Editing Erfurt (section)

=== Early modern period ===
[[File:Erfurt-1650-Merian.jpg|thumb|left|Erfurt in 1650.]]
[[File:Luftbild Statthalterei.jpg|thumb|''{{lang|de|[[:de:Kurmainzische Statthalterei|Kurmainzische Statthalterei]]}}'', seat of the governors of Erfurt (at front).]]
[[File:Erfurt (German States) 1645 10 Ducat (Portugaloser).jpg|thumb|Christina, Queen of Sweden, depicted on a 1645 Erfurt 10 ducat coin.{{refn|group=note|Between 1631 and 1648, during the Thirty Years' War, Erfurt was occupied by Swedish forces,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXSrLbIEDBMC |pages=490–491 |title=Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins 1601 – present |edition=6 |publisher=Krause |isbn=978-1-4402-0424-1 |editor-last=Cuhaj |editor-first=George S. |year=2009a }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> thus the [[effigy]] of Queen Christina appears on the 1645 Erfurt 10 [[Ducat]] (Portugaloser). There are seven gold coins known to exist bearing the effigy of Queen Christina: a unique 1649 five ducat,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedberg |first1=Arthur |last2=Friedberg |first2=Ira |year=2009 |title=Gold Coins of the World: From Ancient Times to the Present |pages=688–89 |publisher=The Coin & Currency Institute |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlnoMdZu40UC |edition=8 |isbn=978-0-87184-308-1}}</ref> and six 1645 10 ducat specimen.<ref>{{Citation |title=Kunker Rarities Auction |url=http://news.coinupdate.com/kunker-auctions-preview-1573 |access-date=1 March 2015 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123113043/http://news.coinupdate.com/kunker-auctions-preview-1573/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}]]
In 1501 [[Martin Luther]] (1483–1546) moved to Erfurt and began his studies at the university. After 1505, he lived at [[St. Augustine's Monastery (Erfurt)|St. Augustine's Monastery]] as a friar. In 1507 he was ordained as a priest in Erfurt Cathedral. He moved permanently to [[Wittenberg]] in 1511. Erfurt was an early adopter of the [[Protestant Reformation]], in 1521.<ref>Metaxas, Eric (2017) ''Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World'', New York: Viking Press.</ref>

In 1530, the city became one of the first in Europe to be officially bi-confessional with the [[Hammelburg]] Treaty. It kept that status through all the following centuries. The later 16th and the 17th century brought a slow economic decline of Erfurt. Trade shrank, the population was falling and the university lost its influence. The city's independence was endangered. In 1664, the city and surrounding area were brought under the dominion of the [[Electorate of Mainz]] and the city lost its independence. The Electorate built a huge fortress on Petersberg hill between 1665 and 1726 to control the city and instituted a governor to rule Erfurt.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

In 1682 and 1683 Erfurt experienced the worst [[Black Death|plague]] years in its history. In 1683 more than half of the population died because of the deadly disease.<ref>{{cite book | last=Kohn | first=G.C. | title=Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present | publisher=Facts On File, Incorporated | series=Facts on File Library of World History | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-4381-2923-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzRwRmb09rgC&pg=PA143 | access-date=2024-09-08 | page=143}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Journal of Hellenic Studies | publisher=Council of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies | year=1916 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEw906pmz6EC&pg=PA153 | access-date=2024-09-08 | page=153}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Aikin | first=J.P. | title=A Ruler's Consort in Early Modern Germany: Aemilia Juliana of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Women and Gender in the Early Modern World | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-18684-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V8WlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 | access-date=2024-09-08 | page=131}}</ref>

In Erfurt, [[witch-hunt]]s are known to have taken place from 1526 to 1705. Trial records are incomplete. Twenty people were involved in witch trials, and at least eight people died.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}

During the late 18th century, Erfurt saw another cultural peak. Governor [[Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg]] had close relations with [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], [[Friedrich Schiller]], [[Johann Gottfried Herder]], [[Christoph Martin Wieland]] and [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]], who often visited him at his court in Erfurt.{{cn|date=March 2025}}