page_title: Nuremberg
section_title: Early modern age
hierarchical_section_title: Nuremberg / History / Early modern age
context_page_description: Nuremberg is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 511,628 inhabitants make it the 14th largest city in Germany. On the Pegnitz River and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it lies in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, and is the largest city and the unofficial capital of Franconia. Nuremberg forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a total population of 798,867, while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has approximately 3.6 million inhabitants. The city lies about 170 kilometres north of Munich. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area, Nuremberg was one of the host cities of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
  There are many institutions of higher education in the city, including the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. With 39,780 students in 2017, it is Bavaria's third-largest and Germany's 11th-largest university, with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen. Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg are also located within the city.
context_section_description: The cultural flowering of Nuremberg in the 15th and 16th centuries made it the centre of the German Renaissance. In 1525 Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation, and in 1532 the Nuremberg Religious Peace was signed there, preventing war between Lutherans and Catholics  for 15 years. During the Princes'  1552 revolution against Charles V, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but Margrave  Albert Alcibiades, one of the leaders of the revolt, attacked the city without a declaration of war and dictated a disadvantageous peace. At the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, the possessions of the Protestants were confirmed by the Emperor, their religious privileges extended and their independence from the Bishop of Bamberg affirmed, while the 1520s' secularisation of the monasteries was also approved. Families like the Tucher, Imhoff or Haller run trading businesses across Europe, similar to the Fugger and Welser families from Augsburg, although on a slightly smaller scale.
  The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere and the ossification of the social hierarchy and legal structures contributed to the decline in trade. During the Thirty Years' War, frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, was besieged by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein. The city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre. Even after the Thirty Years' War, however, there was a late flowering of architecture and culture – secular Baroque architecture is exemplified in the layout of the civic gardens built outside the city walls, and in the Protestant city's rebuilding of St. Egidien church, destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 18th century, considered a significant contribution to the baroque church architecture of Middle Franconia.
  After the Thirty Years' War, Nuremberg attempted to remain detached from external affairs, but contributions were demanded for the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War and restrictions of imports and exports deprived the city of many markets for its manufactures. The Bavarian elector, Charles Theodore, appropriated part of the land obtained by the city during the Landshut War of Succession, to which Bavaria had maintained its claim; Prussia also claimed part of the territory. Realising its weakness, the city asked to be incorporated into Prussia but Frederick William II refused, fearing to offend Austria, Russia and France. At the Imperial diet in 1803, the independence of Nuremberg was affirmed, but on the signing of the Confederation of the Rhine on 12 July 1806, it was agreed to hand the city over to Bavaria from 8 September, with Bavaria guaranteeing the amortisation of the city's 12.5 million guilder public debt.
caption: Map of Nuremberg, 1648
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