg on the right with the cathedral towers

The history of the city of Freising has been documented by written sources for over 1300 years. As a settlement, the Upper Bavarian large district and university town of Freising can look back on a continuity since the Bronze Age . Founded as an Agilolfingian ducal castle, the “spiritual city” on the Burgberg, which had been developing since the 8th century AD, was one of the four bishops' seats in the old Bavarian region from 739 alongside Regensburg , Passau and Salzburg . At the foot of the Domberg a small bourgeois town developed, but it always remained in the shadow of the bishop, the monasteries and the clergy and later became the residence of the prince-bishop and his bishopric . For many centuries the history of Freising has been that of a “spiritual city”.

When in 1802 the bishopric was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria in the course of secularization , Freising lost its function as the residence of an imperial prince and it took decades to overcome this loss of importance. It was only after the railway was built in 1858 that the school and garrison town was able to develop into a medium-sized town in the 20th century, which had few industrial operations, but to this day, in addition to its function as a district town, primarily had to fulfill the tasks of a school and university town. It has become the so-called "Green Center of Bavaria" and has gained worldwide fame through its brewery training, the Freising-Weihenstephan campus and the science center located there and the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences . The relocation of Munich's major airport in 1992 to Freising and its proximity to the metropolis of Munich had a major impact on recent urban development.

Seal of the Freising Cathedral Chapter from 1327

Freising's map in 1858, the year the Munich-Landshut railway was built, the station can already be seen.

Altstadt and Domberg - special postage stamp 1996 to celebrate 1000 years of market rights for the episcopal residence city

View from Munich Airport to the city four kilometers away

Preferred location of the city

Border area between the gravel plain, their northern fen areas, the meadows of wild raging - in prehistoric times, the city was Isar and the Tertiary hills in the north - until a permanent besiedelbares man-area than in the warm period after the last ice age , the climate and Vegetation changed. The isolated peripheral hills of the hilly country, the Domberg and the Weihenstephaner Berg, were probably always important points of view and at times also fortified hilltop castles from which one could monitor the large plain to the south. From them you can see a large part of the foothills of the Alps , and when the air is clear you can see as far as the high mountains. At least the Munich gravel plain and the moss area on its northern edge could be monitored and controlled from these hilltop castles.

Settlement continuity on Toompea

Asparn Zaya New Stone Age house - the houses in the Freising area probably looked similar

The urban area was roamed by hunters and gatherers in the Paleolithic Age . This can be assumed as there are a few finds from this period in the district. During the global warming and during the receding ice at the end of the Würm Ice Age , people also came to the area of ​​the district and urban area in the era of the Neanderthal and lost stone tools in the process .

Around 6000 BC The Neolithic Revolution began in the area around Freising . The Neolithic way of life of these farmers who settled in villages was characterized by house building, agriculture and cattle breeding ( domestic animals ), stockpiling and the production of vessels made of clay as well as increasingly better and more functional stone tools. During a long development, the existing population of hunters and gatherers was integrated into this society with a completely new way of life.

These groups of arable farmers, who came up the Isar valley from the Danube, first chose the best, easy-to-work loess soil on the edge of the valleys and valleys. Of course, access to drinking water was important for humans and animals. The peripheral areas of the Ampertal and its side valleys were probably settled first. And these locations were retained for long periods of time, although the houses were relocated. Many excavations and finds from different epochs of the ribbon ceramics prove this settlement.

The oldest traces of human settlement in the Freising area were revealed by excavations on the Domberg in 1976, which unearthed ceramics and chert tools . These finds were assigned to the early Neolithic Münchshöfen culture . Further evidence are extensive finds from the early Bronze Age and the Urnfield Age . Until the beginning of the 8th century AD, when the written tradition began, continuous settlement cannot be proven without gaps, but it can probably be assumed throughout and also during the time of the Romans.

Roman road near Freising

Model of a Roman villa, as it probably also existed in the Freising area

A Roman road on the Isar, the so-called "Isar Valley Road ", is known to archaeologists and has been proven in various places by aerial photographs or excavations. She got in Fürholzen, a district of Neufahrn , at the exact spot from the Tertiary hills in the moss belt down where it does the highway today. This moss on the northern edge of the Munich gravel plain is not very deep here, so it was easy to cross here. The Roman road from the 1st century AD ran in a large arc north of Neufahrn and Mintraching in the direction of Achering . On the eastern side of the Isar, the road continued on the flood-free gravel in the direction of Landshut and probably later on the left side of the river in the direction of the Danube , Regensburg and Limes . This traffic route, which connected Augsburg and Freising and continued to the Danube, was renewed in the High Middle Ages because it was of national importance.

The original city name, which means settlement of a Frigis , possibly goes back to the establishment of a place before the Great Migration and is probably of Celtic origin.

From the ducal palace to the ecclesiastical city

Toompea with the two towers looms over the city

During the migration period , the so-called Bavarian tribe developed in the Danube region (Dungau), in the Lower Bavarian heartland between Regensburg and Passau . The joining together of different splinters of the people probably occurred through the central power of the Agilolfing dukes and their followers. These were probably Franconian noblemen, because old Baiern had become part of the domain of the Merovingians and then the Carolingians at an early stage . The capital of the Agilolfingers was, of course, Regensburg , but on the mountain at the northern end of the Munich gravel plain, which was probably already inhabited and which was of strategic importance, a castle for these dukes was built.

Agilolfinger ducal palace

The next evidence of settlement history comes from the early Middle Ages , when the place was a ducal palace under the name Frigisinga in the first Bavarian tribal duchy (from 555 AD). After Duke Theodo II had divided the duchy among his four sons while he was still alive, Freising became an Agilolfingian residence around 715, which included a castle ( castrum ), a residence ( palatium ) and a Chapel of the Virgin. Freising is the only known "city founding" of the Bavarian Agilolfinger and thus the oldest city in Upper Bavaria.

The Marienkirche, the first predecessor of the later cathedral, was already built of stone and designed as a bishop 's church. Duke Theodo had made a pilgrimage to Rome and asked Pope Gregory II to set up bishoprics in Bavaria. This event was recorded in the Liber pontificalis and in 716 led to the papal instruction to found four bishopric seats ( Regensburg , Passau , Salzburg and Freising) in Bavaria. However, this first church organization did not materialize for unknown reasons, although the duke was waiting for a bishop because he hoped he would consolidate his rule.

The Wandering Bishop Korbinian

Depiction of St. Korbinian in the prince's corridor of the residence

Freising city arms on the town hall

In his efforts to give the Duchy of Bavaria an ecclesiastical order, Duke Grimoald (son of Theodo II) sought and found the Franconian traveling bishop Korbinian , who officially came to Freising from Arpajon (south of Paris) in 724 (probably around 715) . In Freising, the bishop found a chapel (St. Stephanus) on the Weihenstephaner Berg, which became a starting point for his work. Korbinian is therefore regarded as the first Freising bishop and the founding saint of the diocese , even if the canonical recognition of the bishopric was not made until 739 by Boniface . To this day, Saint Korbinian is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising . Its special attribute, the bear , which, according to the legend, carried the saint's luggage across the Alps, adorns the Freising city coat of arms.

Duke Grimoald and Korbinian got into a dispute over the marriage of the Duke to Pilitrud, the widow of his brother Theodolt (Duke in Regensburg). Since this was forbidden under church law at the time, Korbinian demanded the dissolution of the marriage. When Duchess Pilitrud then tried to poison Korbinian, the saint fled to Kuens (near Meran ) and did not return to Freising until a few years later. Duke Grimoald had died in the meantime and his nephew Hugibert Herzog in Bavaria. The Hugibertsmünster , built around 725 on the Domberg, goes back to this. From this point on, Freising no longer appeared as a ducal palace, it had become the bishopric and the castle hill became the fortified cathedral hill of the clergy.

Toompea becomes a "spiritual city"

The first page of the Codex Abrogans des Arbeo von Freising

Towards the end of the older Baier tribal duchy , the castle hill and the small town ( Civitas , Oppidum ) that had arisen there passed into ecclesiastical property in 788 and became Toompea, a city of clergy. Freising first developed into a "spiritual city" closed by gates, in which priestly communities and monasteries, libraries, scriptoria and a cathedral school were established. The Freising bishops - mostly of high aristocratic origin - laid the material foundations for their diocese and its permanent security through income from worldly possessions as self-confident lords over their property and as learned clergymen who were consulted as advisers to the East Franconian and later German kings.

The early bishops

A number of bishops from the Bavarian high nobility of the Huosi , but also from elsewhere, created the basis for the territorial possession of the bishopric and Freising's influence in the German Empire. These church people show how important the bishopric Freising was for Bavaria and the empire. Until the 12th century Freising played an important role in the game of the powers of the West.

