Quedlinburg, the Town

Quedlinburg was an important center during the Ottonian dynasty in the 10th and 11th century, and a favorite of none other than Heinrich Himmler himself because of the town’s role in the foundation of the first German Reich. The castle, church, and old town-- filled with more fachwerk houses-- became a UNESCO site in 1994.

There has been a settlement in the area since the early ninth century, on the bank of the Bode River. The first mention of it as a town was in 922 in connection with a land donation made by Heinrich der Vogler-- the first Ottonian king. You can read more about him, and his wife Saint Matilda, in another post. In terms of Quedlinburg: Heinrich began the building of the imperial palace, and his wife founded a great abbey.

The castle was improved by Emperor Otto I, who imported a Byzantine princess (Theophanu) to marry his son Otto II in the vain and really stupid hope of reuniting the Western and Eastern empires. A for effort though.

In 994 Otto II granted the town market rights, as well the right to tax and coin money. The town joined the Hanseatic League in 1426. Several of the abbesses of the Quedlinburg Abbey (it was always run by a woman), sought to reign in the town’s independence, seeking outside help from outside secular forces. In one case, the Abbess Hedwig had her brothers attack the town and expel the forces of the Bishop of Halberstadt, who traditionally acted as a protector of the town. Forced to leave the Hanseatic League and all of the money and privileges that came with that, the town fell under the “protection” of the Elector of Saxony, and in the end, the town Burghers had the last laugh against the abbey when they converted to Lutheranism in 1539, taking the abbey with them.

In 1697 Frederick August I of Poland and Saxony (remember him from the last trip, the one who fancied up Dresden?) sold his rights to the Elector of Brandenburg. This was contested by the now Protestant Abbey, which was still putting forth their medieval claim to control of the town. All that was moot when all such institutions were secularized in 1802, and it passed to Prussia, then the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia, then the Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.

In the Nazi era, Quedlinburg saw a resurgence, due to its connection with Heinrich I. Himmler was said to have believed himself to be a reincarnation of Henry the Fowler, and Quedlinburg became one of the mystical touch points for the new religion Himmler crafted, with another being Wewelsburg castle. The town was captured by the Americans. During the initial occupation a number of medieval manuscripts and other treasures from the collegiate church were stolen by an American army lieutenant, who had a BA in art so knew a good thing when he saw it. It was found out after the soldier’s death when his family sold one of the pieces to a German organization which was buying back lost German art. That got the church involved, and then the US government stepped in. Details of the whole thing are in Wiki, too tired to go into it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_of_medieval…

Being even further east than Wernigerode, Quedlinburg became part of the DDR. It has since become another popular tourist spot for people interested in fachwerk and Romanesque architecture.

Significant pictures: Roland of Quedlinburg statue, the Rathaus, the super cute green carRead more