Editing Braunschweig (section)

===Middle Ages and early modern period===
[[File:Braun Braunschweig UBHD.jpg|thumb|left|Brunswick in the 16th century, from the ''Civitates orbis terrarum'' by [[Georg Braun]] and Frans Hogenberg<ref>{{cite Q |Q55360295 |page=24 |mode=cs1}}</ref>]]
[[File:Brunswick cathedral.JPG|thumb|right|Brunswick Cathedral, St. Blasius, with lion statue]]
Up to the 12th century, Brunswick was ruled by the Saxon noble family of the [[Brunonids]]; then, through marriage, the town fell to the [[House of Welf]]. In 1142, [[Henry the Lion]] of the House of Welf became duke of [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]] and made Braunschweig the capital of his state (which, from 1156 on, also included the [[Duchy of Bavaria]]). He turned Dankwarderode Castle, the residence of the counts of [[County of Brunswick|Brunswick]], into his own ''[[Kaiserpfalz|Pfalz]]'' and developed the city further to represent his authority. Under Henry's rule, the [[Brunswick Cathedral|Cathedral]] of St. Blasius was built and he also had the statue of a lion, his heraldic animal, erected in front of the castle. The [[Brunswick Lion|lion]] subsequently became the city's landmark.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Henry the Lion became so powerful that he dared to refuse military aid to the Emperor [[Frederick I Barbarossa]], which led to his banishment in 1182. Henry went into exile in England. He had previously established ties to the English crown in 1168, through his marriage to King [[Henry II of England]]'s daughter [[Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony|Matilda]], sister of [[Richard I of England|Richard the Lionheart]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.germany.travel/en/ms/royal-heritage/where-to-go/braunschweig.html |title=The Lion City of Brunswick (Braunschweig) |publisher=Germany.travel |access-date=2015-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021956/http://www.germany.travel/en/ms/royal-heritage/where-to-go/braunschweig.html |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, Henry's son [[Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto]], who regained influence and was eventually crowned [[Holy Roman Emperor]], continued to foster the city's development.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

During the [[Middle Ages]], Brunswick was an important center of trade, one of the economic and political centers in Northern Europe and a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th century to the middle of the 17th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Moderhack|1997|pp=50–52}}</ref> By the year 1600, Brunswick was the seventh largest city in Germany.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Camerer | last2 = Garzmann | last3 = Pingel | last4 = Schuegraf | title = Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon | edition = 4th | year = 1996 | language = de | page = 66}}</ref> Although formally one of the residences of the rulers of the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg]], a constituent state of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], Brunswick was ''[[de facto]]'' ruled independently by a powerful class of [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patricians]] and the [[guild]]s throughout much of the [[Late Middle Ages]] and the [[Early modern period]]. Because of the growing power of Brunswick's [[Medieval bourgeoisie|burghers]], the [[Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]], who ruled over one of the subdivisions of Brunswick-Lüneburg, finally moved their ''[[Residenz]]'' out of the city and to the nearby town of [[Wolfenbüttel]] in 1432.<ref>{{Harvnb|Moderhack|1997|pp=60–69}}</ref> The Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel did not regain control over the city until the late 17th century, when [[Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg]], took the city by siege.<ref>{{Harvnb|Moderhack|1997|pp=119–123}}</ref>

In the 18th century Brunswick was not only a political, but also a cultural centre. Influenced by the philosophy of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], dukes like [[Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Anthony Ulrich]] and [[Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Charles I]] became patrons of the arts and sciences. In 1745, Charles I founded the ''Collegium Carolinum'', predecessor of the [[Braunschweig University of Technology|Brunswick University of Technology]], and in 1753 he moved the ducal residence back to Brunswick. With this he attracted poets and thinkers such as [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing|Lessing]], [[Johann Anton Leisewitz|Leisewitz]], and [[Jakob Mauvillon]] to his court and the city.<ref>{{Harvnb|Moderhack|1997|pp=136–141}}</ref> ''[[Emilia Galotti]]'' by Lessing and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s ''[[Goethe's Faust|Faust]]'' were performed for the first time in Brunswick.<ref>{{Harvnb|Camerer|Garzmann|Pingel|Schuegraf|1996|p=215}}</ref>