From about 900 AD there was a small settlement in what is now the district of Spiegel, which consisted of a forest lodge and a fortified tenant farm (
Fronhof) to protect the river
Main crossing at Grünwehr. The area later passed into the hands of the
Count of Schweinfurt, whose power was usually exercised through the office of the . Kulmbach was first mentioned as
Kulma in a deed of gift in the
Alcuin Bible between 1028 and 1040. The name comes from a stream that comes descends the mountain (
Culmin-aha, Culmna). This stream was later renamed
Kohlenbach due to a misunderstanding. When the male line of the Schweinfurt counts died out, Kulmbach passed to the Dießen line of the
Andechs family through the marriage of the Schweinfurts' daughter and heiress, Gisela, to Count Arnold of Dießen. The counts acquired other lands around Kulmbach, built the first fort, the
Plassenburg, in the first third of the twelfth century and founded a market town and a church in today's upper town (
Obere Stadt). In 1180 the
House of Andechs was elevated to an imperial princedom by the
Emperor Barbarossa and given the title of Duke of
Merania after the town of Marano between
Venice and
Trieste (now
Marano Lagunare). Around 1231 Kulmbach was granted
town rights. In place of the old Plassenburg, the site of which is unclear, the dukes built a new castle on a hill spur above Kulmbach. The rule of the Meranian family ended with the last Duke of Merania, Otto II, who died childless in 1248. After years of inheritance disputes the castle of Plassenburg and hence rule over Kulmbach went in 1260 to the
Thuringian counts of
Orlamünde. The Orlamündes finished the new Plassenburg castle and founded the monastery of
Himmelkron. Later, they pledged the castle and town. In 1340, after the death of the last Orlamünde, pursuant to an agreement, the
burggraves of Nuremberg, members of the
Hohenzollern family, took over Kulmbach and Plassenburg. Until the 17th century, Plassenburg was the residence of the burggrave office or
Amt. Later it was the
Amt for the Hohenzollern
Principality of Kulmbach (also:
Brandenburg-Kulmbach or, after 1604,
Brandenburg-Bayreuth). As a result of its favourable location on the
historic and 'escorted' roads to
Bamberg,
Nuremberg,
Eger,
Hof and
Leipzig trade in the town flourished - guilds were formed for the weavers, dyers and silk embroiderers. In 1398, 1500 to 2000 inhabitants lived in Kulmbach; this can be seen from a burggraviate inventory of land, houses and taxes. The town was ruled by a lordly
Vogt or sheriff, the mayor and a council of prominent citizens. As a result of the transfer of the princely privilege in 1363, and the electorate and the
March of Brandenburg in 1415, all subsequent Franconian Hohenzollerns called themselves
Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. From 1411 to 1529 Kulmbach townsfolk stood as
chancellors at the head of the administration for the March of Brandenburg (Dr. Frederick Sesselmann, Sigismund Zehrer and Sebastian Stublinger). On 31 January 1430 the
Hussites sacked the town. In the course of rebuilding the town, which had been largely destroyed, St. Peter's Church was rebuilt in late Gothic style. It was here that the first Protestant church service was celebrated under Margrave
George the Pious in 1528. The belligerent margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach,
Albert Alcibiades, wanted to bring all Franconians under his rule and set up a reconstituted Duchy of Franconia. After the abortive
First Margrave War, Albert instigated the
Second Margrave War and left a path of destruction throughout Franconia and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, a league against him formed, which ultimately invaded Kulmbach on
St. Conrad's Day, 26 November 1553, and sacked the city. Many of its citizens were massacred or fled, and the town itself was burned to the ground. On 21 October 1554 the Plassenburg, whose garrison had hitherto held out against their enemy, was also set on fire and destroyed. The sack is recreated in the German Tin Soldiers Museum at the Plassenburg, this diorama constitutes the largest of its kind in the world. From 1557 the town was rebuilt under the new margrave, George Frederick. In 1559 the reconstruction of the
Plassenburg, one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Germany, began. However, George Frederick's successor, Margrave Christian, moved the location of his
Residenz in 1604 to neighbouring
Bayreuth as the Plassenburg no longer fulfilled the ideas of courtly absolutism, and the expansion of the castle came to an end. Nevertheless, the margravial residence returned to Kulmbach several times, once, in 1605, due to a fire in the city of Bayreuth and then again, for safety, during the
Thirty Years War. Kulmbach was also burned as a Protestant town by imperial troops, but the Plassenburg proved impregnable. Finally, in 1642, the residence was moved permanently to Bayreuth, and Kulmbach lost its political importance. As a result, little of significance happened here in the years that followed. When Margrave Charles Frederick Alexander sold the March of Brandenburg-Bayreuth to his cousin, the King of Prussia, on account of his lover, Lady Elizabeth Craven, Kulmbach, too, became Prussian, and the Plassenburg was used in the years that followed as a camp for French prisoners of war. Since the Plassenburg represented an obstacle to French and Bavarian forces advancing against Prussia in 1806, the town of Kulmbach was occupied in October and November that year. After the capitulation of its Prussian garrison, the castle was
slighted in order to render it militarily useless. Finally, Kulmbach was granted to Bavaria in 1810. In 1846 it was connected to the King
Ludwig South-North Railway. This resulted in a tremendous economic boom - particularly for the breweries - as their products could now be readily exported. So the number of breweries grew to 26 in 1882. In 1890 Kulmbach was elected as a free (
kreisunmittelbar) town. In 1933, the
NSDAP seized power in Kulmbach and the Imperial School of German Technology (
Reichsschule der deutschen Technik) was established in the Plassenburg. As a result, Kulmbach was even given an additional motorway junction which is now the start of today's
A 70 autobahn. In early 1945, Kulmbach was captured by American troops without a fight. In the local government reforms of 1972, the districts of
Kulmbach and
Stadtsteinach were merged and Kulmbach is now the county town. ==Politics==