The Rintfleisch or Rindfleisch movement was a series of massacres against Jews in 1298. The event, in later terminology a pogrom , was the first large-scale persecution in Germany since the First Crusade .
139-655: It occurred in the Franconian region during the civil strife between the elected King of the Romans , Count Adolf of Nassau , and his Habsburg rival Duke Albert of Austria , when Imperial authority, traditionally concerned with the protection of the Jews, had temporarily collapsed. Already in 1287, the death of Werner of Oberwesel in the Rhineland had been blamed on Jews, and about 500 were killed in revenge, followed by
278-545: A language , cuisine , architecture, festivals and elements of Alpine symbolism. It also has the second-largest economy among the German states by GDP figures , giving it the status of a wealthy German region. Contemporary Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia , in addition to Altbayern . Though Bavaria has been occupied by humans since the Paleolithic era, Celtic tribes of
417-649: A Franconian identity did not develop there. Franconia's largest city is Nuremberg , which is contiguous with Erlangen and Fürth , with which it forms the Franconian conurbation with around 1.3 million inhabitants. Other important Franconian cities are Würzburg , Bamberg , Bayreuth , Ansbach and Coburg in Bavaria, Suhl and Meiningen in Thuringia, and Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg. The German word Franken —Franconians—also refers to
556-697: A chain of hill forts as a line of defence against the Germani advancing from the north. On the Staffelberg they built a powerful settlement, to which Ptolemy gave the name oppidum Menosgada , and on the Gleichberge is the largest surviving oppidum in Central Germany , the Steinsburg . With the increased expansion of Rome in the first century B.C. and the simultaneous advance of
695-719: A favoured Pfalz and an important centre of the Empire. Because parts of the Bishopric of Würzburg also fell to Bamberg, Würzburg was enfeoffed several royal estates by King Henry II by way of compensation. From the 12th century Nuremberg Castle was the seat of the Burgraviate of Nuremberg . The burgraviate was ruled from about 1190 by the Zollerns, the Franconian line of the later House of Hohenzollern , which provided
834-543: A mob around him and burned the Röttingen Jews on Sunday, April 20. Rintfleisch declared to have received a mandate from heaven to avenge the sacrilege and exterminate the Jews. The Colmar Dominican Rudolph refers to him in Latin as a carnifex , i.e. butcher or executioner, but it is not clear if Rudolph meant his original profession, or his behaviour as a slaughterer of the Jews. According to contemporary sources,
973-533: A more precise definition of Franconia's boundaries include: the territories covered by the former Duchy of Franconia and former Franconian Circle , the range of the East Franconian dialect group , the common culture and history of the region and the use of the Franconian Rake on coats of arms, flags and seals. However, a sense of popular consciousness of being Franconian is only detectable from
1112-683: A series of blood libels . When finally King Adolf was deposed and killed in the Battle of Göllheim on 2 July 1298, the Franconian nobility gathered at Albert's election in Frankfurt . When at the same time the Jews in the Hohenlohe town of Röttingen were accused of having obtained and desecrated a consecrated host , one "Lord Rindtfleisch", who the sources refer to either as an impoverished knight or—more probably—a butcher (the term Rindfleisch means "beef" in modern German spelling), gathered
1251-437: A total of 2,056 municipalities in Bavaria. In 44 of the 71 rural districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of 1 January 2005, called gemeindefreie Gebiete , singular gemeindefreies Gebiet ), not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes ( Chiemsee -without islands, Starnberger See -without island Roseninsel , Ammersee , which are
1390-421: A town hall or temple, and continued in different forms up to 1000 AD. In Manching , Upper Bavaria, an unfortified and semi-urban society appears to have prospered between the 3rd century BC until the early 1st Century AD . The settlement featured food ovens, pottery kilns and metallurgical furnaces. By 200 BC the community there was active in trade—finds of coins, along with an icon-like golden tree suggest it
1529-612: Is Hildburghausen in the Thuringian part of Franconia, where it occurs in the so-called Thuringian Chirotherium Sandstone ( Thüringer Chirotheriensandstein , main Middle Bunter Sandstone). Chirotherium is also found in the Bavarian and Württemberg parts of Franconia. Sites include Aura near Bad Kissingen, Karbach , Gambach and Külsheim . There the deposits are somewhat younger (Upper Bunter Sandstone), and
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#17327730916871668-520: Is a region of Germany , characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (German: Ostfränkisch ). Franconia is made up of the three Regierungsbezirke of Lower , Middle and Upper Franconia in Bavaria , the adjacent, Franconian -speaking South Thuringia , south of the Thuringian Forest —which constitutes the language boundary between Franconian and Thuringian —and
1807-606: Is divided into seven administrative regions called Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk ). Each of these regions has a state agency called the Bezirksregierung (district government). Bezirke (regional districts) are the third communal layer in Bavaria; the others are the Landkreise and the Gemeinden or Städte . The Bezirke in Bavaria are territorially identical with
1946-524: Is sometimes less marked. The region of Franconia is divided among the states of Hesse, Thuringia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. The largest part of Franconia, both by population and area, belongs to the Free State of Bavaria and is divided into the three administrative regions ( Regierungsbezirke ) of Middle Franconia (capital: Ansbach ), Upper Franconia (capital: Bayreuth ) and Lower Franconia (capital: Würzburg ). The name of these regions, as in
2085-792: Is the Odenwald . Parts of the southern Thuringian Forest border on Franconia. The most important hill ranges in the interior of the region are the Steigerwald and the Franconian Jura with their sub-ranges of Hahnenkamm and Franconian Switzerland . The highest mountain in Franconia is the Schneeberg in the Fichtel Mountains which is 1,051 m above sea level (NHN) . Other well-known mountains include
2224-457: Is the largest German state by land area , comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and with over 13.08 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous German state , behind only North Rhine-Westphalia ; however, due to its large land area, its population density is below the German average . Major cities include Munich (its capital and largest city , which is also
2363-642: Is the other "big" and similarly famous fossil locality in the Solnhofen Formation, situated on the southern edge of the Jura in Upper Bavaria . Here, as well as Archaeopteryx , the theropod dinosaurs, Compsognathus and Juravenator , were found. An inglorious episode in the history of paleontology took place in Franconia: fake fossils, known as Beringer's Lying Stones , were acquired in
