History of Quedlinburg
| 922 | First documentary mention as Quitilingaburg in a certificate from Heinrich I. | |
| 936 | After Heinrich I was buried, a women's foundation for memorializing the dead was founded | |
| 973 | Osterhof day Otto the Great | |
| 994 | In 994 Otto III. the abbess Mathilde for Quedlinburg the market, coin and customs law | |
| 1164 | Called linen weavers and dressmakers; in the following period the new town was built | |
| 1336 | Quedlinburg is victorious in the feud with the Counts of Regenstein | |
| 1477 | The city mistress restricts the city's self-sufficiency efforts | |
| 1546 | Introduction of the Reformation | |
| 1936 | Heinrich Himmler instrumentalizes the collegiate church | |
| 1994 | Quedlinburg is placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List |
The history of Quedlinburg in the northern Harz foreland spans more than 1000 years since the city was founded and can also be traced back to the prehistoric settlement areas. As the seat of the abbess of the Quedlinburg women's monastery and especially as the royal palace visited by secular rulers, especially the Ottonians, at Easter , Quedlinburg held a special place from the 10th to the 12th centuries.
Early settlements
The first traces of settlement go back to the Paleolithic . The area was almost continuously populated. The productive soils made the area particularly interesting for settlers during the Neolithic , which can be demonstrated in many of the remains of settlements from this era. On the prominent mountain peaks that rise up on the side walls of the Bodetal, lined up like on a chain, there are many Neolithic burial mounds, such as on the Moorberg, the Bockshornschanze or the Brugesberg. Around 2 km northwest of Quedlinburg, west of the desert of Marsleben , a circular ditch system made of stitchery ceramics was examined in 2005, which is not inferior to the circular ditch system of Goseck in terms of age, size and shape. In contrast to Goseck, the route of the B 6n runs through this facility today .
The numerous Neolithic finds and their findings are distributed in and around Quedlinburg in at least 55 places (in alphabetical order): Aholzturm, Altenburg, Bicklingsbach, Unter dem Birnbaum, Boxhornschanze, Chausseehaus Quarmbach, Dornberg, Felsenkeller, Finkenflucht, Flugplatz, Galgenberg, Gersdorfer Burg, Halberstädter Str.-Ost, Hackelteich, Hammwarte, Heinrichstrasse, Hinterklei, Höfen, Holy Stuff, Husarenstieg, Jungfernhohlweg, Kalkberg, Krähenhüttenberg, hospital, Kratzenstein's clay pit, Krückenberg, Kuhschlucht, Landgraben, Lehof, Liebfrauenberg, Lieseckenberg, Moorberg, Mühlenworth, Ochsenkopf, Paradise Garden, Petersberg, Radelberg, Schenkendorfstraße, Schloßberg, Schmökeberg, Schösserköpf, Seminarstraße, Seweckenberge , Steinholz, Freiherr-vom-Stein-Straße, Wallstraße, Wiperti, Groß Orden (desert), Knüppelrode (desert), Marsleben (desert), Groß Sallersleben (Desert).
Finds of the Walternienburger – Bernburg culture were made at the Quedlinburg hospital, the Boxhornschanze, the Radelberg, the Petersberg, the Liebfrauenberg, the Altenburg and the Moorberg.
Finds and findings from the Metal Ages, especially those from the Roman Empire, were documented on the Moorberg and Galgenberg, among other places.
middle Ages
At the end of the 8th century, documentary reports about places in the vicinity of Quedlinburg pile up: Marsleben (desert), Groß Orden (desert), Ballersleben (desert), Ditfurt and Weddersleben . The Wipertikirche was founded as a branch of the Hersfeld Abbey, probably around 835/63.
