HELMSTEDT, or more rarely Helmstedt, a town of Ger many, in the Land of Brunswick, 3o m. W.N.W. of Magdeburg on the main line of railway to Brunswick. Pop. Helmstedt was probably founded about 900, and obtained civic rights in 1099. In 1457 it joined the Hanseatic League, and in 1490 it came into the possession of Brunswick. In 1S76 Julius, duke of Brunswick, founded a university here, and throughout the 17th century this was one of the chief seats of Protestant learning. It was closed by Jerome, king of Westphalia, in 1809. The principal buildings are the Juleum, the former university, in Renaissance style (late 16th cent.) and the Stephanskirche dating from the 12th century. The principal manufactures are furniture, yarn, soap, tobacco, machinery, glass and earthenware.