Bishop Arbeo

In the second half of the 8th century, Bishop Arbeo von Freising (723–784) stands out, who is considered to be the first writer of German origin. He is named as the author of the Codex Abrogans , a Latin-Old High German glossary , the copy of which is kept in St. Gallen and is considered the oldest surviving German book. He is also the founder of the Cathedral Library in Freising and the author of Vita Corbiniani , a biography of the life and work of St. Korbinian , which provides valuable information on early Bavarian history beyond its biographical character.

Bishop Atto

Atto probably came from the high Bavarian nobility of the Huosi . He was abbot of Scharnitz and later of Schlehdorf Abbey . Bavarian Duke Tassilo III. gave him a piece of land in 769 to found the San Candido monastery . Atto worked from there in the Christianization of the pagan Slavs of the Puster Valley . He became Bishop of Freising around 783/784. He built a second Benedictine monastery on the Freising Domberg. In the year 808 he acquired the later dominion of Burgrain from the Fagana Riphwin in exchange .

The Agilolfinger rule in Bavaria also ended during the reign of Attos. And since 798 the diocese has belonged to the newly created Metropolitan Association of Salzburg . On April 20, 798, Pope Leo III. Bishop Arno became archbishop, who became the spiritual head of Bavaria with the suffragan dioceses of Passau , Regensburg , Freising and Säben .

Bishop Hitto

Weihenstephan Monastery with Korbinian Chapel, depiction from 1767

Hitto was the sixth bishop of Freising from 811/12 to 835. Like his predecessors, he came from the high Bavarian nobility of the Huosi . He worked as a deacon at Freising Cathedral from 794 and was often mentioned as a witness in Freising documents. During his tenure, the monk and notary Kozroh created the first Freising book of traditions that goes back to 744. Under Hitto, the Freising scriptorium reached a special climax, for example around 40 codices were created . Over 300 certificates from Hitto's tenure have also been preserved.

Hitto has obviously achieved the desired episcopal supremacy over many previously mostly aristocratic monasteries in the diocese (among others in the case of Schliersee Monastery 817, Schäftlarn Monastery 821 or 828 and Innichen Monastery 822). Around the year 830 he was also the founder of Weihenstephan Monastery .

Bishop Erchanbert

Erchanbert was the nephew of his predecessor Hitto. He probably received his training at the Freising Cathedral Chapter. In 843 he was represented at the Treaty of Verdun . In 844 at the latest he became abbot of the royal abbey of Kempten. Erchanbert is considered a successful sponsor of the Freising diocese and was later venerated as a blessed. He was buried in the Peterskapelle on the Freisinger Domberg. Before its demolition after the secularization, his bones were transferred to the Freising Cathedral.

Bishop Waldo

Waldo had been Bishop of Freising since 883. He is a typical example of the turmoil of the time and the career of a bishop who did not come from Bavaria. The Constance cathedral student subsequently attended the monastery schools in St. Gallen and on the Reichenau and received his training from Archbishop Liutbert of Mainz from 878 to 879 . Waldo was notary from 880 and from 882 to 884 chancellor of King Karl III. In the run-up to Waldo's bishopric elevation, the king interfered for the first time in the occupation of the Freising bishopric. Waldo was also after a long time the first bishop of Freising who did not belong to the large aristocratic clans of the Bavarian region.

After the death of Bishop Arnold von Freising on September 22, 883, he, who still only held the spiritual rank of subdeacon , quickly received all ordinations up to and including bishop. Waldo was also considered one of the most politically influential bishops in what was then Eastern France under Arnulf von Kärnten . From 889 to 892 he was also abbot of the Kempten monastery . Waldo took part in the Synod of Mainz in 888 as well as in the Synod of Tribur in May 895.

Presumably he was also a participant in the Battle of Hungary near Linz in 900. In 903 the Freising Cathedral burned down , but the damage was repaired by the year 906, not least due to the income from the salt tariff of the Föhring he had acquired . In the spring of 906 Waldo went to a Diet in Tribur. For the last time, Waldo can be traced back to Holzkirchen near Würzburg, where he obtained from Ludwig the Child for the Freising clergy the free canonical election of all future bishops. He died either there or in Tribur. His body was transferred to the Freising Cathedral.

Bishop Lantpert

Parish church of St Lantpert in the Lerchenfeld district

Lantpert from the dynasty of the Counts of Ebersberg became Bishop of Freising in 937. The Legend of Lantpert has wrapped in 937 by his prayer the Cathedral of Freising in fog and so from being destroyed by the incident Hungary preserved. Freising received the right to mint under his government . In 952 his participation in an imperial synod in Augsburg is documented. In 955 the battle on the Lechfeld ended with the victory of Otto I over the Hungarians, which ended the threat to the diocese.

Lantpert is venerated as a saint in Bavaria to this day ; his reliquary , donated in 1973 , is in Freising Cathedral . He is the patron of two parish churches in his diocese, in Munich-Milbertshofen and Freising-Lerchenfeld ( parish church St. Lantpert ). His feast day is September 18 .

Bishop Abraham

A sheet of the Freising monuments

Abraham from the dynasty of the Counts of Görz administered Bavaria under Otto I as an advisor to the Dowager Duchess Judith and her son Heinrich II. In 974 he participated in a conspiracy against Otto II. He was then imprisoned in 974 in the Corvey Monastery near Höxter. He also worked in Carinthia in the Slavic Mission and won possessions in Carniola and Northern Italy for the Diocese of Freising . In the Cathedral Library Freising written Freising Manuscripts ( Slovenian Brižinski spomeniki , Latin Monumenta Frisingensia ) are the earliest evidence of the Slovenian language at all. Abraham had the north tower of the Freising Cathedral built.

Bishop Egilbert

The Kastulusmünster in Moosburg

Egilbert came from the noble family of the Counts of Moosburg and served Heinrich II as Chancellor for Germany and Italy since 1002. When Bishop Gottschalk died on May 6, 1005, Heinrich II immediately presented his Chancellor as his successor, not without resistance in Freising. Egilbert seems to have had an influence on Heinrich II. And his successor Konrad II. And is also called "educator" of Heinrich III. designated. Due to his political influence he was able to acquire property in Lower Austria, Carinthia and Styria for the diocese of Freising. These possessions remained in the possession of the bishopric until mediatization. Egilbert reformed Benediktbeuern Monastery , converted the Moosburg Monastery of St. Kastulus into a collegiate monastery and gave Weihenstephan Monastery its independence. He is considered a patron of the Freising Cathedral Library and is venerated as a blessed in Freising.

Bishop Ellenhard

Ellenhard was a bishop who sided with the German king in the investiture dispute. Ellenhard was at the instigation of King Heinrich III. Bishop of Freising, the episcopal ordination took place on November 15, 1052. In the investiture controversy, he was always on the side of Emperor Heinrich IV , who repeatedly visited the Bishop of Freising. At the Diet of Worms (1076) he was one of the bishops who pronounced the removal of Pope Gregory VII . Ellenhard was (before 1062) the new founder of the St. Andreas Abbey on the Freising Cathedral Hill, where he was also buried. This pen no longer exists since secularization.

→ Main article : List of the bishops of Freising and the archbishops of Munich and Freising

Cathedral city and learned mountain in the High Middle Ages

The Domberg of Freising - "mons doctus" of the Middle Ages

For many centuries it was the mountain, built with churches, collegiate monasteries and canons' houses , that made the episcopal city of Freising. Only gradually a small bourgeois lower town developed from three settlement approaches at its feet, which remained in the possession of the bishop until 1802. It was never able to develop into a truly independent bourgeois town and, as a pure residential town, was economically dependent on the clergy. Because the main customers of the craftsmen, traders and day laborers were of course the clergy, the episcopal court and the monasteries and monasteries. Cultural life was determined and shaped by Toompea.

Mons Doctus, an early cultural center in Bavaria

The small episcopal town on the Domberg had become an important place in the East Franconian Empire in the 9th century and remained so for centuries. Around 860, Bishop Anno had a new three-aisled cathedral built on the site of the former St. Mary's Chapel, the oldest St. Mary's Church in the diocese. Before the bishopric of Bishop Waldo (884), Chancellor of King Charles III. , even the king interfered in the occupation of the Freising chair for the first time. In the following 250 years, East Franconian kings decided who would become Bishop of Freising. The Freising bishops of this time were often in the service of the respective ruler as chancellors , notaries or royal envoys. Freising bishops and the Freising Cathedral School enjoyed a high reputation among the kings and emperors of that time. Ludwig the German and Ludwig the child were students of this school, Emperor Heinrich the Holy had been introduced to science by Bishop Abraham and Emperor Konrad II had given his first-born son to Bishop Egilbert for education .