Royal Easter Palatinate from 10th to 12th century
Quedlinburg gained its importance when it became the royal palace in the 10th century, where the Ottonian rulers celebrated the highest Christian festival, Easter. It was first mentioned as villa quae dicitur Quitilingaburg in a document from King Henry I of April 22, 922. Heinrich later decided the place to be his burial place and after his death in Memleben in 936 he was buried in the Palatine Chapel on the Schlossberg . His widow Queen Mathilde had Heinrich's son and successor Otto I confirm the establishment of a women's foundation with the task of memorizing the dead . For thirty years the widow Mathilde headed the founding of the foundation herself, without having been an abbess. Otto I visited Quedlinburg at irregular intervals to celebrate Easter and to commemorate his father. In 941 he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by his younger brother Heinrich . Otto's daughter Mathilde , born in 955, who was intended to lead the women's monastery from the beginning, was entrusted with the management of the women's monastery at the Easter Court Day in 966. Two years later, on March 14, 968, her grandmother died and was buried with her husband. Her grave and stone sarcophagus have been preserved, while Heinrich's burial place is empty.
Otto the Great's largest and most glamorous court day took place in 973. Among the international participants were Boleslav I , Duke of Bohemia , and Mieszko I , Duke of the Polans , who swore the emperor 's oath of allegiance. Shortly afterwards Otto I died and was buried in Magdeburg. His son Otto II visited Quedlinburg only twice during his ten-year reign.
After his death in 984 Otto III. only six years old. He was kidnapped by his uncle Heinrich the quarrel , who wanted to make himself king in Quedlinburg with an opposition movement. Due to the intervention of various greats, especially his grandmother Adelheid , Otto I's second wife, and his mother Theophanus , Otto II's wife, it was possible to prevent this. Two years later, Heinrich in Quedlinburg had to give the young Otto III. pay homage Otto III. It was also who in 994 granted the monastery of his aunt, Abbess Mathilde, market, coin and customs rights. This created an important condition for the further urban development of Quedlinburg. In the year 1000 there was another big court day in Quedlinburg, first of all Easter was celebrated on the Schlossberg, then Otto and all the greats of the empire who were present moved to Otto's Palatinate ( ad cortem suam ) in the valley near St. Wiperti.
The later so-called Quedlinburg Annals , which were later written on site, bear witness to the further importance of Quedlinburg in terms of imperial politics in the 11th and 12th centuries . These record Litua , the name of Lithuania, for the first time in written sources in 1009 .
In the first decades after the founding of the women's monastery , numerous donations were made by the Saxon royal family. All later Quedlinburg desolations belong to it, but also distant places like Soltau 170 km away , the church of St. Michael des Volkmarskeller (956), Duderstadt (974), Potsdam (993) and Gera (999). Otto I. donated a total of 48 places, Otto II eleven places and Otto III. ten places to the Quedlinburger Damenstift. Another 150 locations were added later, as well as other treasures .
Up-and-coming city in the late Middle Ages
In the following four centuries Quedlinburg experienced an economic and political boom as a city. As in other cities (Braunschweig, Halberstadt) in the region, the tailoring and merchant trade was particularly intensive. Around 1330 the old town was enfeoffed with the new town founded in the 12th century, which from then on always acted as the town of Quedlinburg.
The economic success was also accompanied by a more political one in 1336, when the city was able to imprison the latter in a regional conflict between the Halberstadt bishop and the Count of Regenstein. The city gained greater independence from the city mistress, the abbess of the women's monastery, and was subsequently allowed to massively expand its defenses. The new self-confidence was also demonstrated to the outside world in the form of many city alliances. As the culmination of this development, the city joined the Lower Saxony Association of Cities in 1384 and the Hanseatic League in 1426 .
The city council's plan to free itself more and more from the powers of the abbess resulted in a violent conflict in 1477. The Quedlinburgers had overstepped the curve by attempting to drive Abbess Hedwig of Saxony out of the city with weapons. The abbess asked her brothers, the Wettin dukes Ernst and Albrecht, for help. The troops sent stormed the city without losses, while 80 Quedlinburgers fell. The citizens then submitted and withdrew from all alliances. The Roland erected in 1440 , a symbol of market freedom and a sign of urban independence, was overthrown and smashed (a statue of Roland was not erected again until 1869).