2502-600: The Regierungsbezirke , but they are self-governing regional corporation, having their own parliaments. In the other larger states of Germany, there are only Regierungsbezirke as administrative divisions and no self-governing entities at the level of the Regierungsbezirke as the Bezirke in Bavaria. The second communal layer is made up of 71 rural districts (called Landkreise , singular Landkreis ) that are comparable to counties, as well as
2641-654: The Alemanni occupied the areas up to the Danube . Fortified settlements such as the Gelbe Bürg at Dittenheim controlled the new areas. More such Gau forts have been detected north of the former Limes as well. Which tribe their occupants belonged to is unknown in most cases. However, it is likely that it was mainly Alemanni and Juthungi , especially in the south. By contrast, it was the Burgundians who settled on
2780-659: The Alps exerted a northwards-oriented pressure. These are rocks of pre- Permian vintage, which were folded during various stages of Variscan orogeny in the Late Palaeozoic - before about 380 to 300 million years ago - and, in places, were metamorphosed under high pressure and temperature or were crystallized by ascending magma in the Earth's crust . Rocks which were unchanged or only lightly metamorphosed, because they had been deformed at shallow crustal depths, include
2919-692: The Anif declaration , releasing both civil and military officers from their oaths, which the Eisner government interpreted as an abdication. After losing the January 1919 elections , Eisner was assassinated in February 1919, ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably
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#17327730916873058-541: The Congress of Vienna . In return, Bavaria was allowed to annex the modern-day region of Palatinate to the west of the Rhine and Franconia in 1815. Between 1799 and 1817, the leading minister, Count Montgelas , followed a strict policy of modernization copying Napoleonic France; he laid the foundations of centralized administrative structures that survived the monarchy and, in part, have retained core validity through to
3197-698: The Czech Republic ( Karlovy Vary , Plzeň and South Bohemian Regions ), as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance to the Canton of St. Gallen ). Neighboring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg , Hesse , Thuringia , and Saxony . Two major rivers flow through the state: the Danube ( Donau ) and the Main . The Bavarian Forest and the Bohemian Forest form the vast majority of
3336-802: The Danube ; the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal crosses the European Watershed . The man-made Franconian Lake District has become a popular destination for day-trippers and tourists. The landscape is characterized by numerous Mittelgebirge ranges of the German Central Uplands . The Western natural border of Franconia is formed by the Spessart and Rhön Mountains , separating it from the former Rhenish Franconian lands around Aschaffenburg (officially part of Lower Franconia), whose inhabitants speak Hessian dialects . To
3475-775: The Eger . The Main-Danube Canal connects the Main and Danube across Franconia, running from Bamberg via Nuremberg to Kelheim . It thus complements the Rhine, Main and Danube, helping to ensure a continuous navigable waterway between the North Sea and the Black Sea . In Franconia, there are only a few, often very small, natural lakes . This is due to fact that most natural lakes in Germany are glacial or volcanic in origin, and Franconia escaped both influences in recent earth history. Among
3614-706: The Elbe Germanic tribes from the north, the Celtic culture began to fall into decline. The southern parts of present-day Franconia soon fell under Roman control; however, most of the region remained in Free Germania . Initially, Rome tried to extend its direct influence far to the northeast; in the longer term, however, the Germanic-Roman frontier formed further southwest. Under the emperors, Domitian (81–96), Trajan (98–117) and Hadrian (117–138),
3753-708: The Freikorps , the Bavarian Soviet Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution ( Bamberger Verfassung ) was enacted on 12 or 14 August 1919 and came into force on 15 September 1919, placing Bavaria inside the Weimar Republic . Extremist activity further increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch led by the Nazis , and Munich and Nuremberg became seen as strongholds of Nazism during
3892-681: The Haller Ebene plateau, South Franconian dialects are spoken. Furthermore, in those easternmost parts of the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis which had formerly belonged to the Bishopric of Würzburg , the inhabitants have preserved their Franconian identity. Franconian areas in East Hesse along Spessart and Rhön comprise Gersfeld and Ehrenberg . The two largest cities of Franconia are Nuremberg and Fürth . Though located on
4031-525: The Hohenlohe Plain . In the south of Franconia are smaller parts of the flat Nördlinger Ries , one of the best preserved impact craters on earth. Franconia's flora is dominated by deciduous and coniferous forests. Natural forests in Franconia occur mainly in the ranges of the Spessart, Franconian Forest, Odenwald and Steigerwald. The Nuremberg Reichswald is another great forest , located within
4170-713: The Holy Roman Empire dissolved under Napoleon 's onslaught, Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806 and joined the Confederation of the Rhine . The Duchy of Jülich was ceded to France and the Electoral Palatinate was divided between France and the Grand Duchy of Baden . The Duchy of Berg was given to Joachim Murat . The County of Tyrol and the federal state of Salzburg were temporarily annexed with Bavaria but eventually ceded to Austria at
4309-599: The Lower Carboniferous shale and greywacke of Franconian Forest. The Fichtel mountains, the Münchberg Plateau and the Spessart, by contrast, have more metamorphic rocks ( phyllite , schist , amphibolite , gneiss ). The Fichtel mountains are also characterized by large granite bodies, called post-kinematic plutons which, in the late phase of Variscan orogeny, intruded into the metamorphic rocks. In most cases these are S-type granites whose melting
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4448-779: The Ochsenkopf (1,024m ), the Kreuzberg (927.8m ) and the Hesselberg (689.4m ). The outliers of the region include the Hesselberg and the Gleichberge . The lowest point in Franconia is the water level of the river Main in Kahl which lies at a height of 100 metres above sea level. In addition to the hill and mountain ranges, there are also several very level areas, including the Middle Franconian Basin and
4587-409: The Rhaetian Limes was built as a border facing the Germanic tribes to the north. This defensive line ran through the south of Franconia and described an arc across the region whose northernmost point lay at present-day Gunzenhausen . To protect it, the Romans built several forts like Biriciana at Weißenburg , but by the mid-third century, the border could no longer be maintained and by 250 A.D.
