FULDA, a town and episcopal see of Germany, in the Prus sian province of Hesse-Nassau, between the Rhon and the Vogel-Gebirge, 6o m. N.E. from Frankfort-on-Main by rail. Pop. 27,72o.
Fulda owes its existence to its abbey, and became a town in 1208. In the middle ages there were many struggles between the abbots and the townsfolk. It came finally into the possession of Prussia in 1866. From 1734 to 1804 Fulda was the seat of a university, and latterly many assemblies of German bishops have been held in the town.
The great Benedictine abbey of Fulda was founded in 744 at the instigation of St. Boniface by his pupil Sturm, who was the first abbot, and became a missionary centre. It was liberally endowed with land and soon became one of the most wealthy establishments of its kind. About 968 the pope declared its abbot the primate of Germany and Gaul, and later he became a prince of the Empire. The school at Fulda was the centre of theological learning in the early middle ages. Among its teachers were Alcuin, Hrabanus Maurus, who was abbot from 822 to 842, and Walafrid Strabo. Early in the loth century the monastery was reformed by monks from Scotland, but had declined considerably before the Reformation. In 1752 the abbot was raised to the rank of a bishop, and Fulda ranked as a prince-bishopric. This was secularized in 1802. In 1816 the greater part of the principality was ceded by Prussia to Hesse-Cassel, a smaller portion being united with Bavaria. Sharing the fate of Hesse-Cassel, this larger portion was annexed by Prussia in 1866. In 1829 a new bishopric was founded at Fulda.
The present cathedral was built early in the 18th century on the model of St. Peter's at Rome, but it has an ancient crypt, restored in 1892. Opposite the cathedral is the former monastery of St. Michael, now the episcopal palace. The Michaelskirche, attached to it, is a small round church built, in imitation of the Holy Sepulchre, in 822 and restored in 1853. The library, the palace, the former Benedictine nunnery (founded 1625, and now used as a seminary), and the Minorite friary (1238) now used as a warehouse, may be noted. Industries include weaving and dyeing, the manufacture of linen, felt and tapestry. There are also rail way works in the town, and trade is in cattle.