Speyer

in the background The first known names were Noviomagus and Civitas Nemetum, after the Teutonic tribe, Nemetes, settled in the area. The name Spira is first recorded in the 7th century, taken from villa Spira, a Frankish settlement situated outside of Civitas Nemetum. Timeline • In 10 BC, the first Roman military camp is established (situated between the town hall and the episcopal palace), guarding the northeast frontier of the Roman Empire against Germanic barbarian tribes across the river to the east in Germania. • In AD 150, the town appears as Noviomagus on the world map of the Greek geographer Ptolemy. • In 346, a Western Christian / Roman Catholic bishop for the town is mentioned for the first time. • 4th century, Civitas Nemetum appears on the Peutinger Map. • 5th century, Civitas Nemetum is destroyed. • 7th century, the town is re-established, and named Spira after a nearby Frankish settlement. • In 1030, emperor Conrad II starts the construction of Speyer Cathedral, today one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Also in the 11th century, the first city wall was built. • In 1076, emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire embarks from Speyer, his favourite town, for Canossa. • In 1084, establishment of the first Jewish community in Speyer. • In 1096, as Count Emicho's Crusader army on their journey in the First Crusade (also known as the People's Crusade) to the Muslim-occupied Holy Land, raged across the Rhineland slaughtering innocent Jewish communities in the Rhineland massacres. Speyer's Bishop John, with the local leader Yekutiel ben Moses, manages to secure the community's members inside the episcopal palace and later leads them to even stronger fortifications outside the town. It was ruled that anyone harming a Jew would have his hands chopped off. • In 1294, the Roman Catholic bishop lost most of his previous rights, and from now on Speyer is a Free Imperial Town of the Holy Roman Empire. • In 1349, the Jewish community of Speyer was wiped out in a persecution pogrom. • Between 1527 and 1689, Speyer was the seat of the Imperial Chamber Court. • During the 16th century Protestant Reformation era in 1526, at the first Diet of Speyer (1526) interim toleration of Lutheran teaching and worship is decreed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. • In 1529, at the second Diet of Speyer (1529) the Evangelical Lutheran states and supporting princes / electors of the Holy Roman Empire protest against the anti-Reformation resolutions (19 April 1529 Protestation at Speyer, hence the beginnings of the use of the descriptive term "Protestantism" / "Protestants"). • In 1635, Marshal of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé, together with Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force, conquers Heidelberg and Speyer at the head of the Army of Germany. • In 1689, the town was heavily damaged by invading Royal French troops. • Between 1792 and 1814, Speyer during the long period of the French Revolutionary Wars and subsequent Napoleonic Wars is under French occupation and jurisdiction under the First French Republic and following First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon I), continuing earlier during the 18th century, by Royal French troops of the Kingdom of France, after the Battle of Speyerbach, a century before in 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). • In 1816, (following the fall of Napoleon), Speyer becomes the seat of administration of the Palatinate and of the government of the Rhine District of the Kingdom of Bavaria (later called the Bavarian Palatinate), and remains so for 129 years until the end of World War II in 1945. • In 1861, at the Speyer Cathedral, Edward VII was introduced to his future wife Alexandra by Crown Princess Victoria. • Between 1883 and 1904, the Memorial Church was built in remembrance of the Protestation of 1529 at the Diet of Speyer. • In 1947, during post-World War II western Allied Powers-occupied Germany, the State Academy of Administrative Science was founded (later renamed German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer). • In 1990, Speyer celebrates its 2000th anniversary, on the eve of a reunified Federal Republic of Germany, following the ebbing close of the Cold War. == Main sights ==