When the cathedral burned down for the first time in 903, the damage was quickly repaired by 906, as there was enough income. In 955 the settlement was plundered by the invading Hungarians , but the upper town, the Toompea, was miraculously spared. In later years this was attributed to the prayers and a "fog miracle" of the then Bishop Lantbert .

Many places in Upper Bavaria are first mentioned in Freising tradition books. In our time, they can look back on 1200 or even 1250 years of their existence (better, when they were first mentioned). Medieval writing and book illumination reached an early heyday in Freising. For example, between 972 and 1039 the Freising monuments , three texts in the Slovene language, the oldest evidence of the Slovene language and a Slavic language written in Latin were created . This was based on the donation of lands and the place Škofja Loka (Bischoflack) in Slovenia by Emperor Otto II to Bishop Abraham von Freising in 973.

Even the musical instruments and the early church music had reached a special quality in Freising. In 873, Pope John VIII asked Bishop Anno to send an organ builder and organist to Rome . The oldest German hymn Petrusleich was composed in Freising in the 10th century and the Dreikönigsspiel , the first known Latin Christmas play, was premiered in the choir of the Freising Cathedral.

The bourgeois town at the foot of the Domberg

In the aerial photo you can see the floor plan of the old town of Freising north of the Domberg

In contrast to Augsburg and Regensburg , the Freising bourgeoisie, which had meanwhile emerged at the foot of the Domberg, was unable to free itself from episcopal rule. Freising therefore remained a place dominated by Domberg and its clergy for centuries. The bishop residing there with his cathedral chapter and the canons of the monasteries located there had the money for orders and spent it on the craftsmen and to take care of their households. The Domberg was known in the Middle Ages as "mons doctus" (mountain of scholars) and became the cultural, artistic and religious center of old Bavaria .

The document is kept in the Bavarian State Archives in Munich with which Emperor Otto III. Freising was granted market , coin and customs rights in 996 . This document also mentions a donation from the emperor to Bishop Gottschalk von Freising of some land in the Neuhofen an der Ybbs " regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrîchi " (in the region usually called Ostarrîchi). This is considered to be the first mention of Austria in a document .

Otto von Freising

Monument to Otto von Freising in the cathedral courtyard

Bishop Otto von Freising (1112–1158) from the house of the Babenbergs and abbot in the Cistercian monastery Morimond was one of the most important historians of the Middle Ages. A monument to this most important bishop of Freising in the High Middle Ages stands in the middle of the cathedral courtyard.

Life

Otto von Freising was born around 1112 as the fifth son of the holy Babenberger Leopold III. , Margrave of Austria, and the daughter of Emperor Heinrich IV , Agnes von Waiblingen . Among his brothers were Leopold IV , Duke of Bavaria, Heinrich II , Duke of Austria, and Conrad II , Archbishop of Salzburg . His half-brother was King Konrad III. Otto was also an uncle of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa .

He received his first training in the monastery of Klosterneuburg , which his father founded in 1114. In 1126 he was appointed provost of the monastery. In the same or the next year Otto went to study in France, above all in Paris , which had established itself as the center of the then new scholasticism (as opposed to the established monasticism ). Otto spent six years there listening to Peter Abelard , Hugo von Saint-Viktor and Gilbert de la Porrée .

Schäftlarn monastery church

In 1132 he joined the Cistercian order together with 15 German classmates, some of whom were high-born, and came as a novice to the Morimond monastery in Champagne . Six years later, in 1138, as a 26-year-old monk, he was elected abbot . But the next day he received from King Konrad III. appointed Bishop of Freising and from then on endeavored to renew church life in his diocese and its monasteries, of which he gave a new order to Schäftlarn ( Premonstratensian ), Schlehdorf ( Augustinian Canons ) and Innichen . He freed the Freising Cathedral from the oppressive secular bailiwick, and he brought the cathedral school to a considerable height. He re-founded the Schliersee (Kollegiatsstift) and Neustift (Premonstratensian) monasteries near Freising. Strangely enough, however, these were not Cistercian monasteries.

During the investiture controversy, he almost necessarily came into conflict with the Wittelsbachers , but because of his imperial kinship he mediated successfully in the disputes between the Hohenstaufen , Babenbergs and Guelphs . At the request of Bernhard von Clairvaux , he also took an active part in the Second Crusade as a spiritual prince , but at the end of the crusade he only managed to escape with a small group of loyal followers. On behalf of Konrad III. he was also diplomatically active: Among other things, he made three trips to Rome, under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa he was involved in the settlement of the dispute with Pope Hadrian IV . His ideal, also in piety, was moderation. Bernhard von Clairvaux remained deeply foreign to him throughout his life.

In 1157 Otto was officially commissioned by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa to record the emperor's deeds ( Gesta Friderici Imperatoris ). Otto could no longer complete his work. He died on the way to the General Chapter in Cîteaux in his former monastery Morimond on September 22, 1158. Otto was first buried in the monastery church of Morimond. Up until the 17th century, Otto von Freising's grave was raised above the ground and freely visible in front of the high altar there.

Far-reaching importance as a historian

Illustration from Otto's book "History of the Two Kingdoms"

Neustift Abbey near Freising in the 18th century

In 1140 he founded the outskirts Prämonstratenser - Monastery Neustift . This monastery was later located outside the bishopric in the ducal-Bavarian area. This alone shows how small the territory of the bishop was, and the dukes of Bavaria did not want this episcopal territory on the Isar, which reached as far as Ismaning outside the gates of their residential city of Munich, to increase in their own interest.

In 1143 he wrote his famous world chronicle Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus (Chronicle or the history of the two kingdoms), in which he presented world history in seven volumes and his vision of the Last Judgment in the eighth volume . Bishop Otto was also the chronicler of Emperor Frederick I (The Deeds of Frederick or more correctly Chronica).

He was an uncle of the emperor; that is probably why Friedrich and his wife Beatrix donated a lot of money for the reconstruction of the burned down cathedral. The donor figures on the Romanesque portal of the cathedral bear witness to this.

Freising and the development of Munich

Munich Ludwigsbruecke - Heinrich the Lion moved the Isar bridge with the customs revenue to this point

In 1158, the Bavarian Duke Heinrich the Lion had the toll bridge belonging to Freising at Föhring burned down in order to run the salt road through his property "apud Munichen" , a settlement of monks from the Tegernsee monastery on today's Petersbergl , and to earn money with it . The bishop responded with a complaint to the emperor. In the Augsburg arbitration award (also called Augsburger arbitration ) of June 14, 1158, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa decided the dispute over the Isar bridges, although Bishop Otto von Freising was his uncle, in favor of Henry the Lion. This was done for reasons of state , since the emperor was dependent on the Duke of Guelph at this point in time and shied away from a dispute with the most powerful imperial prince. Munich's market and coinage rights were confirmed, but a third of the income from this had to be transferred to Freising. These payments were made to the Hochstift Freising until 1803 and then to the Kingdom of Bavaria until 1852 . June 14, 1158 is also the official city foundation day of Munich, with which the rise of Munich to later metropolis began. After Heinrich's exile, Munich was awarded to the Bishop of Freising in the Regensburger Schied of 1180, before it came into the possession of the Wittelsbachers , who were newly enfeoffed with the Duchy of Bavaria, in 1240 and became their residence in 1255.

Construction of the Romanesque cathedral

The beast column in the cathedral crypt

Emperor Barbarossa in Freising Cathedral

In 1159, instead of the previous building, which fell victim to a fire in the same year, construction began on the five-aisled Romanesque cathedral . The reasons for the devastating city and cathedral fire of April 5, 1159 are in the dark. However, they were closely related to the dispute between the Bishop of Freising and Henry the Lion.

During the rapid reconstruction (by 1205), Emperor Barbarossa and his wife Beatrix of Burgundy appeared as donors. On the inner Romanesque cathedral portal, the donor couple was immortalized with relief statues. The building itself was the first brick building north of the Alps since the fall of the Roman Empire. Bishop Albert I von Harthausen led the reconstruction of the mighty pillar basilica, which was changed several times in the following years, but which essentially goes back to him, with two western towers added later and a hall crypt. The famous beast column (around 1160) in the crypt is the only one of its kind in Germany. It shows strange mythical creatures and a female figure - these sculptures can be interpreted in several ways.

