Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
An early Slavic tribe's settlement was located at , and the first documented use of the name Chemnitz was the 1143 site of a Benedictine monastery around which a settlement grew. Around 1170, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted it the rights of an imperial city. In 1307, the town became subordinate to the Margraviate of Meissen, the predecessor of the Saxon state. In medieval times, Chemnitz became a centre of textile production and trade. More than one third of the population worked in textile production.