Modern times
Reformation and early modern times
During the Peasants' War four of the city's monasteries, the Premonstratensian monastery of St. Wiperti, the Benedictine monastery of St. Mary, the Franciscan monastery in the old town and the Augustinian monastery in the new town were destroyed. The Reformation was implemented in Quedlinburg in 1539 and the monastery was converted into an evangelical "Free Secular Monastery". Plague epidemics raged in Quedlinburg in 1565/6, 1577, 1598, 1611, 1626 and 1636/7, each claiming several hundred lives. The establishment of a plague yard at the gates of the city prevents further plague waves in the long term. In 1615 the Quedlinburg town hall was rebuilt. Notably, the city experienced the greatest urban development from the Thirty Years War . Most of the 1,200 preserved half-timbered houses were built during this time. The largest city fire in 1676 devastated over 40 houses in the area of the stone bridge, the Word and the Neue Weg. In 1698, Brandenburg troops occupied the city, which made Prussia a protective power. During the biggest conflagration in the Neustadt in 1797, the remains of the Augustinian monastery burned down. In 1802, in the course of secularization, in anticipation of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss adopted in 1803, the women's monastery, which had existed since 936, was dissolved. The monastery buildings on the Schlossberg became the property of the Prussian state (1807–1813 Kingdom of Westphalia).
Garrison town since 1815
From 1815 to 1938 Quedlinburg was a garrison town. The 7th Landwehr Reiter Regiment, which had been stationed in Quedlinburg since 1815, was later joined by the 7th Landwehr Reiter Regiment, in 1859 a battalion of the 67th Infantry Regiment and, from 1871, parts of the 165 Infantry Regiment. Applied for economic reasons When the army increased, the city authorities kept asking for more garrisons. The military leadership followed this request in 1905 and relocated the I. and III. Battalion of the Infantry Regiment 165 with the regimental staff to Quedlinburg.
Plant breeding center and industrialization in the 19th century
In the course of the 18th and especially in the 19th century, the growing of flowers and seeds gave rise to considerable prosperity, which found expression in a number of Art Nouveau villas in urban planning. Due to the decline of early modern beer brewing, large warehouses were available for conversion. When the first sugar factory in the Magdeburg administrative district was set up in 1834 by G. Chr. Hanewald in Quedlinburg, this led to the rapid development of agricultural suppliers and large-scale businesses.
The development of breeding processes, the connection to the railway network and the separation (1834–58) are the stages of the seed breeding companies Gebr. Dippe AG , Heinrich Mette & Co GmbH , Rudolf Schreiber & Sons and twenty other companies on their way to global economic importance in the seed breeding sector . In addition to growing flower seeds, the importance of growing vegetables grew from the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1841 the royal district court was founded and a new prison was built on Weberstrasse as a result.
From 1865 to 1888, fragments of the oldest known illustrated biblical manuscript from the 5th century (Quedlinburger Itala) were found in various 17th century directories in Quedlinburg.
Empire 1871 to 1914
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Polish seasonal workers were primarily employed as auxiliary workers for industrial seed breeding and propagation. In addition, the seed breeding companies were also the largest employers of the time. In 1907 Rosa Luxemburg spoke to 800 Quedlinburg workers.
To find the so-called Quedlinburg Itala fragments, see Quedlinburg Cathedral Treasury
First World War
During the First World War , a lot of agricultural work was carried out with the help of 17,000 prisoners of war from Russia , France , England , Belgium and Italy who were housed in a prisoner of war camp on the so-called Ritteranger about 2 km northeast of the city. This camp was established in September 1914, was completed around Easter 1915 and existed as an emergency shelter for Tsarist soldiers after the war until it was burned down in June 1922. In the same year a celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the first documentary mention (922) was celebrated in Quedlinburg.