4726-503: The Rhine ) and even included Frankfurt ("ford of the Franks"). In the early 10th century, the Babenbergs and Conradines fought for power in Franconia. Ultimately this discord led to the Babenberg Feud which was fuelled and controlled by the crown. The outcome of this feud meant the loss of power for the Babenbergs, but indirectly resulted in the Conradines winning the crown of East Francia. Sometime around 906, Conrad succeeded in establishing his ducal hegemony over Franconia, but when
4865-434: The Schwabing district in Munich, a center of international artistic activity at the time. World War I led to the abolition of monarchy all over Germany in 1918. The Bavarian monarchy was the first to fall when on 8 November 1918 Socialist politician Kurt Eisner proclaimed the Free State (i.e. republic) of Bavaria. Eisner headed a new, republican government as minister-president. On 12 November, King Ludwig III signed
5004-481: The South German Scarplands . The regional geological element of the South German Scarplands is the Franconian Platform ( Süddeutsche Großscholle ). At the so-called Franconian Line , a significant fault line , the Saxo-Thuringian-Moldanubian basement was uplifted in places up to 2000 m above the Franconian Platform. The western two-thirds of Franconia is dominated by the Triassic with its sandstones , siltstones and claystones (so-called siliciclastics ) of
5143-452: The Spessart (largest city: Aschaffenburg ) do consider themselves Franconian, although not speaking the dialect. Heilbronn-Franconia's largest city of Heilbronn and its surrounding areas are South Franconian -speaking, and therefore only sometimes regarded as Franconian. In Hesse , the east of the Fulda District is Franconian-speaking, and parts of the Oden Forest District are sometimes regarded as Franconian for historical reasons, but
5282-447: The Temnospondyle Mastodonsaurus ingens (possibly identical with the mastodonsaurus, Heptasaurus cappelensis ) from the Upper Bunter at Gambach. As early as the first decade of the 19th century George, Count of Münster began systematic fossil gathering and digs and in the Upper Muschelkalk at Bayreuth . For example, the Oschenberg hill near Laineck became the type locality of two relatively well-known marine reptiles of
5421-424: The Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. That time also Salzburg finally became independent from the Duchy of Bavaria . In the 14th and 15th centuries, upper and lower Bavaria were repeatedly subdivided. Four Duchies existed after the division of 1392: Bavaria-Straubing , Bavaria-Landshut , Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich . In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession ,
5560-451: The Weimar Republic and Nazi dictatorship . However, in the crucial German federal election, March 1933 , the Nazis received less than 50% of the votes cast in Bavaria. As a manufacturing centre, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and was occupied by United States Armed Forces , becoming a major part of the American Zone of Allied-occupied Germany , which lasted from 1945 to 1947, and then of Bizone . The Rhenish Palatinate
5699-423: The Western Roman Empire . It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire , became the independent Kingdom of Bavaria after 1806, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. Bavaria has a distinct culture, largely because of its Catholic heritage and conservative traditions, which includes
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5838-425: The Wettin duchy of Saxe-Meiningen . In the east, the Fichtel Mountains lead to Vogtland , Bohemian Egerland ( Chebsko ) in the Czech Republic , and the Bavarian Upper Palatinate . The hills of the Franconian Jura in the south mark the border with the Upper Bavarian region ( Altbayern ), historical Swabia , and the Danube basin. The northern parts of the Upper Bavarian Eichstätt District , territory of
5977-408: The bunter sandstone ; the limestones and marls of the Muschelkalk and the mixed, but predominantly siliciclastic, sedimentary rocks of the Keuper . In the Rhön , the Triassic rocks are overlain and intruded by volcanic rock ( basalts , basanites , phonolites and trachytes ) of the Tertiary . The eastern third of Franconia is dominated by the Jurassic rocks of the Franconian Jura , with
6116-496: The dative plural form of Franke , a member of the Germanic people known as the Franks . The name of the Franks in turn derives from a word meaning "daring, bold", cognate with old Norwegian frakkr , "quick, bold". Franks from the Middle and Lower Rhine gradually gained control of (and so gave their name to) what is now Franconia during the 6th to 8th centuries. English distinguishes between Franks (the early medieval Germanic people) and Franconians in reference to
6255-400: The ethnic group , which is mainly to be found in this region. They are to be distinguished from the Germanic people of the Franks , and historically formed their easternmost settlement area. The origins of Franconia lie in the settlement of the Franks from the 6th century in the area probably populated until then mainly by the Elbe Germanic people in the Main River area, known from
6394-467: The imperial city declared itself "Swabian" in 1442 — and Crailsheim on the Jagst river. The main towns in Thuringia are Suhl and Meiningen . Franconia may be distinguished from the regions that surround it by its peculiar historical factors and its cultural and especially linguistic characteristics, but it is not a political entity with a fixed or tightly defined area. As a result, it is debated whether some areas belong to Franconia or not. Pointers to
6533-409: The third largest city in Germany ), Nuremberg , and Augsburg . The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum . It became the Duchy of Bavaria (a stem duchy ) in the 6th century AD following the collapse of
6672-421: The 13th century, the following states, among others, had formed in the territory of the former Duchy: On 2 July 1500 during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I , as part of the Imperial Reform Movement , the Empire was divided into Imperial Circles . This led in 1512 to the formation of the Franconian Circle . Seen from a modern perspective, the Franconian Circle may be viewed as an important basis for
6811-480: The 1720s by Würzburg doctor and naturalist, Johann Beringer , for a lot of money and then described in a monograph , along with genuine fossils from the Würzburg area. However, it is not entirely clear whether the Beringer forgeries were actually planted or whether he himself was responsible for the fraud. Franconia has a humid cool temperate transitional climate, which is neither very continental nor very maritime. The average monthly temperatures vary depending on
6950-472: The 1970s but the archaeocyathids among them were apparently overlooked at that time. Better known and more highly respected fossil finds in Franconia come from the unfolded sedimentary rocks of the Triassic and Jurassic. The bunter sandstone , however, only has a relatively small number of preserved whole fossils. Much more commonly, it contains trace fossils , especially the tetrapod footprints of Chirotherium . The type locality for these animal tracks
7089-406: The 19th century onwards, which is why the circumstances of the emergence of a Frankish identity are disputed. Franconia has many cultural peculiarities which have been adopted from other regions and further developed. The following regions are counted as part of Franconia today: the Bavarian provinces of Lower Franconia , Upper Franconia and Middle Franconia , the municipality of Pyrbaum in
