Home > Magdeburg

1 History

Magdeburg was one of the most important medieval cities of Germany. Emperor Otto I lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death. Important dates in the town's history include:

• 805 First recorded mention in the Diedenhof Capitulary as Magadoburg. Although settlement on the site had existed for centuries, the first mention of Magdeburg occurred during the reign of the emperor Charlemagne, when he secured the small fishing and trading town.

• 919 king Henry I the Fowler fortified Magdeburg against the Magyars and Slavs.

• 929 Henry I arranged with king Edward the Elder for Edward's daughter Edith (Editha, Eadgyth) to marry Otto I, son of Henry. At Otto and Edith's wedding she received Magdeburg as a Morgengabe - a Germanic customary gift received by the new bride from the groom and his family after the wedding night.

• 937 A royal assembly took place in Magdeburg. At the same time, the abbey of St. Maurice, later the cathedral, was founded.

• 946Events Eadred I succeeds his brother as king of England End of the reign of Emperor Suzaku of Japan Emperor Murakami ascends the throne of Japan Births Deaths May 26 King Edmund I of England Abu-Bakr Muhammad ben Yahya as-Suli 946. Queen Edith died and was buried in the abbey church crypt.

• 968Events Births Emperor Kazan of Japan Ethelred II of England Romanus Argyrus, later Romanus III of the Eastern Roman Empire. May 14 Leofric, Earl of Mercia Deaths August 25 Edgiva of Kent 968. At the Synod of RavennaFor other places named Ravenna, see Ravenna (disambiguation). Ravenna is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, population 134,631 (2001). The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the R, Magdeburg became elevated to the status of archbishopric and AdalbertAdalbert of Magdeburg ( d. 981), sometimes known as the "Apostle of the Slavs", was possibly born in Alsace. His feast day is June 20. Adalbert was a German monk at the Benedictine Monastary of Saint Maximinus in Trier. He was consecrated a bishop and in received consecration as its first Archbishop.

• 973Events Edgar of England is crowned king by Saint Dunstan Births September 15 Al-Biruni, mathematician († 1048) Deaths May 7 Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor 973. Emperor Otto I dies and is buried in the cathedral of Magdeburg.

• 1035Events Harthacanute becomes king of Denmark. Magnus I becomes king of Norway. William II (the future William I of England) becomes duke of Normandy. Construction on the cathedral of Saint Sabino begins in Bari. Koper is awarded town rights Births Deaths C Magdeburg received a patent giving the city the right to hold trade exibits and conventions, the basis of the later family of city laws known as Magdeburg rightsThe Magdeburg Rights (or Magdeburg law were the laws of the Imperial Free City of Magdeburg during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, and possibly the most important set of Germanic medieval city laws. Among the most advanced systems of old Germanic. Many visitors from many countries trade in Magdeburg.

• 13th century12th century 13th century 14th century other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. Events Fourth through eighth crusades of western European kingdoms against Islam Fall of Magdeburg becomes a member of the Hanseatic League

• 1524 Martin Luther is called to Magdeburg, where he preaches and causes the city's defection from Catholicism. In the following years Magdeburg gains a reputation as a stronghold of Protestantism and it becomes the first major city to publish the writings of Martin Luther. The emperor outlaws the unruly town.

• 1631 During the Thirty Years' War imperial troops storm the city and commit a massacre, killing about 20,000 inhabitants. After the war only a population of 400 remains in the totally destroyed town.

• 1654 Otto von Guericke makes the Magdeburg hemispheres, two hollow shells with rings for attaching ropes, puts them together with grease, and evacuates the air with a pump that he had invented some years before. Sixteen horses fail pull the hemispheres apart.

• 1680 Brandenburg annexes Magdeburg, which thus loses its status as an Imperial Free City.

• 1815 After the Napoleonic Wars Prussia sets up the province of the Prussian Province of Saxony, with Magdeburg as its capital.

• 1945 During World War II Magdeburg (350.000 inhabitants) suffers almost totally destruction due to Allied air raids. Even the suburbs around the innercity were destroyed, notably the very impressive Gründerzeit areas in the North, called the Nordfront. It reputedly ranks as the second most-destroyed large city of Germany (only Dresden suffered even more). American and Soviet troops occupy the city, but the Americans soon depart.

• 1945-1990 In the years after the war the remains of the old city were remorselessly removed and only a few buildings near the Cathedral restored. Until today many surviving buildings of the Gründerzeit are left unhabited and after years of degradation are waiting to be demolished. Few remains to testimony of a once proud, densely built and rich decorated city. Greatest architectonical loss is perhaps the once impressive and enormous building of the "Justiz-Palast".

• 1990 Magdeburg becomes the capital of the new state of Saxony-Anhalt within reunified Germany. The city centre is almost exclusively rebuilt with modern flat roofed buildings.