Bishop - secular prince in the bishopric

Engraving in the Topographia Germaniae by Matthaeus Merian , 1642

For several centuries, the bishopric, in which the bishop also held secular rule according to imperial law, the so-called Hochstift , was a very small and fragmented area. It was in the middle of the Wittelsbach area, who wanted to develop Bavaria into a closed duchy and later into an electorate, but always had this Freising foreign body in the north of Munich in mind and found it disturbing. That is why at the beginning of the modern era they mostly tried to secure the bishopric and rule in the bishopric for their house and thus made the best of the situation.

Conflict with the Wittelsbachers

In the late Middle Ages , Freising developed into a somewhat larger city, whose prince-bishops ( Hochstift since 1294) made outstanding contributions to the cultural heritage of their royal seat. Another important step was the granting of city rights by Bishop Albert in 1359 . The dukes of Bavaria from the Wittelsbach dynasty always saw the bishopric of Freising with its counties and estates ( Garmisch-Partenkirchen , Mittenwald , Ismaning , Burgrain and Isen ) as the “thorn in the flesh” of the Bavarian duchy. They tried to place members of their own family on the Freising bishop's chair, which they succeeded repeatedly from the 15th century onwards.

War years - Bishop Veit Adam

Bishop Veit Adam von Gepeckh

Bishop Veit Adam von Gepeckh was Prince-Bishop of Freising from 1618 until his death in 1651 . Despite the opposition of the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I. and despite moral concerns because of its alleged "uncanonical past life" (multiple paternity) was Veit Adam in 1618 by the Cathedral Chapter to Bishop elected and consecrated. From 1619 to 1622 he redesigned the Freising Cathedral in the early Baroque style. He commissioned Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp for the large high altar painting of the cathedral, “The Apocalyptic Woman”. He also initiated the renovation of the prince-bishop's residence in the baroque style. Bishop Veit Adam led Freising through the difficult time of the Thirty Years' War . In 1632 Freising was sacked by the Swedish King Gustav Adolf . Hunger and plague also raged when the Swedes again invaded the city of Freising, which was defended by Bavarian troops, in 1646.

As early as 1638, under pressure from the Bavarian Elector, the Prince-Bishop's nephew Albrecht Sigismund of Bavaria was assigned as coadjutor “cum iure successionis”. Only a few months before their deaths did they come to an agreement with Elector Maximilian I, his decades-long opponent. Veit Adam von Gepeckh was buried in the so-called “Prince Chapel” of the Freising Cathedral . The successor to the bishop, Albrecht Sigismund von Bayern, donated the Marian Column in 1674 as a sign of the plague that was overcome , which gave the central square in the old town its name. He had the outer cathedral portal built and a courtyard garden laid out outside the city fortifications in the north of the old town.

Baroque heyday

The heyday of the baroque in Freising brought a high point of cultural promotion by one of the most active bishops. On the other hand, it was also a low point in culture and church practice, as the last bad witch trials took place. Children were not spared either.

Bishop Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing

Tower of the parish church of St. Georg

The baroque interior decoration in Freising Cathedral

"Hexenturm" ( old prison ) built in the course of the witch trials in Freising .

Freising experienced a heyday under Bishop Johann Franz Eckher von Kapfing and Liechteneck (1696–1727), who was also very active in his diocese and had many parish and branch churches remodeled and rededicated. He donated the Maximilian Chapel to the cathedral, assuming that Saint Maximilian had Christianized Bavaria from Freising 1500 years ago. The prince's walk also goes back to Bishop Eckher , a picture gallery of all Freising bishops and views of the Freising lands.

In 1697 he founded the first Freising University, the Lyceum on Marienplatz , and had the baroque tower of the parish church of St. Georg built. Today, both buildings are among the landmarks and outstanding monuments of the old town of Freising. The Lyceum - the so-called “Asam building” - will be thoroughly refurbished and renovated for the first time in 2016 for over 50 million euros so that it can become a showpiece of the city. It will then take on the enlarged city museum as a cultural and civic center, make the Asam Hall much more accessible as a theater and concert hall and be the center of Freising in terms of culture and tourism.

For the thousandth anniversary of the diocese (1724) he entrusted the Asam brothers with a comprehensive renovation of the bishop's church. He also commissioned the Benedictine Father Karl Meichelbeck to write a new chronicle. The two-volume historical work Historia Frisingensis is regarded as the first source-critical historical work in Germany and carried on the long tradition of Freising history.

Witch trials

The child witch trials in Freising , during which several children were executed, were a dark chapter of this time . The two child witch trials took place towards the end of the witch hunt from 1715 to 1717 and from 1721 to 1723. The wave of arrests and executions did not end until members of the upper classes were targeted and exercised their influence.

Secularization and mediatization - end of the bishopric

Joseph Konrad von Schroffenberg-Mös , the last prince-bishop

The end of the bishopric through mediatization and integration into the Electorate of Bavaria and the end of ecclesiastical ownership through secularization over 200 years ago marked the abrupt end of a development that lasted over 1000 years. This marked cut in living and working conditions - a consequence the upheavals caused by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars - Freising could only cope with this because the central government in Munich left some training and administrative tasks in Freising and also set up a garrison in the Neustift monastery . Despite protests, the bishop's seat was moved to Munich because the new archbishop was to get his place in the royal seat of the Kingdom of Bavaria. The Frauenkirche became the Munich Cathedral, the old Freising Cathedral was almost sold for demolition and torn down. It was not until the end of the 20th century that it was given the title of “co-cathedral”, in which the new priests of the archbishopric are traditionally ordained.

Abolition of independence

Hochstift and Freising become Bavarian

Johann Adam Freiherr von Aretin

The secularization and mediatization in the year 1802/03 meant the abolition of the more than a thousand year old Hochstift Freising and thus the end of the spiritual rule of the Freising prince-bishops . On August 23, 1802, the city was occupied by the military. From November 27, 1802, the civil property occupation commissioner Freiherr Johann Adam von Aretin administered the city. He initiated the dissolution of the bishopric, the takeover of the goods and dismissed the cathedral and collegiate colleges with their court from their offices. The former royal seat was incorporated into the Electorate of Bavaria . The seat of the newly founded Archdiocese of Munich and Freising was relocated to Munich in 1821 following a newly concluded concordat . All the monasteries and many churches in the city also fell victim to secularization. They were either looted and demolished or profaned and put to other uses.

Losses through secularization and mediatization

The collegiate churches and monasteries of St. Andreas on the Domberg and St. Veit on another hill between Weihenstephaner Berg and Domberg were completely destroyed, the Weihenstephan monastery largely destroyed. Even the cathedral church and its early Gothic side churches ( Johannis and Benediktuskirche) were to be demolished. However, this was prevented by the French general Duverdien, who wanted to use the church as a ballroom for Napoleon Bonaparte's birthday party . Particularly serious was the loss of the St. Korbinian Asam Chapel above a spring formerly known as a place of pilgrimage (Korbiniansbrünnlein) on the Weihenstephaner Berg. The ruin is the only remaining church ruin from the secularization in Bavaria.

Economic crisis and new start

The secularization and mediatization hit the residential city of the former bishopric and was a sudden break in its centuries-old city tradition. She questioned the economic existence of many residents. A few hundred inhabitants left the small residential town, which had now become a Bavarian country town, so that the number of inhabitants fell significantly. However, after the borders were lifted, the city was now in the middle of the large economic area of ​​Bavaria.

The reforms of Montgelas also meant a "new start in modern times" with undreamt-of development opportunities for the rise to the rank of medium-sized town . One lamented the loss of many church property; With the elimination of the episcopal court and the clergy of seven monasteries that had to be supplied , a large part of the Freising population was suddenly unemployed. It took the city over a decade to recover somewhat from this blow. But even before it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria, the bishopric was badly administered and heavily in debt. The neighboring Weihenstephan Monastery, which, like Neustift, was no longer located in other Bavarian countries, was bankrupt before 1802 and thus came to an end. Freising's guild life, which has been rich since the Middle Ages , with rare handicrafts such as instrument maker and goldsmith almost came to a standstill, but the new freedom of trade and freedom of movement opened up undreamt-of opportunities for development. And soon new growth emerged from small beginnings. Because the vacant buildings were not all demolished, but also given new uses. Two examples of this:

Monasteries with new uses

Neustift monastery is now the district administration office, the monastery church became the parish church

The buildings of the Premonstratensian monastery Neustift (the incorporation of the district took place in 1905) have been preserved and the former monastery church is now a jewel of Bavarian Rococo . First they were used as barracks and then at the beginning of the 20th century as a cloth factory; today they house the Freising District Office . The monastery church has become the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in the Neustift district.

The remnants of the Weihenstephan Benedictine Abbey, founded in 1020, remained as a brewery and model agricultural operation. After a long and varied development and after a variety of expansion measures, it became the headquarters of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences and the Weihenstephan Science Center . The first beginnings around 200 years ago became an important university campus. The Freising-Weihenstephan campus has become world-famous as the “Center of Life Sciences” over the past few decades. Thousands of students study in Freising at these two universities.