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#17327730916877228-465: The 21st century. In May 1808, a first constitution was passed by Maximilian I , being modernized in 1818. This second version established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords ( Kammer der Reichsräte ) and a House of Commons ( Kammer der Abgeordneten ). That constitution was followed until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I . After the rise of Prussia in the early 18th century, Bavaria preserved its independence by playing off
7367-496: The 25 independent cities ( Kreisfreie Städte , singular Kreisfreie Stadt ), both of which share the same administrative responsibilities. Rural districts: Independent cities: The 71 rural districts are on the lowest level divided into 2,031 regular municipalities (called Gemeinden , singular Gemeinde ). Together with the 25 independent cities ( kreisfreie Städte , which are in effect municipalities independent of Landkreis administrations), there are
7506-524: The 8th century. Despite its name, Franconia is not the homeland of the Franks, but rather owes its name to being partially settled by Franks from the Rhineland during the 7th century following the defeat of the Alamanni and Thuringians who had dominated the region earlier. At the beginning of the 10th century a Duchy of Franconia (German: Herzogtum Franken ) was established within East Francia , which comprised modern Hesse , Palatinate , parts of Baden-Württemberg and most of today's Franconia. After
7645-406: The 9th century as East Francia ( Francia Orientalis ). In the Middle Ages the region formed much of the eastern part of the Duchy of Franconia and, from 1500, the Franconian Circle . The restructuring of the south German states by Napoleon , after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire , saw most of Franconia awarded to Bavaria. The German name for Franconia, Franken , comes from
7784-553: The Altmühl. There are also numerous Special Areas of Conservation and protected landscapes . In Franconia there are very many tufas , raised stream beds near river sources within the karst landscape that are known as 'stone runnels' ( Steinerne Rinnen ). There are protected examples at Heidenheim and Wolfsbronn . Like large parts of Germany, Franconia only has a few large species of wild animal. Forest dwellers include various species of marten , fallow deer , red deer , roe deer , wild boar and fox . In natural areas such as
7923-432: The Bavarian part of Franconia were found in the cave ruins of Hunas at Pommelsbrunn in the county of Nuremberg Land . In the late Bronze Age , the region was probably only sparsely inhabited, as few noble metals occur here and the soils are only moderately fertile. In the subsequent Iron Age (from about 800 B.C.) the Celts became the first nation to be discernible in the region. In northern Franconia they built
8062-432: The Bavarian regions of Upper Palatinate and Upper Bavaria . The Franconian territories of Baden-Württemberg are the regions of Tauber Franconia and Hohenlohe (which belong to the Heilbronn-Franconia Region with its office in Heilbronn and form part of the Stuttgart Region ) and the area around the Badenian Buchen in the Rhein-Neckar Region . The Franconian parts of Thuringia ( Henneberg Franconia ) lie within
8201-453: The Bronze Age, such as the Boii were the first documented inhabitants of the Bavarian Alps . In June 2023, Archeologists discovered a bronze sword, dated to the 14th century BC , in a former Celtic village; its workmanship so well-preserved "it almost shines." During the early modern era, these peoples were retrospectively romanticized as the most ancient culture of Bavaria, even though the Indo-European languages were relative newcomers to
8340-467: The Christian citizens, but Rintfleisch overcame the defenders and butchered the Jews on 1 August. The Nürnberger Memorbuch contains the names of thousands of murdered Jews in numerous cities, among them Mordechai ben Hillel , a pupil of Meir of Rothenburg , with his wife and children. The communities at Regensburg and Augsburg alone escaped the mass killing, as the cities' magistrates protected them. Spreading from Franconia to Bavaria and Austria ,
8479-412: The Fichtel mountains there are populations of lynx and capercaillie , and beaver and otter have grown in numbers. There are occasional sightings of animals that had long been extinct in Central Europe, for example, the wolf . Only in the extreme northeast of Franconia and in the Spessart are there Variscan outcrops of the crystalline basement , which were uplifted from below the surface when
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#17327730916878618-423: The Franconian countryside. In the southeast, Franconia is shielded from the rest of Bavaria by the Franconian Jura . In the east, the Fichtel Mountains form the border; in the north are Franconian Forest , the Thuringian Forest , the Rhön Mountains and the Spessart form a kind of natural barrier. To the west are the Franconian Heights and the Swabian-Franconian Forest . In the Franconian part of South Hesse
8757-469: The German emperors of the 19th and 20th century. Under the Hohenstaufen kings, Conrad III and Frederick Barbarossa , Franconia became the centre of power in the Empire. During the time when there was no emperor, the Interregnum (1254–1273), some territorial princes became ever more powerful. After the Interregnum, however, the rulers succeeded in re-establishing a stronger royal lordship in Franconia. Franconia soon played an important role again for
8896-399: The German magazine, Focus , on quality of life in 2014, the districts of Eichstätt and Fürth were among the top positions in the table. In the Glücksatlas by Deutsche Post Franconia achieved some of the highest scores, but the region slipped in 2013 to 13th place out of 19. Franconia is named after the Franks , a Germanic tribe who conquered most of Western Europe by the middle of
9035-428: The Lord of Röttingen, Kraft von Hohenlohe, was encumbered with debts to Jewish lenders. After this, he and his mob went from town to town and killed all Jews that fell under their control, destroying the Jewish communities at Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Würzburg , Bamberg , Dinkelsbühl , Nördlingen and Forchheim . In the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg , the Jews sought refuge in the fortress and were assisted by
9174-405: The Lower and Middle Main. Many of these hill forts appear to have been destroyed, however, no later than 500 A.D. The reasons are not entirely clear, but it could have been as a result of invasions by the Huns which thus triggered the Great Migration . In many cases, however, it was probably conquest by the Franks that spelt the end of these hilltop settlements. With their victories over
9313-460: The Palatinate by Rhine ( Kurpfalz in German) was also acquired by the House of Wittelsbach in 1214, which they would subsequently hold for six centuries. The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268, Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Emperor Louis the Bavarian acquired Brandenburg , Tyrol , Holland and Hainaut for his House but released
9452-467: The Prussian forces and ultimately joined the Federation, which was renamed Deutsches Reich ( German Empire ) in 1871. Bavaria continued as a monarchy, and retained some special rights within the federation (such as railways and postal services and control of its army in peace times). When Bavaria became part of the newly formed German Empire , this action was considered controversial by Bavarian nationalists who had wanted to retain independence from
