Editing Marburg (section)

== History ==
=== Founding and early history ===
Like many settlements, Marburg developed at the crossroads of two important early medieval highways: the trade route linking [[Cologne]] and [[Prague]] and the trade route from the [[North Sea]] to the [[Alps]] and on to [[Italy]], the former crossing the river [[Lahn]] here. A first mention of the settlement dates from 822 in the ''[https://www.marburg800.de/jubilaeum/marburg800.html Reinhardsbrunner Chronik]''. The settlement was protected and customs were raised by a small castle built during the ninth or tenth century by the [[Giso IV, Count of Gudensberg|Giso]]. Marburg has been a town since 1140, as proven by coins. From the Gisos, it fell around that time to the [[Graf|Landgraves]] of [[Thuringia]], residing on the [[Wartburg]] above [[Eisenach]].

=== St. Elizabeth of Hungary ===
In 1228, the widowed princess-landgravine of Thuringia, [[Elizabeth of Hungary]], chose Marburg as her dowager seat, as she did not get along well with her brother-in-law, the new landgrave. The countess dedicated her life to the sick and would become after her early death in 1231, aged 24, one of the most prominent female saints of the era. She was canonized in 1235.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hermann |first1=Bauer |title=Sankt Elisabeth und die Elisabethkirche zu Marburg |date=1990 |publisher=Hitzeroth |location=Marburg |isbn=3-89616-031-1}}</ref>

[[File:Marburg asv2022-02 img25 Elisabethkirche.jpg|thumb|[[St. Elizabeth Church (Marburg)|St. Elizabeth Church]]]]

=== Capital of Hessen ===
In 1264, St Elizabeth's daughter [[Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess of Brabant|Sophie of Brabant]], succeeded in winning the [[Landgraviate of Hessen]], hitherto connected to [[Thuringia]], for her son [[Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse|Henry]]. Marburg (alongside [[Kassel]]) was one of the capitals of Hessen from that time until about 1540. Following the first division of the landgraviate, it was the capital of [[Hessen-Marburg]] from 1485 to 1500 and again between 1567 and 1605. Hessen was one of the more powerful second-tier principalities in Germany. Its "old enemy" was the [[Electorate of Mainz|Archbishopric of Mainz]], the seat of one of the [[prince-elector]]s, who competed with Hessen in many wars and conflicts for coveted territory, stretching over several centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Screenhaus |url=https://www.screenhaus.de/marburg/ |website=Screenhaus |date=8 January 2021 |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>
[[File:Marburg Braun-Hogenberg.jpg|thumb|left|Marburg from [[Georg Braun]] and Frans Hogenberg's atlas ''[[Civitates orbis terrarum]]'', 1572]]

After 1605, Marburg became just another provincial town, known mostly for the [[University of Marburg]]. It became a virtual backwater for two centuries after the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–48), when it was fought over by [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Hessen-Darmstadt]] and [[Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel|Hesse-Kassel]]. The Hessian territory around Marburg lost more than two-thirds of its population, which was more than in any later wars (including [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]) combined.

=== Reformation ===
Marburg is the seat of the oldest existing [[Protestantism|Protestant]]-founded [[university]] in the world, the [[University of Marburg]] (Philipps-Universität-Marburg), founded in 1527. It is one of the smaller "university towns" in Germany. These include [[Greifswald]], [[Erlangen]], [[Jena]], and [[Tübingen]], as well as the city of [[Gießen]], which is located 30&nbsp;km south of Marburg.

In 1529, [[Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse|Philipp I of Hesse]] arranged the [[Marburg Colloquy]], to propitiate [[Martin Luther]] and [[Huldrych Zwingli]].

[[File:Marburg asv2022-02 img32 Am Grün.jpg|thumb|View of Marburg and the Lahn]]

=== Romanticism ===
Owing to its neglect during the entire 18th century, Marburg – like [[Rye, East Sussex|Rye]] or [[Chartres]] – survived as a relatively intact [[Gothic art|Gothic]] town, simply because there was no money spent on any new [[architecture]] or expansion. When [[Romanticism]] became the dominant cultural and artistic paradigm in Germany, Marburg became a centre of activities once again, and many of the leaders of the movement lived, taught, or studied in Marburg. They formed a circle of friends that was of great importance, especially in [[literature]], [[philology]], [[folklore]], and [[law]].