Country town in the Kingdom of Bavaria

For decades, development in the small, old town on the Isar, with its long ecclesiastical and manorial tradition, stagnated. It was only with the development of the railroad and the beginning of industrialization that the small town grew and blossomed. But it retained the character of a small, rural school, administrative and university town with a garrison of soldiers until the end of the kingdom in 1918.

Mastering the crisis

In the 19th century, all of the city gates of Freising were torn down. Here the Munich Gate is shown (before 1870)

The Bavarian country town was only able to recover gradually from the severe blow of the loss of the bishop, cathedral chapter and some monasteries - with all their commissions and income opportunities for the Freising people. The decisive revival of the Cathedral Hill by was Catholic seminary , the newly built junior seminary and Domgymnasium , the use of the monastery in Weihenstephan and Neustift by the Bavarian State for the military and scientific training, and finally the construction of Regensburg - railway Munich . This connection to Munich and Landshut was the decisive step into modern times and into industrial society , which was also slowly developing in Bavaria.

Between 1817 and 1819, the Kidney Stream, a junction of the Stadtmoosach, was arched in the main street and the Heiliggeistgasse. These city streams served a variety of purposes, but were also a traffic obstacle. Other traffic obstacles such as the narrow city gates also had to gradually give way to the growing traffic. And the walling of the old town, which had now become superfluous, also disappeared in the course of the 19th century, with the exception of two remains of a tower. Only the so-called citizen tower still tells of the city wall. But the old town is immediately recognizable on every city map due to its street layout, plot of land and the tightness of the buildings.

Successful mayor since 1859

• With Franz Paul Krumbach , a Bavarian lawyer and politician, a number of long-standing and successful mayors began in 1859, who have achieved a lot for the city of Freising through their local political work and their supraregional influence. Krumbach was the first so-called legally qualified mayor of the city of Freising from 1853 to 1869. From 1859 to 1969 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bavarian State Parliament. When he left office in 1869 he was made the first honorary citizen of Freising.

• Martin Mauermayr was mayor of Freising from 1869 to 1899. After his retirement he was given the title of court counselor and he was also made an honorary citizen of the city of Freising. He was also a lawyer and started working as a lawyer in Freising. During his tenure, he was responsible for numerous infrastructural measures. Among other things, the city orphanage, the slaughterhouse and the city's central water supply were built. Mauermayr left his post after 30 years of service. The Bavarian state government awarded him the title of court counselor for his services.

Mayor Bierner had to give way to the brown tyranny in 1933

• Stefan Bierner was Mauermayr's successor until he was ousted by the Nazis in 1933. The city of Freising experienced an upswing during his tenure. The Feller cloth factory was successfully relocated to the former Neustift barracks and the Schlüter engine factory on Münchner Strasse. The city's population grew steadily, so that new settlements were built: Examples are the residential area on Prinz-Ludwig-Strasse, the settlement on Lankesberg and the Goldberg settlement. He initiated the construction of several public buildings, including the municipal swimming pool in the Lerchenfeld district (1902), the new town hall (1904/05) and the water tower on Prinz-Ludwig-Straße (1906).

Germs of new development

The Lyceum with the Asamaal

On the occasion of the celebrations for the 25-year reign of the Bavarian King Maximilian Joseph , the Königsstein was erected in Freising in 1824 . This first stood in the school garden near the Heiliggeistspital and was moved to Fürstendamm in 1853. Although the king had not prevented the seat of the newly created archbishop of the diocese of Munich and Freising from being relocated to Munich and Freising remaining without a bishop and cathedral chapter, the citizens were nevertheless grateful for the many development measures taken by the royal government.

In 1834 the Lyceum was re-established as a theological university, from which the Philosophical-Theological University of Freising , which existed until 1969, developed in 1923 . It followed on from the first lyceum from 1697 to 1803. It was an important step in revitalizing the city and creating new jobs. After the training of priests was relocated to Munich, the Toompea and the Lyceum were given various other functions. The baroque buildings of the lyceum have an important function room in the Asamaal and have also housed the city museum and some administrative offices of the city. The most important part of the building in the Bürgerstadt Freising will be expanded into a modern cultural center from 2017.

The Prince-Bishop's Residence also has a checkered history of continued use, it had to be rebuilt and expanded to meet the needs of the time. In the future, too, it will remain the core of an educational center in the archdiocese. For a certain time, the cathedral library was housed in part of the former building of the old cathedral grammar school on the Domberg . With over 322,000 volumes, it is one of the largest church libraries in Germany. Their continued existence on Domberg is not yet assured.

Railway construction and softening

These steam locomotives were used in the Kingdom of Bavaria - Monument in Ingolstadt

In 1858, the AG der Bayerischen Ostbahnen released the first railway line from Munich via Freising and Landshut to Regensburg for passenger and freight traffic. The station was built south of the city; the route outside the city center between the Isar and Domberg. The construction of the railway embankment and the flood protection dams built later made a decisive contribution to improving the safety of the city in the case of Isar floods.

Because of the increased volume of traffic and the low clearance heights, all medieval city gates were demolished in the 19th century. Of the Freising town fortifications , only the Citizens Tower , in which there is a small museum, and the Karl Tower, which is integrated into one building, are left. The gates on the driveways to Toompea, however, have been preserved.

School and garrison town

The Vimy barracks is now a residential complex

The monastery church became a garrison church

Between 1868 and 1870, a building designed by Matthias Berger for the Archbishop's College of Boys was built on the grounds of the Dechantei von St. Andreas auf dem Domberg, which today houses the Toompea Museum. This minor seminary served in connection with the 1828 newly established Domgymnasium education and familiarization of talented boys from the diocese and become a priest. Other school facilities were also temporarily located in the buildings on Toompea so that the character of a school town was not lost.

The military had been quartered in the vacant buildings of the Premonstratensian monastery in Neustift near Freising and also brought some benefits to Freising. Since the garrison in Neustift (in the former Neustift monastery ) was to be relocated to Freising, construction work on the Prinz-Arnulf-Kaserne (later Vimy-Kaserne ) began on December 7, 1904 . The Neustift community thus lost an important economic factor, which is why it applied for compensation to be incorporated into Freising, which was carried out on January 1, 1905.

Between 1900 and 1902, the residence used as a seminary on Domberg was extended. The architect of the building on the site of the former St. Andreas Church was Gabriel von Seidl . In 1904/05, the new Freising Town Hall was built on Marienplatz , which was planned by the Munich architect Günther Blumentritt . In 1908 the vaulted Kidney Stream in the city center was drained when sewers were built.

Revolution, Weimar Republic and National Socialism

Freising Marienplatz after 1900 with a new town hall

This short epoch of the city's history, which lasted less than 30 years, also brought upheavals and events in Freising, which plunged the citizens into major conflicts. This eventful period ended with the catastrophe of the bombing on April 18, 1945, with high casualties and missing persons and with the uncertainty of the consequences of the end of the war and the American occupation from May 1945 onwards.

November Revolution and Weimar Republic

In 1918, with the November Revolution in Bavaria, the monarchy was abolished and Kurt Eisner proclaimed the republic. A workers ', soldiers and farmers' council was also founded in Freising . However, the municipal administration around Mayor Stephan Bierner remained in office and continued to work. In the state elections on January 20, 1919, the Bavarian People's Party and the SPD in Freising emerged as the clear winners with 48 and 39 percent respectively. Hans Unterleitner, a native of Freising, was represented in Kurt Eisner's cabinet as Minister of Social Affairs.

Image from the Federal Archives: Fighters in Bavaria with MG

A few days after Eisner's murder, the Soviet Republic was proclaimed on April 7, 1919 in Freising and Munich . A few days later, Freising was neutral towards the Communist Soviet Republic, even if the Freising garrison had probably been on their side. On April 26, 1919, the government troops in exile in Bamberg, coming from Regensburg, advanced to Freising, against which there was no resistance. The city confessed to the parliamentary government, but declared that it would protect the supporters of the Soviet Republic among its citizens and not betray them. On April 30, the troops moved on to Munich and in the following days violently crushed the rule of the councils.

On September 7, 1922, the Freising NSDAP local group was founded. In 1924 Freising celebrated the 1200th anniversary of the diocese for a week. Around 50,000 visitors came to church services, lectures and processions. In 1925 the Munich – Landshut railway line was electrified, the Pallottine Missionary Seminar opened on September 14, 1930 , and the associated Pallottine Church of St. John the Baptist in the north of the city was consecrated.

