Fulda

Fulda
Castle of Fulda
Castle of Fulda
Coat of arms Location
Coat of arms of Fulda
Fulda (Germany)
Fulda
Administration
Country Germany
State Hesse
Admin. region Kassel
District Fulda
Lord Mayor Gerhard Möller (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area 104.04 km² (40.2 sq mi)
Elevation 261 m  (856 ft)
Population 63,958  (30/12/2005)
 - Density 615 /km² (1,592 /sq mi)
Founded 744
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate FD
Postal codes 36001–36043
Area code 0661
Website www.fulda.de

Fulda (IPA: [ˈfʊlda]) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (Kreis).

Contents

History

Early Middle Ages

The Benedictine monastery of Fulda was founded in 744 by Saint Sturm, a disciple of Saint Boniface, as one of Boniface's outposts in the reorganization of the church in Germany, and a base from which missionaries accompanied Charlemagne's armies in their political and military campaign to destroy heathen Saxony.

The initial grant for the abbey was signed by Carloman, the son of Charles Martel. The support of the Mayors of the Palace and later, the early Pippinid and Carolingian rulers, was important to Boniface's success. Fulda also received support from many of the leading families of the Carolingian world. Sturm, whose tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 779, was most likely related to the Agilolfing dukes of Bavaria. Fulda also received large and constant donations from the Etichonids, a leading family in Alsatia, and the Conradines, predecessors of the Salian Holy Roman Emperors. Under Sturm, the donations Fulda received from these and other important families helped in the establishment of daughter houses Johannesberg and Petersberg near Fulda.

St Boniface baptizing and being martyred, from the Sacramentary of Fulda,

After his martyrdom by the Frisians, the relics of Saint Boniface were brought back to Fulda. Because of the stature this afforded the monastery, the donations increased, and Fulda could establish daughter houses further away, for example in Hameln. Meanwhile Saint Lullus, successor of Boniface as archbishop of Mainz, tried to absorb the abbey into his archbishopric, but failed. This was one reason that he founded Hersfeld Abbey, to limit the attempts of the enlargement of Fulda.

Between 790 and 819 the community rebuilt the main monastery church to more fittingly house the relics. They based their new basilica on the original 4th-century (since demolished) Old Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, using the transept and crypt plan of that great pilgrimage church to frame their own saint as the "Apostle to the Germans". The crypt of the original abbey church still holds those relics, but the church itself has been subsumed into a Baroque renovation. A small, 9th century chapel remains standing within walking distance of the church, as do the foundations of a later women's abbey.

The great scholar Rabanus Maurus was abbot from 822 to 842.

From its foundation on the abbey Fulda and its territory was based on an Imperial grant and therefore a sovereign principality subject only to the German emperor. Fulda was made a bishopric in 1752 and the prince-abbots were given the additional title of prince-bishop. The prince-abbots (and later prince-bishops) ruled Fulda and the surrounding region until the bishopric was forcibly dissolved by Napoleon's minions in 1802.

Engraving of Fulda by Matthäus Merian 1655

The city went through baroque building campaign in the 18th century, resulting in the current “Baroque City” status. This included a remodel of the Dom (Cathedral) of Fulda (1704-1712) and the Stadtschloss (Castle-Palace, 1707-1712) by Johann Dientzenhofer. The city parish church, St. Blasius, was built between 1771–1785.

From 1764 until 1789 Fulda had a porcelain factory. Because of its quality and rarity, it is much prized by collectors. The factory was begun under Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot Heinrich von Bibra and closed down shortly after his death by his successor, Prince-Bishop, Prince-Abbot Adalbert von Harstall.

Rulers of Fulda until Secularization

Cathedral of Fulda.
Looking east toward Fulda over the rich farmlands.
Statue of Saint Boniface (1830) at Fulda, Germany
Prince-Abbot, Prince-Bishop Heinrich VIII von Bibra by his court painter, Johann Andreas Herrlein

Abbots

Prince-Abbots

Fulda, c. 1830
Weser river watershed, showing Fulda River and the city of Fulda.

Prince-Abbots & Prince-Bishops

Miscellaneous

Fulda also lends its name to the Fulda Gap, a traditional east-west invasion route used by Napoleon and others. The former East/West German border passed just east of Fulda, and large Soviet and East German forces were stationed in the area during the Cold War. Considered during the Cold War to be a potential invasion route for Communist forces, the U.S. Army stationed the 14th and later the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiments in the city and surrounding areas as the screening force for the U.S. V Corps. The cavalry regiments generally enjoyed a good relationship with the town and its citizens.

People

External links

Towns and municipalities in Fulda district
Bad Salzschlirf | Burghaun | Dipperz | Ebersburg | Ehrenberg | Eichenzell | Eiterfeld | Flieden | Fulda | Gersfeld | Großenlüder | Hilders | Hofbieber | Hosenfeld | Hünfeld | Kalbach | Künzell | Neuhof | Nüsttal | Petersberg | Poppenhausen | Rasdorf | Tann 
Wappen des Landkreises Fulda