Weimar Republic
In fighting in connection with the Kapp Putsch in 1920, 7 soldiers and 14 civilians were killed in Quedlinburg. The following years were marked by the great inflation that hit the whole of Germany as a late aftermath of the First World War . A devastating flood of the Bode in 1926 destroyed all bridges in Quedlinburg and paralyzed the infrastructure, also because later floods hindered the reconstruction work.
time of the nationalsocialism
At the time of National Socialism , the millennium (936–1936) of the death of King Henry I was viewed by the SS as a "propaganda gift" after the city sought support from the highest authorities in the Reich in 1935 to organize the celebrations on July 2, 1936 . Heinrich Himmler had the Wiperti crypt and the Church of St. Servatii confiscated in 1938 and converted into "consecration sites" for the SS. Annual celebrations were held on July 2nd until 1944, in which Himmler attended until 1939. In 1937 he had the allegedly recovered bones of Heinrich I buried in a midnight ceremony, in 1938 he founded the “König-Heinrich-I-Gedächtnisstiftung”, and in 1939 the Lord Mayor of Quedlinburg gave him the “König-Heinrichs-March” composed especially for him “Presented. Himmler, looking for a "Germanic" model, which he thought he had found in this first king from the Saxon family, saw himself increasingly continuing Heinrich's Eastern policy towards the Slavs. From his dealings with the king it was deduced that he believed himself to be the reincarnation of Henry I. - After the war, when the (new) sarcophagus was opened, the “finds” presented by the SS in 1937 were exposed as crude forgeries.
During the Reichspogromnacht , all Jewish shops and many private apartments were looted. The next morning, the shopkeeper, Sommerfeld, placed his Iron Crosses from the First World War (EK 1 and 2) in his destroyed shop window and a sign: “You are assured of the thanks of the Fatherland.” Soon afterwards, the deportation of Jewish residents began. There were three outposts of concentration camps in the city: the district court prison, a prison camp in the Kleersturnhalle and in the air base in Quarmbeck .
Since 1943/44 Quedlinburg was used as a hospital town, where over 8,000 wounded were cared for in the sports halls and emergency hospitals. In the week before American troops (RCT 18) were able to take the city almost without a fight on April 19, 1945, parts of the V2 rocket , which were stored on wagons at the Quedlinburg train station , were successfully brought out of the city. This prevented bombing and so, in contrast to the heavily bombed cities of Halberstadt or Magdeburg , the war damage was limited to artillery hits.
Time of the GDR
After the war, Quedlinburg was part of the newly founded state of Saxony-Anhalt , since 1952 of the Halle district . During the GDR era, the company "Steinle und Hartung" was expanded into a large company for measurement and climate control technology (MERTIK). The demonstrations of June 17, 1953 in Quedlinburg and Thale could only be stopped through the use of armed forces of the Soviet Army.
On the outskirts of the city, apartments for many Quedlinburgers (Süderstadt, Kleers) were built using industrial construction. The St. Wiperti Church has been restored since 1957 and re-consecrated in 1959. Although there was hardly any significant war damage, the efforts made by the GDR were by no means sufficient to stop the impending decline of the old town of Quedlinburg. The original plans of the GDR in the 1960s to completely tear down the historic old town and replace it with a central square and socialist prefabricated buildings failed due to a lack of funds. An attempt to adapt the prefabricated building method to the historical conditions can be seen in the area of the Marschlinger Hofe, Neuendorf and the Schmalen Straße north of the market. For this, the so-called Hallesche monolith construction (HMB) was modified and implemented as the Hallesche monolith construction type Quedlinburg (HMBQ). From 1976 onwards, houses were restored selectively with the help of experienced Polish restorers and builders from Toruń . Only after the reunification in 1990 were single-minded half-timbered structures restored.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the so-called “stop” was established as a meeting place for religious (especially evangelical) young people under Hans Jaeckel, which later formed a breeding ground for the nonviolent revolution in Quedlinburg through its protest culture.
After the nonviolent revolution in 1989/90
- "In the fall of 1989, there was hardly any other city where as many people demonstrated in terms of population as in Quedlinburg."
