page_title: Heilbronn
section_title: 1500–1700
hierarchical_section_title: Heilbronn / History / 1500–1700
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Heilbronn. Stich aus dem Jahre 1643, 34,5 x 20,5 cm, von Matthäus Merian, aus der Topographia Sveviae. Links im Bildhintergrund der Wartberg mit Wartbergturm, rechts daneben der Galgenberg mit deutlich sichtbarem Galgen. Die Stadtmauer wird zum Neckar hin links vom Bollwerksturm, rechts vom Götzenturm begrenzt. Die Stadt wird vom Turm der Kilianskirche überragt. Die Befestigungsanlagen sind dem zu dieser Zeit herrschenden Dreißigjährigen Krieg geschuldet. English: Heilbronn. Engraving from 1643, 34,5 x 20,5 cm, by Matthäus Merian, from the Topographia Sveviae.
context_page_description: Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is surrounded by Heilbronn District and, with approximately 123,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
  The city on the Neckar is a former Imperial Free City and is the seat of Heilbronn District. Heilbronn is also the economic center of the Heilbronn-Franken region that includes most of northeast Baden-Württemberg. Furthermore, Heilbronn is known for its wine industry and is nicknamed Käthchenstadt, after Heinrich von Kleist's Das Käthchen von Heilbronn.
context_section_description: Götz von Berlichingen spent three years in "knightly custody" in Heilbronn starting in 1519 and even spent a night in the tower of the bastion. That same year people first took note of the pub owner Jäcklein Rohrbach who with accomplices would later kill the executor of Böckingen. After he had spent some time in the Hohenlohe Plains and collected similarly minded characters around him, he returned to Heilbronn in April 1525 just as the German Peasants' War was getting into full swing. On April 16 the peasants killed many of the nobles in Weinsberg and on April 18 the Heilbronn monastery of the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was attacked and ransacked. The city opened its gates in response to demands of the peasants and consequently more churches and municipal institutions were robbed the next day. For about a month Heilbronn remained under the control of rebellious peasants. And even though Johann Lachmann, later a church reformer, had attempted to mediate, the peasants did not leave the city until one of their armies was defeated on May 12, 1525 in Böblingen. Their leader Rohrbach was executed on May 21, 1525 in Neckargartach and his home town of Böckingen was partially burnt to the ground in punishment.
  In 1528, the replacement of the mayor by Hans Riesser, a Protestant, brought on the previously delayed Reformation and through the efforts of Reformer Lachmann schools and healthcare were also reorganized. In 1529 the Kilianskirche (church tower of the Kilianskirche) was completed. It was the first important religious building of the Renaissance in Germany. The year 1530 brought about the acceptance of the Augsburg Confession by city council and residents and the Heilbronn Catechism of 1536 is the second oldest catechism in the Protestant Church. In 1538 Heilbronn joined the Schmalkaldic League but by 1546 squabbles between troops of the Schmalkaldic League and those of the Emperor Charles V escalated into battles that were won by the Emperor. As a result, Charles V spent Christmas 1546 in Heilbronn to attend the ensuing criminal proceedings. It is also Charles V who in 1522 changed the charter of the city and this charter survived almost unscathed until 1803.
  During the Thirty Years' War the city and surrounding villages suffered badly. After the battle of Wimpfen in 1622, Neckargartach was burnt to the ground. In 1631 Heilbronn was occupied by imperial troops but the same year the Swedes succeeded in conquering the city. From 1644 through 1647, Heilbronn was again part of the Holy Roman Empire, but then French troops moved in and later those of the Electorate of the Palatinate. The city was not free of occupying forces until four years after the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. But already in the 1670s the city again became the stage for armed manoeuvres, until it was occupied by French troops in 1688. But while that occupation of the city only lasted several months, the French were only persuaded to leave the surrounding areas in 1693, after a large defensive army had been put into the field and fortifications had been erected.
caption: Heilbronn in 1643. Engraving by Matthäus Merian
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