Augsburg

Augsburg

In the year 15 BC Emperor Augustus had a legion camp built on the site of present-day Augsburg. In the course of the 1st century the settlement around the camp grew and received the city rights under the name Augusta Vindelicorum in the year 121 by Emperor Hadrian. As early as the 3rd century, Augsburg was the seat of a bishop and the martyrdom of the city's saint Afra happened in this time.


In the early Middle Ages, Augsburg grew in importance when resident Bishop Ulrich helped the Emperor Otto beat the invading Hungarians in the Battle of Lechfeld. 1156 Augsburg again received the city rights by Frederick Barbarossa; 1276 Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg made Augsburg a Free Imperial City. As a result, the city elites came more and more into conflict with the prince bishops, which ultimately ended with the bishops relocating their headquarters to Dillingen on the Danube and the patricians gaining more and more control over Augsburg.


In the early modern period, the influence of merchant families - especially the Fugger and Welser - made Augsburg one of the most important trading centers in Europe. The city also became a center of printing. Philipp Melanchthon formulated here on the Reichstag of 1530 the Confessio Augustana, the confession and founding document of the Lutheran Church. 1555 ended the Reformation with the Augsburg imperial and religious peace. Finally, in 1806, the city lost its standing as imperial city through the Peace of Pressburg and fell to Bavaria.


Augsburg had three mints: one episcopal, one royal and one urban. The first two mints are best known for their early pennies and denarii. Such a coin minted under Bishop Eberhard I (1029 - 1047) was part of the hoard of Sandur on the Faroe Islands. As a free imperial city, Augsburg minted from 1521 (obtaining the right to mint coins) initially mainly gold gulden, pennies and kreuzer, but it soon began with the production of hellers and thalers.