Nonviolent demonstrations in Quedlinburg always took place on Thursdays. The demonstration on November 2, 1989, with 15,000 participants, was an example of non-violence despite the provocative behavior of the SED leaders on site. The largest demonstration with over 30,000 participants took place on November 9, 1989, without any participant suspecting that the wall was being opened at the same time. The district office of the Ministry for State Security was dissolved on December 12, 1989 after the clear names file and the most explosive files (e.g. on church matters) had been destroyed in the days before. On January 6, 1990, a big city festival took place as thanks for the overwhelming reception when crossing the border. Dignitaries and 50,000 guests from Goslar, the later twin cities and other places came to this festival. During a spontaneous visit in January 1990 , Helmut Kohl promised the city aid to secure the extremely endangered building stock at short notice, and the state of Lower Saxony donated 100,000 roof tiles in the spring for immediate measures. In the spring of 1990 Gregor Gysi spoke on the Quedlinburg market square as part of the federal election campaign. A social low point was in the autumn of 1992 xenophobic attacks in the Quedlinburg Neustadt. One response from Quedlinburg residents was the establishment of the “Old Town Project” prevention measure, which is still very active today. The planned NPD demonstration 15 years later was prevented by a markedly colorful demonstration by committed Quedlinburgers.
The parts of the cathedral treasure looted in 1945 returned from the USA in 1993. The address was given by the then President of the German Bundestag Rita Süssmuth . For the thousandth anniversary of the awarding of the market, coin and customs law, large parts of the Quedlinburg old town and the Königshofkomplex in December 1994 on the list of World Heritage Sites of UNESCO set. Gerhard Schröder visited the city in 1998 with the Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and in 1999 with the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin . In 2005 the Swedish King Carl Gustaf stopped in Quedlinburg together with his wife, Queen Silvia and daughter Viktoria , coming from Dessau .
In September 2006, Quedlinburg was voted 10th in the ZDF TV program Our Best - Germany's Favorite Places . In 2007 the Heinrich Fountain on Adelheidstrasse was inaugurated.
For information on the robbery and return of the Quedlinburg cathedral treasure, see Quedlinburg Cathedral Treasury
Historical city views and maps
Quedlinburg 1581 to Braun-Hogenberg
Quedlinburg 1647 after Merian
Quedlinburg 1782 (north is on the left)
Quedlinburg between 1890 and 1905
literature
- Johann Heinrich Fritsch : History of the former Reichsstift and the city of Quedlinburg. 2 volumes. Basse, Quedlinburg 1828.
- Selmar Kleemann: Quedlinburg history . Volume 2: Cultural-historical images from Quedlinburg's past . City Magistrate, Quedlinburg, 1922.
- Jahn-Holger Kirsch: "We live in the age of the final confrontation with Christianity". National Socialist projects for church renovations in Enger, Quedlinburg and Braunschweig. In: Stefan Brakensiek (Ed.): Widukind. Research on a Myth . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-89534-198-3 , pp. 33–95 ( contributions to city history / city Enger 9).
- Hermann Lorenz: Quedlinburg history . Volume 1: History of the city and Abbey of Quedlinburg . City Magistrate, Quedlinburg 1922.
- Harald Meller (Ed.): Archeology XXL. Archeology on the B 6n in the Quedlinburg district. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, State Museum for Prehistory, Halle / Saale 2006, ISBN 3-910010-99-7 ( Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt special volume 4).
- Klaus Militzer, Peter Przybilla: City development, bourgeoisie and council. Halberstadt and Quedlinburg until the middle of the 14th century. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1980, ISBN 3-525-35380-4 ( publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 67).
- Holm Petri: The miracle of candles . 2nd Edition. web and print design petri, Quedlinburg 2009.
- Ulrich Reuling , Daniel Stracke: German Historical City Atlas (DHStA) . No. 1: Quedlinburg. Edited by Wilfried Ehbrecht, Peter Johanek , Jürgen Lafrenz. Cartography by Thomas Kaling, Dieter Overhageböck. Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-87023-272-2 ( publications of the Institute for Comparative Urban History - Münster ).
- Achim Todenhöfer: The Franciscan Church of St. Franziskus in Quedlinburg. In: Churches of the mendicant orders. The architecture of the Dominicans and Franciscans in Saxony-Anhalt. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-496-01396-9 , pp. 116-125.
- Thomas Wozniak : Quedlinburg. Small city history. Pustet, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 3-7917-2605-6 .