Nazi era and persecution of the Jews

From 1933 on, Freising also feared the Dachau concentration camp and its roll call area

In 1933, Mayor Stephan Bierner , who had been in office for more than 30 years, resigned after Hans Lechner , the special commissioner for the city and district of Freising, and the NSDAP local group leader Georg Preiser, called for his resignation. The mayor denied in a speech that he had been forced to resign. Although he was not a National Socialist, he had always been a national and German-minded man. His acting successor was the government building officer Gottlieb Schwemmer , later Karl Lederer was appointed. On April 1, 1937, parts of the municipality of Vötting came to the city, which was incorporated into the Freising district on May 22, 1940.

In addition to the Vimy barracks, two more barracks were built in Freising in the 1930s. Between 1933 and 1936, the so-called replacement barracks (E-barracks) were built on Haindlfinger Strasse, which was initially disguised as an SA sports school, and in 1936/37 the General von Stein barracks on Mainburger Berg. It was demolished in the 21st century between 2008 and 2012 except for the staff building and is gradually being expanded into a small new district (Steinviertel) with its own shopping center. Only the staff building remains as a protected monument.

Memorial plaque for the persecuted Jews of Freising

During the Reichspogromnacht in 1938 there were also riots in Freising. A crowd of about 3,000 people marched through the city center and asked the Jewish residents to leave the city. The daughter of a department store owner was shown around to look after she came out onto the street and then taken into protective custody like her father . Another victim of the riots was the lawyer and later mayor of the city Max Lehner . Although he was not a Jew, he was beaten and driven through town with a sign that read Judah crazy . He was accused of being Jewish and representing Jews in court. Of the 16 Freising Jews of 1933, only two were still alive in 1945 who had fled to England or Palestine. They did return to Germany, but not to Freising. Some stumbling blocks remind of the people and their last place of residence in Freising.

Bombing and end of the war

Aerial photo from April 25, 1945. The damage from the air raid on April 18 in the station area can be clearly seen. You can also see the General von Stein barracks (B), the Vimy barracks (C) and the replacement barracks (F).

Until shortly before the end of the war, the city was not directly affected by the war. Since there was hardly any war-related industry and a hospital for foreign officers was on the Toompea, it was considered safe from bomb attacks by the population and the authorities. The only heavy air raid on Freising took place on April 18, 1945 and claimed 224 lives. The target of the attack with 61 Boeing B-17s was the station. The area around the train station with the Steinecker and Schlüter factories was hardest hit. The Ascension Church was also destroyed in the process. The area at Wörth and the area around Kochbäckergasse were hit harder. A small chapel on the south slope of the Toompea Hill and a building on the Toompea Hill were also destroyed. The victims were buried in mass graves in the Neustift cemetery.

American troops approached the city on April 29, 1945. In the early afternoon she was shot at by artillery. The northern part of the city was particularly affected. Some business people, including the hotelier Dettenhofer ( Hotel Bayerischer Hof ), tried to persuade the city commandant to give up. They had hoisted the white flag on the church tower of the parish church of St. George , which had to be brought down again. A second attempt by Dettenhofer to get the commandant in his command post to surrender was unsuccessful because he feared the SS in the city. Since the American troops had meanwhile reached the outskirts, Dettenhofer went to them with the mayor and the pastor of St. Georg. They reached a cessation of fire in order to negotiate the handover of the city. An American officer escorted them back to the command post. The SS had since withdrawn and the commandant agreed to surrender the city. On the same day at around 6 p.m., the Korbinian Bridge over the Isar was blown up by the SS to hinder the American advance. The very next day a pontoon bridge was built, which, with a few exceptions, was initially only allowed to be used by the military. Within five days, a wooden pedestrian walkway was built near the blasted bridge and a bridge for heavier vehicles was built by Freising companies by June 2nd. The Korbinian Bridge was rebuilt in a slightly different form until 1948.

Mittelstadt with an important university campus Freising-Weihenstephan

This is how people traveled in the famine years after 1945

After the difficult early years of the post-war period, which began with the end of the war in May 1945, Freising was able to stand up under the Lord Mayors Lehner , Dr. Schäfer and Thalhammer , all three of whom were at the head of the city for several terms in office, are developing into a medium-sized town with almost 50,000 inhabitants, which even has functions of a possible regional center and has almost completely lost the character of the former “spiritual town”. It has developed further with the northern part of the Munich region and has taken on the diverse character of an administrative, school and university town, which also has some modern industrial companies and service companies.

On July 1, 1972, the city became part of the district again with the regional reform in Bavaria . At the same time, the previously independent municipalities Haindlfing , Itzling (partially), Sünzhausen and Tüntenhausen and on May 1, 1978 the municipalities Pulling and Attaching were incorporated into the city of Freising. This increase in area and population gave further impetus for development. Because the north of the Munich region was decisively influenced and upgraded by the development of the motorway and road, the industrial and commercial settlement and, since 1992, by the Munich airport. But also very important is the expansion of the Freising-Weihenstephan campus , which although largely blocking settlement development in the west of the city, is providing the city with decisive scientific impetus through ongoing modernization and its expansion into the Green Center of Bavaria.

Post-war problems, Americans and the armed forces

Police commissioner Hubert Rasch was appointed provisional mayor by the Americans on April 30th. Emil Berg replaced him in this position on May 2nd, but he was not popular in Freising as a newcomer from Munich. On March 8, 1946, the city was taken out of the Freising district and regained its district immediacy.

The first municipal elections were held on May 26, 1946, and the CSU emerged victorious. The city council elected Karl Wiebel as the new mayor. As a non-Freiser, he did not become popular in the years when many refugees and displaced persons had to be accommodated and the everyday hardship could only be alleviated with difficulty. Of course, in the difficult time before the currency reform and the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, there was very little help for the locals and many newcomers and expellees, because the real upswing only began with the introduction of the D-Mark in 1948 and the establishment of the Federal Republic in 1949.

So the new Deutsche Mark was exchanged - end of the black market and the hamstering

The post-war mayors

• Lord Mayor Lehner - Construction of apartments and schools

Karl Wiebel had to give way to the well-known lawyer Lehner after the municipal elections of 1948. He remained in office until 1970 and set the course for future-oriented developments during his time. Above all, he had to solve the great housing problem in the city overcrowded with newcomers and displaced people. In order to get state subsidies for housing construction, he even initiated a lawsuit against the Bavarian state. By building many urban apartments, he was able to break up the barracks and emergency shelters for those who had been displaced and evacuated at an early stage. He also had the schools built, which were urgently needed for the growing population.

When the last resident officer of the American occupation forces left the city on January 15, 1952, the city was independent again. The Americans had withdrawn from the politics of the city of Freising. At the beginning of 1957, the first 300 Bundeswehr soldiers came to Freising as part of the transport company of the Air Force Supply Regiment Erding I and were initially housed in the artillery barracks ( General von Stein barracks ), in which American troops were also quartered at the time. On July 18, the barracks passed into German hands.

In 1959, the city's gas, water and electricity supply were combined under the roof of the newly founded Stadtwerke Freising. And on September 8th of that year a new sewage treatment plant was put into operation. In contrast, the Freising Prison in Fischergasse was closed on September 30, 1965 and was neglected for decades.

In 1966 the Americans handed over the last of the three Freising barracks to the Bundeswehr and after 21 years the last American troops left Freising. That was the end of the occupation and post-war period.

With the establishment of the European headquarters of Texas Instruments , an important employer was won. To this day, he is the largest employer in the city. Although the Philosophical-Theological University of Freising was closed in 1969 and relocated to the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, the Domberg with the Archdiocese's educational center in the Cardinal Döpfner House and the newly created Cathedral Museum remained an important educational center. The Domgymnasium also kept its location on Domberg in the following years and got a representative new building on the site of the old Philipps Castle. Later, the Toompea should take on other secular functions.

• Lord Mayor Dr. Schäfer - defensive battle against a major airport

Elevated route over the railway line and the Isar

In 1970 the young lawyer Dr. Schäfer elected as the new mayor of Freising. He also had a long term of office until 1994, during which many decisive steps were taken for the city's development. Despite the "defensive battle" he cited against the major Munich airport, which was placed 5 km away "in front of Freising's front door" and planned on a large scale, this major project came and changed large parts of the city decisively. But it brought an unexpected growth spurt for Freising's development into a medium-sized town and a modern university town. Many traffic problems were raised in Dr. Schäfer's term of office started and partially resolved. The elevated route over the railway line to the new Isar bridge is an example; it was largely responsible for clearing the inner-city traffic jam on the B 11.

The kidnapping case Richard Oetker caused a stir in Freising in 1976 . The industrialist's son was kidnapped on December 14th in the parking lot of the Technical University of Munich in Weihenstephan. Two days later and after paying a ransom of DM 21 million, he was released in the area.