9591-475: The Southwest Thuringia Planning Region. The Franconian regions in Hesse form the smaller parts of the districts of Fulda ( Kassel region ) and the Odenwaldkreis ( Darmstadt region ), or lie on the borders with Bavaria or Thuringia. The two most important rivers of the region are the Main and its primary tributary, the Regnitz . The tributaries of these two rivers in Franconia are the Tauber , Pegnitz , Rednitz and Franconian Saale . Other major rivers in
9730-415: The Steigerwald caused controversy and its designation was rejected in July 2011 by the Bavarian government . The reason was the negative attitude of local population. Conservationists are now demanding protection for parts of the Steigerwald by nominating it for a World Heritage Site. There are several nature parks in Franconia, including the Altmühl Valley Nature Park , which, since 1969, has been one of
9869-432: The Triassic period, later found in other parts of Central Europe: the "flat tooth lizard", Placodus and the "false lizard", Nothosaurus . In Franconia's middle Keuper (the Feuerletten ) is one of the best known and most common species of dinosaurs of Central Europe: Plateosaurus engelhardti , an early representative of the sauropodomorpha . Its type locality is located at Heroldsberg south of Nuremberg. When
10008-579: The Triassic, the Franconian part of these depressions was often part of the mainland, in the Jurassic it was covered for most of the time by a marginal sea of the western Tethys Ocean . At the time when the limestones and dolomites of the White Jura were being deposited, this sea was divided into sponge reefs and intervening lagoons. The reef bodies and the fine-grained lagoon limestones and marls are
10147-537: The area between about -1 to -2 °C in January and 17 to 19 °C in August, but may reach a peak of about 35 °C for a few days in the summer, especially in the large cities. The climate of Franconia is sunny and relatively warm. For part of the summer, for example, Lower Franconia is one of the sunniest areas in Germany. Daily temperatures in the Bavarian part of Franconia are an average of 0.1 °C higher than
10286-724: The area of Franconia. In 1991 UNESCO recognised the Rhön as a biosphere reserve . Among the most picturesque geotopes in Bavaria, are the Franconian sites of Fossa Carolina , the Twelve Apostle Rocks ( Zwölf-Apostel-Felsen ), the Ehrenbürg , the cave ruins of Riesenburg and the lake of Frickenhäuser See . The European Bird Reserves in Franconia are found mainly in uplands like the Steigerwald, in large forests like Nuremberg's Imperial Forest or along rivers like
10425-404: The average for Bavaria as a whole. Relatively less rain falls in Franconia, and likewise in the rest of North Bavaria rain than is usual for its geographic location; even summer storms are often less powerful than in other areas of South Germany. In southern Bavaria about 2,000 mm of precipitation falls annually and almost three times as much as in parts of Franconia (about 500–900 mm) in
10564-532: The case of Upper and Lower Bavaria , refers to their situation with respect to the river Main . Thus Upper Franconia lies on the upper reaches of the river, Lower Franconia on its lower reaches and Middle Franconia lies in between, although the Main itself does not flow through Middle Franconia. Where the boundaries of these three provinces meet (the ' tripoint ') is the Dreifrankenstein ("Three Franconias Rock"). Small parts of Franconia also belong to
10703-540: The construction of numerous churches and castles in this area goes back to the work of this Roman Catholic military order. The residence place of the bailiwick was at Ellingen until 1789 when it was transferred to today's Bad Mergentheim . Other orders such as the Knights Templar could not gain a foothold in Franconia; the Order of St. John worked in the Bishopric of Würzburg and had short term commands. As of
10842-581: The corresponding stratigraphic interval is called the Franconian Chirotherium Beds ( Fränkische Chirotherienschichten ). Among the less significant body fossil records of vertebrates are the procolophonid Anomoiodon liliensterni from Reurieth in the Thuringian part of Franconia and Koiloskiosaurus coburgiensis from Mittelberg near Coburg, both from the Thuringian Chirotherium Sandstone, and
10981-722: The county of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz , the northwestern part of the Upper Bavarian county of Eichstätt (covering the same area as the old county of Alt-Eichstätt), the East Franconian counties of South Thuringia , parts of Fulda and the Odenwaldkreis in Hesse, the Baden-Württemberg regions of Tauber Franconia and Hohenlohe as well as the region around the Badenian Buchen . In individual cases
11120-676: The dark shales of the Black Jura , the shales and ferruginous sandstones of the Brown Jura and, the weathering-resistant limestones and dolomitic rocks of the White Jura , which stand out from the landscape and form the actual ridge of the Franconian Jura itself. In the Jura, mostly siliciclastic sedimentary rocks formed in the Cretaceous have survived. The Mesozoic sediments have been deposited in largescale basin areas. During
11259-637: The direct Carolingian male line failed in 911, Conrad was acclaimed King of the Germans , largely because of his weak position in his own duchy. Franconia, like Alamannia was fairly fragmented and the duke's position was often disputed between the chief families. Conrad had granted Franconia to his brother Eberhard on his succession, but when Eberhard rebelled against Otto I in 938, he was deposed from his duchy, which disintegrated in 939 on Eberhard's death into West or Rhenish Franconia ( Francia Rhenensis ), and East Franconia ( Francia Orientalis ) and
11398-678: The dissolution of the so-called Stem duchy of Franconia, the Holy Roman Emperors created the Franconian Circle (German Fränkischer Reichskreis ) in 1500 to embrace the principalities that grew out of the eastern half of the former duchy. The territory of the Franconian Circle roughly corresponds with modern Franconia. The title of Duke of Franconia was claimed by the Würzburg bishops until 1803 and by
11537-572: The early 7th century. Saint Kilian , who together with his companions, Saint Colman and Saint Totnan are considered to be the apostles to the Franks, suffering martyrdom in Würzburg in the late 7th century, probably did not encounter any pagans in the ducal court. It was probably Saint Boniface who carried the Christian mission deep into the heart of the ordinary population of Franconia. In
11676-419: The early 8th century. Tassilo III of Bavaria succeeded to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onward. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, oppressing Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands. After 781, however, Charlemagne began to exert pressure and Tassilo III
11815-723: The eastern parts of Heilbronn-Franconia in Baden-Württemberg . Those parts of the Vogtland lying in Saxony (largest city: Plauen ) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian -speaking parts of Lower Franconia west of
11954-660: The empire's laws. During the early and mid-18th century the ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria as well as occupations by Austria ( War of the Spanish Succession , War of the Austrian Succession with the election of a Wittelsbach emperor instead of a Habsburg). To mark the unification of Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate , both being principal Wittelsbach territories, Elector Maximilian IV Joseph
