Editing Heidelberg (section)

===Modern history===
Heidelberg University played a leading part in Medieval [[Scholasticism]], [[Renaissance humanism in Northern Europe|Renaissance humanism]], the [[German Reformation]], and in the subsequent conflict between [[Lutheranism]] and [[Calvinism]] during the 15th and 16th centuries. In April 1518, a few months after proclaiming his ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'', [[Martin Luther]] was received in Heidelberg, to defend them.

Heidelberg's library, founded in 1421, is the oldest existing public library in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heidelberg University Library - Heidelberg University Library |url=https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/en |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de}}</ref>

In 1537, the castle located higher up the mountain was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion. The duke's palace was built at the site of the lower castle.{{clarify|date=June 2022}}

[[File:Belagerung Heidelbergs C-L 205.jpg|thumb|The siege of Heidelberg 1622]]
[[Elector Frederick III]], sovereign of the [[Electoral Palatinate]] from 1559 to 1576, commissioned the composition of a new [[Catechism]] for his territory. While the catechism's introduction credits the "entire theological faculty here" (at the [[University of Heidelberg]]) and "all the superintendents and prominent servants of the church" for the composition of the Catechism, [[Zacharias Ursinus|Zacharius Ursinus]] is commonly regarded as the catechism's principal author. [[Caspar Olevianus]] (1536–1587) was formerly asserted as a co-author of the document, though this theory has been largely discarded by modern scholarship. [[Johann Sylvan]], [[Adam Neuser]], Johannes Willing, [[Thomas Erastus]], Michael Diller, Johannes Brunner, Tilemann Mumius, Petrus Macheropoeus, Johannes Eisenmenger, [[Immanuel Tremellius]], and [[Pierre Boquin]] are all likely to have contributed to the Catechism in some way. Frederick himself wrote the preface to the Catechism and closely oversaw its composition and publication. Frederick, who was officially Lutheran but had strong Reformed leanings, wanted to even out the religious situation of his highly Lutheran territory within the primarily Catholic [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The [[Council of Trent]] had just concluded with its conclusions and decrees against the Protestant faiths, and the [[Peace of Augsburg]] had only granted toleration for [[Lutheranism]] within the empire where the ruler was Lutheran. One of the aims of the catechism was to counteract the teachings of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] as well as [[Anabaptism|Anabaptists]] and "strict" [[Gnesio-Lutherans]] like [[Tilemann Heshusius]] and [[Matthias Flacius]], who were resisting Frederick's Reformed influences, particularly on the matter of Eucharist ([[Eucharist|the Lord's Supper]]). The Catechism-based each of its statements on biblical [[Prooftext|proof-texts]], and Frederick himself would defend it as biblical, not reformed, at the 1566 [[Diet of Augsburg]] when he was called to answer to charges of violating the Peace of Augsburg. This was the [[Heidelberg Catechism]], officially called the ″Catechism, or Christian Instruction, according to the Usages of the Churches and Schools of the Electoral [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]].″
[[File:2002-04-02 Hauptstraße, Heidelberg IMG 0404.jpg|thumb|Main street Heidelberg]]
[[File:Heidelberg Old Bridge.jpg|thumb|[[Old Bridge (Heidelberg)|Old Bridge Gate]]]]

In November 1619, the Royal [[Crown of Bohemia]] was offered to the Elector, [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine|Frederick V]]. (He was married to [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]], eldest daughter of [[James VI and I]] of Scotland and England, respectively.) Frederick became known as the "Winter King", as he reigned for only one winter before the Imperial [[House of Habsburg]] regained Bohemia by force. His overthrow in 1621 marked the beginning of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. In 1622, after a [[Siege of Heidelberg (1622)|siege of two months]], the armies of the [[Catholic League (German)|Catholic League]], commanded by [[Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly]], captured the town. Tilly gave the famous ''[[Bibliotheca Palatina]]'' from the [[Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg|Church of the Holy Spirit]] to the Pope as a present. The Catholic and Bavarian [[House of Wittelsbach]] gained control over the Palatinate and the title of Prince-Elector.
[[File:Hotelritter.jpg|thumb|left|Hotel zum Ritter St. Georg]]
[[File:Alte Bruecke Heidelberg von Konrad Linck 1788.jpg|thumb|left|Old Bridge, Konrad Linck, 1788]]

In late 1634, after the Swedish army had conquered Heidelberg, imperial forces attempted to recapture the city. They quickly took the city, but were unable to take the castle. As they prepared to blow up its fortifications with gunpowder the French army arrived, 30,000 men strong, led by [[Urbain de Maillé-Brézé]], who had fought in many battles and participated in the [[Siege of La Rochelle]] (1627–1628), and [[Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force]]. They broke the siege and drove off the Imperial forces.<ref>Helfferich, Tryntje, The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 289–90.</ref>

In 1648, at the end of the war, Frederick V's son [[Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine]], was able to recover his titles and lands. To strengthen his dynasty, Charles I Louis arranged the marriage of his daughter [[Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine|Liselotte]] to [[Philip I, Duke of Orléans]], brother of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], King of France. In 1685, after the death of Charles Louis' son, Elector [[Charles II, Elector Palatine|Charles II]], King Louis XIV laid claim to his sister-in-law's inheritance. The Germans rejected the claim, in part because of religious differences between local Protestants and the French Catholics, as the [[Protestant Reformation]] had divided the peoples of Europe. The [[War of the Grand Alliance]] ensued. In 1689, French troops took the town and castle, bringing nearly total destruction to the area in 1693. As a result of the destruction due to repeated French invasions related to the [[War of the Palatinate Succession]] coupled with severe winters, thousands of German Calvinist Palatines emigrated in the early 18th century. They fled to other European cities and especially to London (where the refugees were called "the poor Palatines"). In sympathy for the Protestants, in 1709–1710, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]'s government arranged transport for nearly 6,000 Palatines to New York. Others were transported to [[Pennsylvania]], and to [[South Carolina]]. They worked their passage and later settled in the English colonies there.

In 1720, after assigning a major church for exclusively Catholic use, religious conflicts with the mostly Protestant inhabitants of Heidelberg caused the Roman Catholic Prince-Elector [[Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine|Charles III Philip]] to transfer his court to nearby [[Mannheim]]. The court remained there until the Elector [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Charles Theodore]] became [[Rulers of Bavaria|Elector of Bavaria]] in 1777 and established his court in [[Munich]]. In 1742, Elector Charles Theodore began rebuilding the Palace. In 1764, a lightning bolt destroyed other palace buildings during reconstruction, causing the work to be discontinued.