page_title: History of Speyer
section_title: A prosperous city
hierarchical_section_title: History of Speyer / A prosperous city
caption_attribution_description: Speyrer Dom (Cathedral of Speyer, Germany)
context_page_description: The history of Speyer begins with the establishment of a Roman camp in 10 BCE, making it one of Germany's oldest cities. Its name evolved from Spira, first mentioned in 614. As of 1294 a Free Imperial City, the town became renowned for its Romanesque cathedral, its vibrant Jewish community, its seat of the Imperial Chamber Court, for 50 diets that took place within its walls, most notably 1526 and 1529, and last but not least, for the Protestation at Speyer. For several centuries from the Middle Ages into the early modern period, Speyer was one of the main centres of gravity of the Holy Roman Empire.
context_section_description: After the political setbacks in the first half of the 15th century, Speyer recovered in the later second half. The lists of 1514 contained 8 whole and 8 half guilds. The whole guilds were:
  minters' coop or minters
  chandlers incl. chemists, glaziers, bagmakers, wet white tanners
  weavers incl. blue and black dyers
  clothmakers incl. hatmakers
  tailors
  blacksmiths incl. goldsmiths, locksmiths, barber surgeons, knife makers, farriers, armourers
  butchers
  gardeners
  Half-guilds were:
  Salzgässer incl. dealers, rope makers, oil vendors
  Hasenpfühler, incl. sailors, ship builders, carters
  furriers
  carpenters incl. joiners, wainwrights, turners, potters, masons, stonecutters
  bakers
  fishermen
  cobblers
  tanners
  The number of guilds in Speyer changed over time. The given order reflects on their importance which was also subject to change. The minters provided the patricians of the city because of their importance for economy and politics resulting from their predominant role as wholesale merchants and moneylenders. Speyer resumed a remarkably strong role in the money market of southwestern Germany.
  The main pillar of the economy was production of and trade in cloth on which about 15% of the population depended. Including the supporting trades, such as spinning, dyeing, churning etc., the share was even higher. The Speyer cloth trade extended as far as the North Sea, the Baltic, Silesia, Transylvania and Switzerland. Speyer was also a major trading centre for wine. Wine from the Palatine and Rhenish Hesse was shipped all over, usually by boat on the Rhine.
  By the end of the century, two renowned printers opened shop in Speyer, Peter Drach and Konrad Hist.
  In 1486, the Dominican Heinrich Kramer published his book Malleus Maleficarum, a treatise on the prosecution of witches, in Speyer. Although soon condemned by the Catholic Church it was later used by royal courts and contributed to the increasingly brutal prosecution of witchcraft.
  Speyer played a prominent role in the city politics of the empire. From the middle of the 15th century on, the emperors usually asked the imperial cities to participate in the diets. As of 1489 they regularly took part, even though they were long from being considered equal to the other territories. In the end of the 15th century, the registry of the Rhenish League of Cities was set up in Speyer.
  Speyer was requested to participate in the diet of 1471 in Regensburg where military aid against the Turks was discussed, who had captured Constantinople. In several following meetings of the Rhenish cities association, one of them on August 1, 1473 in Speyer, the cities argued against the war tax levied by the emperor but he prevailed in his demand, that the cities contributed 1,396 men to an imperial army of 10,000. For Speyer, this translated into 22 men, 6 on horse and 16 on foot. These kinds of contributions are an indication of the rank of a city at that time: Worms had to supply 15 men, Weissenburg 9, Nuremberg 42, Frankfurt 45, Strassburg and Cologne each 60. On occasion of the diet of 1474 in Augsburg, there was another assembly of the cities in Speyer on November 30, 1474, to discuss further support against the Turks. Again, the cities were indignant but they approved aid for a war against Duke Charles of Burgundy who had attacked the bishopric of Cologne. Speyer supplied 200 men of which 10 did not return after 6 months. In Frankfurt in 1486, it was decided that the cities support the cause against the Turks with 527,900 guilders. Speyer paid 4,000, Weissenburg 800, Worms 2,000, Heilbronn 2,000, Wimpfen 300, Frankfurt 10,000, Strassburg and Nuremberg each 12,000. In 1487, in Nuremberg, again payments were required: 1,500 from Speyer, 300 from Weissenburg, 600 from Worms, 2,000 from Frankfurt and 3,000 from Strassburg. 1489 saw another demand for manpower to supply an army of 29,487 men against France and Hungary. Speyer sent 85, Worms 58, Weißenburg 17, Strassburg 137 and Frankfurt 167. In 1488, Speyer again supplied 74 mercenaries for a campaign of the emperor against Flanders in order to liberate heir appa
caption: Mount of Olives, partially restored in the 19th century
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