The group included [[Friedrich Carl von Savigny]], the most important [[jurist]] of his day and father of the [[Roman Law]] adaptation in Germany, as well as the poets, writers, and social activists [[Achim von Arnim]], [[Clemens Brentano]], and especially [[Bettina von Arnim]], Clemens Brentano's sister, who became Achim von Arnim's wife. Most famous internationally, however, were the [[Brothers Grimm]], who collected many of their [[fairy tales]] here. The best-known illustrations for the fairy tale editions are by the painter [[Otto Ubbelohde]], who also lived in and near Marburg. The original building inspiring his drawing ''[[Rapunzel]]'s Tower'' stands in Amönau near Marburg. Across the Lahn hills, in the area called Schwalm, the costumes of little girls included a red hood.

=== Prussian town ===
In the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866, the [[Prince-elector]] of Hessen had backed [[Austria]]. Prussia won and took the opportunity to invade and annex the [[Electorate of Hessen]] (as well as [[Hanover]], the city of [[Frankfurt]], and other territories) north of the [[Main (river)|Main]] River. However, the pro-Austrian [[Grand Duchy of Hesse|Hesse-Darmstadt]] remained independent. For Marburg, this turn of events was very positive, because Prussia decided to make Marburg its main administrative centre in this part of the new province [[Hessen-Nassau]] and to turn the [[University of Marburg]] into the regional academic centre. Thus, Marburg's rise as an administrative and university city began. As the Prussian university system was one of the best in the world at the time, Marburg attracted many respected scholars. However, there was hardly any industry to speak of, so students, professors, and civil servants – who generally had enough but not much money and paid very little in taxes – dominated the town.

=== Early 20th century ===
[[File:Marburg 30.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Wettergasse in the Old City]]
[[Franz von Papen]], vice-chancellor of Germany in 1934, delivered [[Marburg speech|an anti-Nazi speech]] at the University of Marburg on 17 June.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |title=Hitler: 1889–1936 |publisher=Norton |isbn=9780393320350 |location=New York |publication-date=1988}}</ref>

From 1942 to 1945, the whole city of Marburg was turned into a hospital, with schools and government buildings turned into wards to augment the existing hospitals. By the spring of 1945, there were over 20,000 patients – mostly wounded German soldiers. As a result of its designation as a hospital city, and because of a lack of important industrial sites, there was not much damage from bombings except along the railroad tracks.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In May 1945, the [[Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program|Monuments men]] officer [[Walker Hancock]] set up the first so-called Central Collecting Point in the Marburg State Archives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rasch |first1=Marco |title=Das Marburger Staatsarchiv als Central Collecting Point |date=2021 |publisher=Hessisches Staatsarchiv |location=Marburg |isbn=978-3-88964-224-0}}</ref> But since the capacity of the archive building was not sufficient to store the many objects and since other collecting points, for example in [[Munich Central Collecting Point|Munich]], had been set up in the [[Allied-occupied Germany|American occupation zone]] in the meantime, the Marburg facility was closed after more than a year in favor of the Wiesbaden Collecting Point. With the relocation of the [[sarcophagus]] of Field Marshal and President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] (1847-1934) to the [[St. Elisabeth's Church (Marburg)|Elisabethkirche]] in August 1946 the project ended.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} [[Milton Mayer]]'s 1955 book ''[[They Thought They Were Free]]'', which attempted to gage how ordinary German citizens felt about Nazi Germany, used interviews of ten men from Marburg (which it called "Kronenberg") as its case study.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Adler|first=Franz|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2092579|title=They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45. by Milton Mayer|journal=[[American Sociological Review]]|volume=20|issue=5|date=October 1955|pages=595–596|publisher=[[American Sociological Association]]|doi=10.2307/2092579|jstor=2092579}}</ref>

=== Marburg from 1945 ===
Post-war developments included population growth at first due to war refugees, then to increasing significance of the pharmaceutical industry based in Marburg, and an increase in staff and students for the university. The historic town was in danger of thorough decay, but was renovated from 1972. The university now has about 21,000 students (2023).<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2023 |title=Student enrollment |url=https://www.uni-marburg.de/de/universitaet/profil/zahlen-fakten-preise/studierendenzahlen/dateien/studierende-extern_sosem-2023.pdf}}</ref>