12093-527: The frontier with the Czech Republic and Bohemia. The geographic center of the European Union is located in the northwestern corner of Bavaria. At lower elevations the climate is classified according to Köppen's guide as " Cfb " or " Dfb ". At higher altitudes the climate becomes " Dfc " and " ET ". The summer months have been getting hotter in recent years. For example, June 2019 was
12232-648: The heartlands of the Alamanni and Thuringians in the 6th century, the present region of Franconia also fell to the Franks . After the division of the Frankish Empire , East Francia ( Francia orientialis ) was formed from the territories of the dioceses of Mainz , Worms , Würzburg and Speyer . Later, the diocese of Bamberg was added. In the 7th century, the Slavs started to populate the northeastern parts of
12371-591: The high medieval stem duchy , following Middle Latin use of Francia for France vs. Franconia for the German duchy. In German the name Franken is equally used for both, while the French are called Franzosen , after Old French françois , from Latin franciscus , from Late Latin Francus , from Frank , the Germanic people. The Franconian lands lie principally in Bavaria, north and south of
12510-597: The historical Bishopric of Eichstätt , are also counted as part of Franconia. In the west, Franconia proper comprises the Tauber Franconia region along the Tauber river, which as of 2014 is largely part of the Main-Tauber-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg. The state's larger Heilbronn-Franken region also includes the adjacent Hohenlohe and Schwäbisch Hall districts . In the city of Heilbronn , beyond
12649-539: The house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria , ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne . Tassilo I of Bavaria tried unsuccessfully to hold the eastern frontier against the expansion of Slavic peoples and the Pannonian Avars around 600. Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616. At Hugbert's death in 735, the duchy passed to Odilo of Bavaria from
12788-642: The inhabitants of Bavaria and Swabia . Unlike the other stem duchies, Franconia became the homeland and power base of East Frankish and German kings after the Ottonians died out in 1024. As a result, in the High Middle Ages , the region did not become a strong regional force such as those which formed in Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia . In 1007, the later canonized Henry II founded the Bishopric of Bamberg and endowed it with rich estates. Bamberg became
12927-414: The kings of Bavaria until 1918. Examples of Franconian cities founded by Frankish noblemen are Würzburg , first mentioned in the 7th century, Ansbach , first mentioned in 748, and Weissenburg , founded in the 7th century. Fossil finds show that the region was already settled by primitive man , Homo erectus , in the middle Ice Age about 600,000 years ago. Probably the oldest human remains in
13066-631: The largest in Germany. Other nature parks are the Swabian-Franconian Forest Nature Park in Baden-Württemberg, and the nature parks of Bavarian Rhön , Fichtel Mountains , Franconian Heights , Franconian Forest , Franconian Switzerland-Franconian Jura , Haßberge , Spessart and Steigerwald in Bavaria, as well as the Bergstraße-Odenwald Nature Park which straddles Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. Nature parks cover almost half
13205-597: The largest waterbodies are reservoirs , which are mostly used as water reserves for the relatively dry landscapes of Franconia. These include the waters of the Franconian Lake District , which was established in the 1970s and is also a tourist attraction. The heart of these lakes is the Großer Brombachsee , which has an area of 8.7 km and is thus the largest waterbody in Franconia by surface area. Several Central Upland ranges dominate
13344-597: The material from which the majority of the Franconian Jura is composed today. Following a drop in the sea level towards the end of the Upper Jurassic, larger areas also became part of the mainland at the beginning of the subsequent Cretaceous period. During the Upper Cretaceous, the sea advanced again up to the area of the Franconian Jura. At the end of the Cretaceous, the sea then retreated again from
13483-731: The membership of some areas is disputed. These include the Bavarian language area of Alt- Eichstätt and the Hessian-speaking region around Aschaffenburg , which was never part of the Franconian Imperial Circle. The affiliation of the city of Heilbronn , whose inhabitants do not call themselves Franks, is also controversial. Moreover, the sense of belonging to Franconia in the Frankish-speaking areas of Upper Palatinate , South Thuringia and Hesse
13622-603: The metropolitan region of Nuremberg. Other large areas of forest in the region are the Mönchswald , the Reichsforst in the Fichtel Mountains and the Selb Forest . In the river valleys along the Main and Tauber, the countryside was developed for viticulture. In Spessart there are great oak forests. Also widespread are calcareous grasslands , extensively used pastures on very oligotrophic , poor sites. In particular,
13761-435: The mid-9th century the tribal Duchy of Franconia emerged, one of the five tribal or stem duchies of East Francia . The territory of the stem duchy was far bigger than modern Franconia and covered the whole of present-day Hesse, northern Baden-Württemberg, southern Thuringia, large parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and parts of the Franconian provinces in Bavaria. It extended as far west as Speyer , Mainz , and Worms (west of
13900-685: The monarchy at the time of Rudolf of Habsburg ; the itineraries of his successors showing their preference for the Rhine-Main region. In 1376 the Swabian League of Cities was founded and was joined later by several Franconian imperial cities . During the 13th century the Teutonic Order was formed, taking over its first possession in Franconia in 1209, the Bailiwick of Franconia. The foundation of many schools and hospitals and
14039-551: The neighboring Alemannia . Odilo issued a Lex Baiuvariorum for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with Saint Boniface in 739, and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian dynasty . He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in
14178-724: The north rise the Rennsteig ridge of the Thuringian Forest , the Thuringian Highland and the Franconian Forest , the border with the Upper Saxon lands of Thuringia . The Franconian lands include the present-day South Thuringian districts of Schmalkalden-Meiningen , Hildburghausen and Sonneberg , the historical Gau of Grabfeld , held by the House of Henneberg from the 11th century and later part of
14317-571: The oldest in Bavaria, are archaeocyatha , sponge -like, goblet-shaped marine organisms, which were discovered in 2013 in a limestone block of Late Lower Cambrian age, about 520 million years old. The block comes from the vicinity Schwarzenbach am Wald from the so-called Heinersreuth Block Conglomerate ( Heinersreuther Blockkonglomerat ), a Lower Carboniferous wildflysch . However, the aforementioned archaeocyathids are not three-dimensional fossils, but two-dimensional thin sections . These thin sections had already been prepared and investigated in
14456-461: The other Länder ratified it. All of the other states ratified it, so it became law. Thus, during the Cold War , Bavaria was part of West Germany . Bavarians have often emphasized a separate national identity and considered themselves as "Bavarians" first, "Germans" second. In the 19th-century sense, an independent Kingdom of Bavaria existed from only 1806 to 1871. A separate Bavarian identity
