ASCHAFFENBURG, Bavaria, Germany, on right bank of the Main, near the foot of the Spessart, 26m. S.E. of Frankfurt. Pop. Called in the middle ages Aschafaburg (or Askenburg), it was originally a Roman settlement. On the site of the castrum the Frankish mayors of the palace built a castle. Bonifacius erected a chapel and founded a Benedictine monastery. A stone bridge over the Main was built by Archbishop Willigis in 989. In 1292 a synod was held here, and in 1474 an imperial diet, preliminary to that of Vienna, in which the Aschaffenburg Concordat was decided. The town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War. In the Prussians defeated the Austrians in the neighbourhood.
The principality of Aschaffenburg formed part of the elec torate of Main in the middle ages. In 18o6 it was annexed to the grand-duchy of Frankfurt ; and in was transferred to Bavaria. Its chief buildings are the Johannisburg, which has some of the earliest examples of printed books, the Sti f tskirche, or cathedral, founded in 98o by Otto of Bavaria, but mainly 12th and 13th centuries, with various monuments by the Vischers; a theatre, formerly the house of the Teutonic order; and several old mansions. The town has been remarkable for its educational establishments since the loth century. There is an archaeological museum in the old abbey buildings. Coloured and white paper, ready-made clothing, cellulose, leather, beer and spirits, electrical apparatus and machinery, wax, chemicals and liqueurs are the chief manufactures, and there are smithies and brickworks and an important harbour on the Main.