ETR // Stage 35 // Würzburg - Dinkelsbühl

49°47'36.0"N 9°55'34.5"E
49.793322, 9.926254
Würzburg, Germany
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Distance

Würzburg - Dinkelsbühl
Radius 100 km
180 km

Highlights

Würzburg Old Town
Würzburg Residence
Wertheim am Main
Kilianskapelle, Wertheim
Engelsbrunnen, Wertheim
Kloster Bronnbach
Kittsteintor
Blaues Haus
Bad Mergentheim
Deutschordensschloss
Deutschordensmuseum

The Würzburg Witch Trials

Between 1626 and 1631, The Würzburg Witch Trials were one of the largest peace-time mass trials, executed under the misogynistic Incel-eye of Bishop Philip Adolf, where an estimated 600 to 900 women accused of being witches were burned in front of the rabid, feral village mob. For being women.

In 1631, Swedish King Gustaf Adolf invaded the town and plundered the castle, and in 1720, the foundations of the Würzburg Residence were built. In 1796, the Battle of Würzburg between Habsburg Austria and the First French Republic took place. The city became the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803. Two years later, during the Napoleonic Wars, it evolved into the seat of the Electorate of Würzburg, and from 1806, the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, first becoming part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814.

Würzburg was wiped out in World War Two

Even after a hard birth, Würzburg's trials and tribulations weren't over. On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in just 17 minutes by fire bombing from 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city center, which mostly dated from medieval times, was totally destroyed in a firestorm in which 5,000 people perished. What a terrible and senseless waste. And idiots are still doing it, even today. Our species seems uniquely unable to learn from it's own mistakes.

Wertheim am Main

Formerly a settlement on the right bank of the river Main called Kreuzwertheim, Wertheim was founded between the 7th and 8th century. Wertheim has a medieval town center with half-timbered houses and small streets. The Gothic Stiftskirche was built in 1383 and two clocks can be seen on the clock tower, one with an hour hand only, for the residents of the castle. The Kilianskapelle, a Gothic chapel, was constructed after 1469. The Engelsbrunnen ('Angels' well') from 1574 was built of the red sandstone typical of this area and derives its name from two little angels holding Wertheim's coat of arms. Burg Wertheim is the landmark of the town.

The outlying Stadtteil of Urphar features a medieval fortified church, Jakobskirche. Located not far from Wertheim in the Tauber valley is Bronnbach Abbey, or Kloster Bronnbach founded in 1150. The late-Romanesque and early-Gothic basilica was consecrated in 1222. Other places to visit include the Kittsteintor with flood markings from 1595 onwards, and the Blaues Haus ('The Blue House').

A town divided

Wertheim was mentioned for the first time in 779. In 1192, it was referred to as Suburbium castri Wertheim and in 1200 the town was referred to as an oppidum and in 1244 as a civitas. The town developed into the center of the County of Wertheim, governed by the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim. In 1630, the house split into two lines: the older Protestant line Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg and the Catholic line Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort. The area left of the Main river was given to the Grand Duchy of Baden, while the territories right of the Main were given to the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The Teutonic Order of Bad Mergentheim

An official spa town since 1926, Bad Mergentheim is also known as the headquarters of the Teutonic Order from 1526 until 1809. Mergentheim is mentioned in chronicles as early as 1058, as the residence of the family of the counts of Hohenlohe. The brothers Andreas, Heinrich and Friedrich von Hohenlohe joined the Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Order) in 1219 and gave their two castles near Mergentheim to the order.

The best-known landmark of Bad Mergentheim is the Deutschordensschloss, the castle where the Teutonic Knights once had their seat. A complex of buildings constructed over a period of eight hundred years, the first of which were erected as early as the 12th century. The castle was expanded in the late 16th century under Grand Master Walther von Cronberg.

Over the course of time, a Renaissance complex was built by connecting the individual buildings in the inner palace courtyard into a closed ring of buildings. Today the castle houses the Deutschordensmuseum (museum of the Teutonic Order). The English landscape garden between palace and spa building is mainly due to Archduke Maximilian Franz. The castle complex is dominated by the Schlosskirche (palace church), with construction starting in 1730 under Franz Ludwig Herzog von Pfalz-Neuburg in Baroque style.

Photos

Dave O'Byrne
European Touring Route AS

Partners

Highlights

Rothenburg ob der Tauber
River Wörnitz
Dinkelsbühl
Weinmarkt
Deutsches Haus
Museum of History
St. George's Minster
Museum of the 3rd Dimension
Kinderzeche Historic Reenactment
The Summer Breeze metal festival

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Famous for its well-preserved medieval old town, Rothenburg ob der Tauber lies in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Rothenburg is a main feature of the Romantic Road through southern Germany, and today it is one of only three towns in Germany that still have completely intact city walls, the other two being Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl. Rothenburg was a Free imperial city from the late Middle Ages to 1803.

From The Celts, to The Romans, to The Red Castle

Rothenburg was most likely inhabited by Celts before the 1st-century A.D. In 950, the weir system in today's castle garden was constructed by the Count of Comburg-Rothenburg. In 1070, the counts of Comburg-Rothenburg, who also owned the village of Gebsattel, built Rothenburg castle on the mountain top high above the River Tauber. The counts of the Comburg-Rothenburg dynasty died out in 1116, and the last count, Count Heinrich, Emperor Heinrich V appointed instead his nephew Konrad von Hohenstaufen as the successor to the Comburg-Rothenburg properties.

In 1142, Konrad von Hohenstaufen, who became Konrad III (1138–52), the self-styled King of the Romans, traded a part of the monastery of Neumünster in Würzburg above the village Detwang and built the Stauffer-Castle Rothenburg.

Dinkelsbühl and the Thirty Years' War

A former free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, Dinkelsbühl lies on the River Wörnitz in Central Franconia, Bavaria, on the northern part of the Romantic Road, and is one of three particularly striking historic towns in the region.

Every summer Dinkelsbühl celebrates the city's surrender to Swedish troops in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War. This reenactment is played out by many of the town's residents, and if you're lucky, you might be here when it happens. It features an array of Swedish soldiers attacking the city gate and children dressed in traditional clothing coming to witness the event. This historical event is called the "Kinderzeche" because of the legend that a child saved the town from massacre by the Swedes during the surrender. Park your motorcycle and take a day or two on foot to discover the many secrets and legends Dinkelsbühl hides so well, just beneath the surface.