14595-734: The other parts of Bavaria were reunited, and Munich became the sole capital. The country became a center of the Jesuit-inspired Counter-Reformation . In 1623, the Bavarian duke replaced his relative of the Palatinate branch, the Electorate of the Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-elector dignity in the Holy Roman Empire , determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under
14734-480: The other with white and blue diamond-shaped lozenges . Either may be used by civilians and government offices, who are free to choose between them. Unofficial versions of the flag, especially a lozenge style with coat of arms, are sometimes used by civilians. The modern coat of arms of Bavaria was designed by Eduard Ege in 1946, following heraldic traditions. Bavaria shares international borders with Austria ( Salzburg , Tyrol , Upper Austria and Vorarlberg ) and
14873-480: The past. Extreme weather like the 2013 European floods or the 2019 European heavy snowfalls is occurring more and more often. One effect of the continuing warming is the melting of almost all Bavarian Alpine glaciers : Of the five glaciers of Bavaria only the Höllentalferner is predicted to exist over a longer time perspective. The Südliche Schneeferner has almost vanished since the 1980s. Bavaria
15012-462: The persecutors destroyed 146 communities, and 20,000-100,000 Jews were killed. The Austrian Chronicle of 95 Seigneurs about 100 years later alleged that King Albert I finally had Rintfleisch arrested and hanged. The cities in which Jews had been killed were required to pay fines to the king. Franconia Franconia ( German : Franken [ˈfʁaŋkn̩] ; East Franconian : Franggn [ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍] ; Bavarian : Frankn )
15151-476: The rain shadow of the Spessart, Rhön and Odenwald. Franconia, as part of Germany, has a high quality of life . In the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey by Mercer in 2010, the city of Nuremberg was one of the top 25 cities in the world in terms of quality of life and came sixth in Germany. In environmental ranking Nuremberg came thirteenth in the world and was the best German city In a survey by
15290-976: The region are the Jagst and Kocher in Hohenlohe-Franconia, which empty into the Neckar north of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg, the Altmühl and the Wörnitz in Middle Franconia, both tributaries of the Danube , and the upper and middle reaches of the Werra , the right-hand headstream of the Weser . In the northeast of Upper Franconia rise two left-hand tributaries of the Elbe : the Saxon Saale and
15429-486: The region from the east, because the area of today's Upper Franconia was very sparsely populated ( Bavaria Slavica ). However, in the 10th and 11th centuries, they largely gave up their own language and cultural tradition. The majority of the population of Franconia was pagan well into the Early Middle Ages , The first people to spread the Christian faith strongly were wandering Irish Anglo-Saxon monks in
15568-579: The region. In addition, large parts of South and Central Germany experienced a general uplift -or in areas where the basement had broken through a substantial uplift - the course of formation of the Alps during the Tertiary. Since then, Franconia has been mainly influenced by erosion and weathering (especially in the Jura in the form of karst ), which has ultimately led to formation of today's landscapes. The oldest macrofossils in Franconia, which are also
15707-406: The region. Evidence of the ancient Straubing culture , Únětice culture and La Tène culture may be found in what is Bavaria today. Archeologists know of a large Celtic Iron Age settlement which was founded in Feldmoching-Hasenbergl , in the North of suburban Munich. Evidence suggests up to 500 people lived in the village from 450 BC. Local life appears to have centred around what could be
15846-410: The regions forming the historic Bavaria before further acquisitions in 1806–1815, speak a Bavarian dialect of German, Franconia in the north and Bavarian Swabia in the south west, have their unique culture, including different dialects of German, East Franconian and Swabian , respectively. Uniquely among German states, Bavaria has two official flags of equal status, one with a white and blue stripe,
15985-416: The remains of Plateosaurus were first discovered there in 1834, it was the first discovery of a dinosaur on German soil, and this occurred even before the name "dinosauria" was coined. Another important Plateosaurus find in Franconia was made at Ellingen . Far more famous than Plateosaurus , Placodus and Nothosaurus is the Archaeopteryx , probably the first bird geologically. It was discovered in
16124-455: The rest of Germany, as had Austria. As Bavaria had a heavily Catholic majority population, many people resented being ruled by the mostly Protestant northerners in Prussia . As a direct result of the Bavarian-Prussian feud, political parties formed to encourage Bavaria to break away and regain its independence. In the early 20th century, Wassily Kandinsky , Paul Klee , Henrik Ibsen , and other artists were drawn to Bavaria, especially to
16263-402: The rivalry of Prussia and Austria . Allied to Austria, it was defeated along with Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and was not incorporated into the North German Confederation of 1867, but the question of German unity was still alive. When France declared war on Prussia in 1870 , all the south German states (Baden, Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt and Bavaria) aside from Austria, joined
16402-431: The ruler of two duchies. When in 1180, Henry the Lion was deposed as Duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (a.k.a. "Barbarossa" for his red beard), Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, counts palatinate of Schyren ("Scheyern" in modern German). They ruled for 738 years, from 1180 to 1918. In 1180, however, Styria was also separated from Bavaria. The Electorate of
16541-409: The second biggest political party in the 2018 Bavarian state elections , and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who have dominated the city of Munich until 2020. Hitherto, Wilhelm Hoegner has been the only SPD candidate to ever become Minister-President; notable successors in office include multi-term Federal Minister Franz Josef Strauss , a key figure among West German conservatives during
16680-427: The sense of a common Franconian identity that exists today. The Franconian Circle also shaped the geographical limits of the present-day Franconia. In the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, the Imperial Circle was severely affected by Kleinstaaterei , the patchwork of tiny states in this region of Germany. As during the late Middle Ages, the bishops of Würzburg used the nominal title of Duke of Franconia during
16819-400: The sinuous River Main which, together with the left (southern) Regnitz tributary, including its Rednitz and Pegnitz headstreams, drains most of Franconia. Other large rivers include the upper Werra in Thuringia and the Tauber , as well as the upper Jagst and Kocher streams in the west, both right tributaries of the Neckar . In southern Middle Franconia, the Altmühl flows towards
