Short town history

Around 970 The East Franconian nobleman Reinger founded the parish of Detwang in the Taubertal below what later became the city of Rothenburg. Their church of St. Peter and Paul becomes the mother church of the later city church of St. Jacob.

Around 1080 The Counts of Komburg built a castle complex on the so-called “vinegar jug” (next to today's hospital). In 1116 their inheritance passed to the Komburg monastery they founded (near Schwäbisch Hall) and to the Neumünster monastery in Würzburg.

1142 King Conrad III, the first Hohenstaufen king, acquired the area of ​​the later city and had the “Red Castle” built on a mountain spur above the Tauber. This will 1167 first referred to as “Castrum Imperiale” (Imperial Castle).

Together with a castle settlement, the city emerged from this towards the end of the 12th century, which was first called “Civitas” in 1241: with the first fortification ring and a market square, a town church of the branch of two knightly orders (St. John, Teutonic Knights) and two monasteries (Dominicans). , Franciscan).

The Hohenstaufen city is initially led by royal officials. Gradually, civil self-government emerged from the ranks of a patrician upper class in the form of a council constitution, which was supported by numerous royal privileges.

The highlight of this development is King Rudolf's great privilege of freedom 1274. Until End of the 14. century Rothenburg is in fact an almost autonomous city that only recognizes the emperor and empire as authorities: an EMPIRE CITY.

With the increase in rights and freedom, the city also grows spatially. It forms suburbs that are quickly integrated into a defensive fortification ring. Since 1383 it extends beyond the walls into the wider surroundings. Extensive assets, areas of land and rights are acquired and after a few decades form a stately urban territory of around 400 square kilometers, the so-called “Landwehr”. since around 1430 is protected by a “land reserve”.

This expansive era coincides with the life and influence of the power-conscious and extremely successful mayor Heinrich Toppler 1408 falls victim to adverse power-political circumstances and a rival patrician opposition.

The rule of the leading urban upper class comes after a rebellion by the artisanal middle classes only through the years 1451 to 1455 interrupted. After that, the aristocratic council constitution remained until the end of the “Old Kingdom”.

At the beginning of the modern era, events began to occur that would radically change public life and the legal, social and religious structure of the city. Until 1521 The members of the once numerous and influential Jewish community are driven out of the city. 1525 Social unrest and the connection with the Peasants' War weaken the city.

1544 By embracing the Evangelical Lutheran Reformation, Rothenburg broke its previous church-religious ties. The two monasteries are dissolved. The city is losing political importance, but remains an economically important factor in the region, especially due to its rich agricultural hinterland.

This changes due to the Thirty Years' War. As a Protestant city, Rothenburg not only suffers from a permanent conflict of loyalty with the Catholic city ruler, the Habsburg Emperor, it is also economically ruined by raids, billetings, extortionate contributions and looting. It is repeatedly the target of military conquests (1631, 1645), and their population is decimated by epidemics.

Rothenburg retained its “Imperial Immediacy” for another century and a half. It finally ends in the years 1802 and 1803, when the city fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria as part of Napoleon's Central European “land consolidation”. In addition, will 1810 The western part of their former land area was also ceded to Württemberg.

Rothenburg only recovers when it 1873 will be connected to the domestic German railway network. The city had already been “rediscovered” by artists, writers and scientists and presented to a broad national and increasingly international public as the epitome of “old German” urban planning. Tourism is beginning to play a crucial role in the city's economic life. But industrialization is also taking hold, albeit at a modest level; the population is growing and the city is prospering.

From 1871 onwards A small Jewish community settles in Rothenburg again. With their violent expulsion 1938 The city, which has been considered a model place in the Third Reich's cultural scene since 1933, also shares responsibility for the Shoah in Germany. See also the articles on the website www.rothenburg-unterm- Hakenkreuz.de. An American air raid in the last weeks of the Second World War was dramatic for Rothenburg's population and the cityscape. As a result, around 45 percent of the old, walled city area is destroyed. The successful one Reconstruction in the post-war years is the most significant achievement in Rothenburg's recent history.