- Peter Kasper: The Reichsstift Quedlinburg (936-1810) concept-time delay-system change. V&R unipress, Göttingen, 2014, ISBN 978-3-8471-0209-0 .
- Teresa Schröder-Stapper: princess abbesses, early modern canons between kinship, local powers and the imperial association. Böhlau Verlag Cologne, Weimar, Vienna, 2015. ISBN 978-3-412-22485-1
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Schirwitz: Contributions to the Stone Age of the Harz foreland . In: Mannus 30 (1938), pp. 299-322.
- ^ Karl Schirwitz: The fenugreek at Quedlinburg . In: Mannus 24 (1932), pp. 547-558.
- ↑ See Hanfried Schmidt: The early Neolithic . In: Harald Meller (Ed.): Archeology XXL. Archeology on the B 6n in the Quedlinburg district. Halle / Saale 2006, pp. 65–69.
- ↑ Christa Rienäcker: The Neolithic Settlement of Quedlinburg . In: Annual Journal for Central German Prehistory 62 (1978), pp. 109-133.
- ↑ Nils Hermann Niklasson: Studies on the Walternienburger Bernburger culture. In: Annual journal of the prehistory of the Saxon-Thuringian countries 13 (1925), pp. 19-29.
- ^ Berthold Schmidt: Contributions to the late Roman imperial period and the migration period in the northern Harz foreland . In: Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg 13 (1964), pp. 813–844.
- ↑ Theodor Sickel (Ed.): Diplomata 12: The documents Konrad I., Heinrich I. and Otto I. (Conradi I., Heinrici I. et Ottonis I. Diplomata). Hanover 1879, pp. 41–42 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
- ↑ Recognition mark MGH DD O. I, 184
- ↑ Werner, Matthias: Ottonischer Burgward - Quedlinburgisches Stiftsgut - City of the bailiffs of Gera: Gera from the 10th to 13th century and its beginnings as a city , in: Geraer Hefte 5 (2017), pp. 8-55.
- ↑ Cf. Manfred Mehl: The coins of the Quedlinburg monastery . Hamburg 2006, pp. 42-49.
- ↑ Bernd Feicke: On the political prehistory of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 and its results for Electoral Saxony and Prussia in the Eastern Harz with special attention [...] to the Reichsstiftes Quedlinburg , in: Contributions to regional u. Landeskultur Sachsen-Anhalts, H. 29 (2004), pp. 4–29, here: pp. 17–22 (= transcript of the conference on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the RDH on April 12, 2003 in Quedlinburg)
- ↑ Architectural historical study of the former court prison
- ^ Klaus Voigtländer: The collegiate church of St. Servatii in Quedlinburg. History of its restoration and furnishing, with a contribution by Helmut Berger. Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000580-7 , p. 38.
- ↑ Matthias Puhle: The Ottonian rulers in the reception of National Socialism. In: History and Propaganda. The Ottonen in the shadow of National Socialism. Edited by Christian Mühldorfer-Vogt and the Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony-Anhalt. Quedlinburg 2005, pp. 19–30, here p. 22. - However, there is no confirmation from Himmler himself to support this statement.
- ↑ Hans-Dieter Nover: There is a demonstration in the cities: Quedlinburg. In: Stefanie Wahl (Ed.): The events around June 17, 1953 in the Halle district. Highlights. State representative for the records of the State Security Service of the former GDR in Saxony-Anhalt. 2nd Edition. 2003.
- ↑ Rössing (1992), pp. 80f.
- ↑ See Holm Petri: The miracle of candles: From the nonviolent revolution to unity in 1989/90 Quedlinburg. Quedlinburg: Ed. Atos 1999, p. 2
- ↑ Cf. Christiane Kohl: "There has been a dictatorship here since '33". Dealing with right-wing extremists in Quedlinburg in East Germany . In: Der Spiegel 46 (1992), pp. 97-110; Uwe Gerig: Epilogue . In: Uwe Gerig (ed.): Quedlinburg stories from the past century . Quedlinburg 2000, pp. 142f; Colorful protest against the right. In: KSTA from September 17, 2007 , In the fight against the right-wing extremist demon. In: KSTA of September 30, 2007