STADT
BEFREIT
Wittelsbacher
Gründerstädte
Bavaria in 1180
Ducal Bavaria in the year 1180: Monastic houses, castles, market towns and the few episcopal sees are the duchy’s centers where the powerful meet and the learned debate. Harbingers of the medieval “urban revolution” are gradually appearing there too, though: Urban life arises around episcopal palaces. Heinrich the Lion, duke until 1180, has the settlements around his castles fortified and new market towns founded.
This boom rested on the same foundation everywhere: The climate was finally favorable and warm again, trans-regional trade had picked up, peasants were living to see many good years, and the population was growing. The idea of an urban common good, however, was also attracting more and more supporters.
Bavaria in 1180
The medieval Duchy of Bavaria made up just a part of the present-day Free State. Hardly any cities existed in this territory in the year 1180 when the Wittelsbachs became Dukes of Bavaria. Bavaria was not deserted, though …
(from the audio guide of the Bavarian State Exhibition 2020)
Herrschaft und Machtpolitik der Wittelsbacher im Spätmittelalter
Rüdiger Offergeld / Bayern 2 / 1999
Die Bedeutung der Städte im Mittelalter
Wolfgang Gaudlitz / Bayern 2 / 2019
Metropolen in Mittelalter und Moderne
Renate Eichmeier / Bayern 2 / 2016
The Rise of the Wittelsbachs
The Wittelsbachs named themselves after the castle they built near Aichach. They had been highly active politically even before their acquisition of the title of duke.
(from the audio guide of the Bavarian State Exhibition 2020)
Heinrich der Löwe und die Wittelsbacher
Rüdiger Offergeld / Bayern 2 / 1999
Stadtchronist Josef Müller über Aichach
Hans-Christian Braun / Bayern 2 / 1971
Der Bamberger Königsmord
Tassilo Forchheimer / Bayern 2 / 2002