School and university town, change in trade and industry

In the 1960s and 1970s, especially in the Schäfer era, the district town began to develop into a real school and university town. The three Freising high schools got new locations and modern school buildings. In the Wippenhauser Straße - in the north of Freising - there was a concentration of schools with the business, vocational and technical high school, the DEULA and the Camerloher high school.

In 1972 the gym was opened in the Luitpoldanlage, it was also available for school sports. Between 1975 and 1980 the Dom-Gymnasium received a new building on the Domberg. For this purpose, the so-called Phillips Castle was rebuilt and two canons' courts replaced by new buildings.

Between 1988 and 1995, the "Am Wörth" area, located between two arms of moss directly in the old town, was fundamentally redesigned. New buildings and a multi-storey car park were built on the areas freed up by the relocation of the municipal gardening center and a parking lot. And in the south of Freising, across the Isar, the Lerchenfeld district developed into the most populous urban area. In 1860 the first house was built in this former moss, pasture and forest area.

• Lord Mayor Thalhammer - Fight against third runway

The third post-war mayor with a long term in office was Dieter Thalhammer until 2012 . In these 18 years, the development of the city was determined by the strong growth in the Lerchenfeld district and the dynamism of the nearby large airport, which changed life and work in all of the neighboring communities and brought a considerable increase in traffic on the streets. The city of Freising took part in the defensive fight against the construction of the third runway in the north of Munich's major airport and continues to fight against the threatened evacuation of part of Attaching, the district of Freising adjacent to the airport.

After a little over 200 years, the last soldiers left the garrison town of Freising in 2004. The General von Stein barracks were the last to be closed. In the spring of 2013 the first construction phase of the Stein Park was completed and opened; it is the shopping complex that serves the quarter and part of the Freising north as a new supply center. As a result, a small new city district will gradually emerge from 2012 in the north of Freising on Mainburger Strasse. All three barracks were or are currently being converted into residential areas, with parts of the buildings that are monuments being retained. The story of the garrison town of Freising ends with the successful conversion of all three barracks areas.

The Schlüterhallen converted into a shopping center

The tractor manufacturer Schlüter closed its factory in 1993 . The abandoned buildings were a kind of industrial ruin on the western outskirts for more than 15 years and were partially converted into a shopping center in 2009, with the main buildings also being preserved as architectural monuments. This industrial park, which will be located on the future bypass to the west at the entrance to Freising, will be further expanded. Another business center with cinemas is to be built there. The Weihenstephan State Dairy was relocated to the Schlütergut area, where it was given a large, modern factory. In the meantime it has been sold by the Bavarian state and thus privatized.

A sensational incident was the rampage in Eching and Freising by a former student at the business school on February 19, 2002 (a short time before the rampage in Erfurt ). The headmaster died in the process; his wife and a religion teacher were shot. Two other people were shot in the nearby community of Eching .

• Lord Mayor Eschenbacher - expansion and modernization

During the tenure of the youngest Lord Mayor, Tobias Eschenbacher , who has been in office since 2012, the overdue renovation of the old town of Freising and the most important building on Marienplatz was tackled. The entire old town will be rebuilt by 2022 and will get a new road surface. The Asam building has been rebuilt since 2016 and its core is being refurbished for over 50 million euros. Since this year 2012, the old town has developed into a large construction site, where construction was carried out at different locations.

Universities and state institutions - Freising-Weihenstephan campus

New "Center for Scientific Basics" at HSWT

Library on the Freising-Weihenstephan campus

Institute building of the LfL, Lange Point 12

The Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences was founded on August 1, 1971 and has developed into the University of Applied Sciences ( Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWt)). The number of students has increased significantly in recent years and is being expanded further. Together with the "Center of Life Sciences" of the Technical University of Munich, founded in 1998, it forms the core of the new Weihenstephan campus , which includes all the institutes of the state institutes - the Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture and the Bavarian State Institute for Forests and Forestry - and the associated ones Open-air facilities claimed a large area in the west of Freising and blocked the expansion of the city in this direction.

However, this cluster of higher education institutions, institutes, gardens, greenhouses, test fields and other facilities on the Freising-Weihenstephan campus is crucial for the city's global reputation, because these life sciences will play an important role in the 21st century. Several thousand students shape the developing university town of Freising and bring a breath of fresh air to cultural life and even to the planning of the municipality, in which they are sometimes involved in projects. Freising has developed into the Green Center of Bavaria through the development of its university and science campus.

Traffic increase and expansion of traffic facilities

In 1956 the long planned road break from Johannisplatz to the train station was started and today's Johannisstraße was created, which has to take up an important part of the traffic in the direction of Weihenstephan via the "Karlwirt intersection". It will be relieved in the near future by the western bypass , which will lead through a tunnel under Vötting. Construction began in 2013.

The bridge of the western bypass over the railway line, under construction in 2017

To cope with the increasing traffic and to relieve the city center, the so-called elevated route was opened in 1974 . This new street layout crosses the railway line and the Moosach. On September 11th of the following year, the new Isar bridge with the name Luitpoldbrücke, which adjoins the Hochtrasse, was opened to traffic. The building connects the northern and southern parts of the city. Until then, traffic ran through the city center over a level crossing with a barrier and over the narrow Korbinian Bridge. This was an important factor in the development of the southern district of Lerchenfeld, which has since become the most populous district. In the meantime there is a third bridge, the Schlueter Bridge, to which the west bypass will lead. through them, Lerchenfeld and the industrial areas located there are additionally developed and connected to the north. Two further smaller bridges for pedestrians and cyclists are planned in the Luitpoldanlage and Savoyer Au area.

The federal highway 301, the Deutsche Hopfenstraße, will also be connected to the regional roads and the autobahn in a different way, thus avoiding the confluence with Freising's city center. As Freising's north-east bypass, the B 301 will in future pass Tüntenhausen and Freising to the east and will be connected to federal highways 11/11 a to the west of Marzling. This creates a direct connection from the B 301 via the B 11a to the A 92 Munich - Deggendorf motorway, Freising Ost junction and the connected state road network to Munich Airport. This enables the urban road network to be relieved of regional and supra-regional through traffic.

The S-Bahn has been running from Freising to Munich since May 26, 1972, which opened up an even better way of commuting between Freising and Munich. After the airport was built, the Neufahrner Spange was created as the second S-Bahn connection to the airport. The Neufahrner curve creates a connection to the railway line continuing to the north to Freising and Landshut. The expansion of this curve will make it possible from 2019 that normal trains can approach the airport which - coming from Lower Bavaria - have previously also passed through the Freising station.

Munich Airport, engine of development and problematic object

The Munich airport is located since 1992 at the gates of the city

In 1967 the state government initiated the regional planning procedure for the new Munich airport for the Hofoldinger Forest and also for the Erdinger Moos at the gates of the city of Freising . On August 6, 1969, the decision to go to Erdinger Moos was made, which led to violent protests in Freising and other communities in the north of Munich. Munich Airport was built anyway and put into operation on May 17, 1992; it replaced the old Munich-Riem airport , which could no longer be expanded due to its location not far from the city center. The number of passengers at the airport has almost quadrupled since 1992: While 12 million passengers were counted in 1992, 44.6 million passengers take off and land in Munich today (2017).

Freising has had major urban development changes and a massive increase in residents since the construction of Munich Airport began in 1980 and its opening in 1992. The airport, which is partly on the boundary of the large district town, is only 5 km from the center of the city and 3 km from the Lerchenfeld district. The proximity to the airport continued to result in a considerable increase in population, which was most evident in the southern district of Lerchenfeld. It has become the largest district. At the end of the 19th century, apart from some herbaceous fields and moor meadows, there were only a few buildings in this area, which for centuries consisted only of damp moss and woodland and was hunted by the prince-bishop's court.

The planned construction of the third runway , which is required by the airport company and would bring the airport even closer to the city, is viewed very critically in Freising. The Attaching district would be severely affected, as part of it would be flown over at low altitude and would therefore have to be relocated.

Functional change of Toompea and Pope visit

Pope Benedict XVI lived behind these walls. as a professor on the Domberg Freising

Pope Benedict driving through Freising

In 1989 Freising celebrated the anniversary of 1250 years of the ecclesiastical city and in 1996 1000 years of Freising's market rights . Both anniversaries showed the long historical tradition of this old episcopal city. Despite the relocation of priestly training to Munich to the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the LMU, Freising has retained the character of an episcopal town in a small area of ​​the Domberg, as a regional bishop has lived there since 1972, the old cathedral became the co-cathedral of the archbishopric and the episcopal Palace was converted into the Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus with the education center of the archdiocese. The rooms of the former theology students are now used as guest rooms. And the boys' seminar became an important museum of ecclesiastical and religious art, the Diocesan Museum, also known as the Toompea Museum .