16958-402: The southeastern periphery of the area, the Nuremberg metropolitan area is often identified as the economic and cultural centre of Franconia. Further cities in Bavarian Franconia include Würzburg , Erlangen , Bayreuth , Bamberg , Aschaffenburg , Schweinfurt , Hof , Coburg , Ansbach and Schwabach . The major (East) Franconian towns in Baden-Württemberg are Schwäbisch Hall on the Kocher —
17097-401: The southern Franconian Jura , with the Altmühl Valley , is characterized by poor grassland of this type. Many of these places have been designated as a protected areas . Franconia has several regions with sandy habitats that are unique for south Germany and are protected as the so-called Sand Belt of Franconia or Sandachse Franken . When the Altmühlsee reservoir was built, a bird island
17236-467: The southern Franconian Jura, inter alia at the famous fossil site of Solnhofen in the Solnhofen Platform Limestone ( Solnhofener Plattenkalk , (Solnhofen-Formation, early Tithonian , Upper Jurassic). In addition to Archaeopteryx , in the very fine-grained, laminated lagoon limestones are the pterosaur Pterodactylus and various bony fishes as well as numerous extremely detailed examples of invertebrates e.g. feather stars and dragonflies . Eichstätt
17375-457: The three largest lakes of Bavaria, and Waginger See ). Source: Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung Bavaria has a multiparty system dominated by the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), which has won every election since 1945 with the exception of the 1950 ballot. Other important parties are the Free Voters , which became the second largest party in the 2023 Bavarian state election , The Greens , which became
17514-414: The time of the Imperial Circle. In 1559, the Franconian Circle was given jurisdiction over coinage ( Münzaufsicht ) and, in 1572, was the only Circle to issue its own police ordinance. Members of the Franconian Circle included the imperial cities, the prince-bishoprics, the Bailiwick of Franconia of the Teutonic Order and several counties. The Imperial Knights with their tiny territories, of which there
17653-418: The warmest June in Bavaria since weather observations have been recorded and the winter 2019/2020 was 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature for many years all over Bavaria. On 20 December 2019 a record temperature of 20.2 °C (68.4 °F) was recorded in Piding . In general winter months are seeing more precipitation which is taking the form of rain more often than that of snow compared to
17792-419: The year 500 AD, some elements of that victorious Marcomanni people would help to form the Bavarii confederation, which incorporated Bohemia and Bavaria. In the 530s, the Merovingian dynasty incorporated the kingdom of Thuringia after their defeat by the Franks . The Baiuvarii were Frankicised a century later. The Lex Thuringorum documents an upper class nobility of adalingi . From about 554 to 788,
17931-461: Was a part of the Electoral Rhenish Circle , the area of Coburg belonged to the Upper Saxon Circle and the Heilbronn area to the Swabian Circle . In the 16th century, the College of Franconian Counts was founded to represent the interests of the counts in Franconia. Bavaria Bavaria , officially the Free State of Bavaria , is a state in the southeast of Germany . With an area of 70,550.19 km (27,239.58 sq mi), it
18070-458: Was a particularly large number in Franconia, were outside the Circle assembly and, until 1806, formed the Franconian Knights Circle ( Fränkischer Ritterkreis ) consisting of six Knights' Cantons . Because the extent of Franconia, already referred to above, is disputed, there were many areas that might be counted as part of Franconia today, that lay outside the Franconian Circle. For example, the area of Aschaffenburg belonged to Electoral Mainz and
18209-475: Was caused by heated-up sedimentary rocks sunk deep into the Earth's crust. While the Fichtel and Franconian Forest can be assigned to the Saxo-Thuringian Zone of Central European Variscan orogeny, the Spessart belongs to the Central German Crystalline Zone. The Münchberg mass is variously attributed to the Saxo-Thuringian or Moldanubian Zones. A substantially larger part of the shallow subsurface in Franconia comprises Mesozoic , unmetamorphosed, unfolded rocks of
18348-400: Was created and designated as a nature reserve where a variety of birds nest. Another important reserve is the Black Moor in the Rhön , which is one of the most important bog areas in Central Europe. A well known reserve is the Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth at Wunsiedel , a felsenmeer of granite blocks up to several metres across. The establishment of the first Franconian national park in
18487-419: Was crowned king of Bavaria. King Maximilian Joseph was quick to change the coat of arms. The various heraldic symbols were replaced and a classical Wittelsbach pattern introduced. The white and blue lozenges symbolized the unity of the territories within the Bavarian kingdom. The new state also comprised the Duchy of Jülich and Berg as these on their part were in personal union with the Palatinate. When
18626-411: Was deposed in 788. Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Regensburg in 792, led by Pepin the Hunchback . With the revolt of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and southeast. One of the most important dukes of Bavaria was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf , founder of Munich , and de facto the second most powerful man in the empire as
18765-410: Was detached from Bavaria in 1946 and made part of the new state Rhineland-Palatinate . In 1949, Bavaria became part of the Federal Republic of Germany , despite the Bavarian Parliament voting against adopting the Basic Law of Germany , mainly because it was seen as not granting sufficient powers to the individual states ( Länder ), but at the same time declared that it would accept it if two-thirds of
18904-474: Was directly subordinated to the Reich. Only after that was the former Francia Orientalis considered to be under the sphere of the bishops of Würzburg as the true Franconia, its territory gradually shrinking to its present area. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of parts of present-day Upper and Middle Franconia, who were not under the control of Würzburg, probably also considered themselves to be Franks at that time, and certainly their dialect distinguished them from
19043-400: Was emphasized more strongly when Bavaria joined the Prussia-dominated German Empire in 1871, while the Bavarian nationalists wanted to keep Bavaria as Catholic and an independent state. Aside from the minority Bavaria Party , most Bavarians now accept Bavaria as part of Germany. Another consideration is that Bavaria is not culturally uniform. While inhabitants Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"),
19182-448: Was founded in 60 AD, west of modern-day Manching, as evidenced by a legionnaire's sandal found near remains of an ancient fort. By the late 2nd Century AD , Germanic tribes, including Marcomanni people, were pushing back on Roman forces of Marcus Aurelius and later, Commodus in the Marcomannic Wars . By 180 AD, Commodus had decided to abandon the annexed positions in Bavaria, leaving its control to Celtic and Germanic tribes. Around
19321-401: Was trading with distant Italo-Greek communities. In the 1st Century BC, Bavaria was conquered by the Roman Empire . An imperial military camp was built 60 km north-west of where Munich sits today, under orders of Augustus Caesar , between 8 and 5 BC. The camp later became the town of Augusta Vindelicorum , which would become the capital of the Roman province of Raetia . Another fort
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