Other parts of Toompea have been given secular functions. The old Philipps Castle (built 1534–1537 as a retirement home for Philipp von der Pfalz) was completely rebuilt together with two canon courts (“Waldkirch” and “Lehrbach”) and transformed into the new cathedral high school (1975–1980). After extensive renovations, the district court and the land registry were quartered in the former cathedral deanery and the cathedral chapter house . The large, modern cathedral library was housed in the former stables, which had been expanded and served for a long time to train priests and then became part of the old cathedral grammar school. It is the central library of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and one of the largest church libraries in Germany. There is also a state forestry office at the entrance to the Dombergviertel, near the Upper Dombergtor, where it is housed in a former canon court called “Am Schöneck”.

On September 14, 2006 Pope Benedict XVI visited at the end of his trip to Bavaria the city of Freising. He drove through the old town of Freising and met in the cathedral with the assembled clergy of the archdiocese. As Josef Ratzinger, he had studied theology and philosophy at the Philosophical-Theological University of Freising from 1946 , had been ordained a priest in the Freising Cathedral in 1951, and from 1954 taught as a theology professor in Freising and Munich. This was a highlight in the history of the city and made it also known and attractive for tourism.

Toompea will be extensively renovated from 2013, some buildings have to be made functional. The diocesan museum is being rebuilt and transformed into a modern museum with a café, which complies with modern fire protection regulations and can be used in a variety of ways. The next major renovation will take place at the Prince-Bishop's Residence , because the Archdiocese's educational center is to be made functional and modern again. It is hoped that the most important construction work will be completed in 2024, when the diocese anniversary will be celebrated.

See also

• List of the bishops of Freising and the archbishops of Munich and Freising
• History of the Freising Cathedral
• History of the Freising Domberg

literature

• Erwin Neumair: The new picture of the early history of the Freising district as the result of 30 years of voluntary research. In: Archeology in the Freising district. Issue 10, Freising 2008, p. 101 ff.
• Mark Bankus: The Freising Domberg and its surroundings. Investigations into prehistoric settlement. (= Freising Archaeological Research Vol. 1) Ed. By the Archaeological Association in the Freising District eV - Rahden / Westf. 2004, ISBN 3-89646-891-X .
• Sigmund Benker , Marianne Baumann-Engels: Freising. 1250 years of the spiritual city . Exhibition in the Diocesan Museum and in the historical rooms of the Domberg in Freising, June 10 to November 19, 1989 . Wewel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87904-162-8 .
• Hubert Glaser (Hrsg.): Freising as a citizen town - commemorative publication for the millennium of the granting of market, coin and customs rights . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1996, ISBN 3-7954-1099-1 .
• Hubert Glaser (Ed.): Freising becomes Bavarian . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-1506-3 .
• Friedrich Fahr , Hans Ramisch and Peter B. Steiner (eds.): Freising. 1250 Years of the Spiritual City II - Contributions to the history and art history of the old Bavarian episcopal city . Wewel, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-87904-125-3 .
• Peter Hacker: Freising What moved the city in the 20th century . Stutz, Passau 2002, ISBN 3-88849-111-8 .
• Historischer Verein Freising (Hrsg.): Freising from 1945 to 1950. 21. Collective sheet of the Historischer Verein Freising for the year 1950 . Neue Münchner Verlags-GmbH, Munich 1950.
• Norbert Keil: The end of the clerical government in Freising - Prince-Bishop Joseph Konrad von Schroffenberg (1790-1803) and the secularization of the Hochstift Freising . (= Studies on the Old Bavarian Church History , Volume 8, also a dissertation at the University of Munich 1984). Seitz, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-87744-035-5 .
• Josef Maß : The Diocese of Freising in the Middle Ages . Wewel, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-87904-153-9 .
• Britta von Rettberg: Freising city topography and monument preservation . Imhof, Petersberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86568-354-0 .
• Georg Schwaiger (ed.): The diocese of Freising in modern times . Wewel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87904-155-5 .
• Georg Schwaiger (Ed.): The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in the 19th and 20th centuries . Wewel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-87904-156-3 .

Web links

Commons : Freising  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : History of Freising  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Representation of the city on its website , accessed September 18, 2018.
• Redesign of the Domberg, can be seen on the website of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising , accessed on September 18, 2018.
• Website of the TUM Science Center on the Freising-Weihenstephan campus , accessed on September 18, 2018.
• Weihenstephan Triedorf University of Applied Sciences website , accessed on September 18, 2018.
• Munich Airport website , accessed on September 20, 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Erwin Neumair: The new picture of the early history of the Freising district as the result of 30 years of voluntary research. In: Archeology in the Freising District , Issue 10, Freising 2008, pp. 101 ff
2. ^ Erwin Neumair: The new picture of the early history of the Freising district as the result of 30 years of voluntary research. In: Archeology in the Freising District , Issue 10, Freising 2008, pp. 101 ff.
3. ↑ Erwin Neumair: The new image of the early history of the Freising district as a result of 30 years of voluntary research work in archeology in the Freising district, issue 10. - Freising 2008. P. 101 ff.
4. ↑ Bernd Steidl: A section through the Roman "Isartalstraße" in Moos near Neufahrn-Fürholzen in: Archeology in the Freising district, vol. 9, ed. from the Archaeological Association in the District of Freising eV 2006. pp. 101–116.
5. ↑ Josef Maß: The Diocese of Freising in the Middle Ages Munich 1986. P. 32–44
6. ^ Josef Maß: The Diocese of Freising in the Middle Ages Munich 1986. P. 71–75
7. ^ Leopold Grill: Result of the search for Otto von Freising's grave, in: Annalen des Naturhistorisches Museum 77 (1973), pp. 421–424.
8. ↑ Presentation of the renovation on the website of the City of Freising , accessed on September 19, 2018.
9. ↑ Sabine Seidel: Kindermund does (not always) reveal the truth - consideration of the role of children in European witch trials (taking into account Southeastern European ideas of magic). Diploma thesis at the Karl-Franzens-University , Graz 2003.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Britta von Rettberg: Freising city topography and monument preservation . Imhof, Petersberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86568-354-0 .
11. ^ Wilhelm Schmid: The mayors of Freising. (= Approval work for the first examination for the teaching post at primary schools 1970 / II) . Munich 1970. p. 61ff
12. ↑ Sebastian Gleixner: The King's Stone. A constitutional monument. In: Amperland. Local history quarterly for the districts of Dachau, Freising and Fürstenfeldbruck 32 (1996), pp. 433–438.
13. ↑ Conversion plans are approved , accessed on September 19, 2018.
14. ↑ Closure of the cathedral library - what's next? accessed on September 20, 2018
15. ↑ 150 years of the Munich – Landshut railway line from 1858 to 2008 , Siegfried Haberstetter, Erich Bockschweiger, 2008.
16. ^ ^{A b c} Wilhelm Volkert (Ed.): Handbook of the Bavarian offices, municipalities and courts 1799–1980 . CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-406-09669-7 , p. 601 .
17. ↑ ^{a b c d} Andreas Beschorner: 201 years of the garrison town of Freising . In: FINK . March 2010, ISSN  1869-4225 , p. 22nd ff . ( [1] (PDF; 6.7 MB)). 201 years of the garrison town of Freising ( Memento of the original dated December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
18. ↑ ^{a b} Florian Lehrmann: Freising during the revolution 1918/19 . In: FINK . October 2007, ISSN  1869-4225 , p. 12 f . ( [2] (PDF; 5.4 MB)). Freising during the revolution 1918/19 ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ Combat Chronology of the US Army Air Forces April 1945 ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ ^{a b c} Historischer Verein Freising (Hrsg.): Freising from 1945 to 1950. 21. Collective sheet of the Historischer Verein Freising for the year 1950 . Neue Münchner Verlags - GmbH, Munich 1950.
21. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes for municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 575 .
22. ^ Christoph Bachmann: Dieter Zlof and the kidnapping of Richard Oetker. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria (August 22, 2012)
23. ↑ Presentation of the inner city design on the website of the city of Freising , accessed on September 18, 2018.
24. ↑ Presentation of the west tangent project on the city's website , accessed on September 19, 2018.
25. ↑ Relocation of the B 301 - Freising northeast bypass, illustration on the city's website , accessed on September 19, 2018.
26. ↑ Action alliance against the third runway
27. ↑ Detailed information on a dedicated website “New design of Domberg Freising” , accessed on September 21, 2018.