MAGDEBURG, a city of Germany, capital of the Prussian province of Saxony. It lies mainly on the left bank of the Elbe, 88 m. S.W. from Berlin and at the junction of main lines to Leipzig, Brunswick, Cassel and Hamburg. Pop.
306,446.
Magdeburg, which was a small trading settlement at the beginning of the 9th century, owes its early prosperity chiefly to Otto the Great, who established a convent here about 937. In 968 it became the seat of an archbishop. Although burnt down in 1188, Magdeburg became a flourishing commercial town during the 13th century, and was an important member of the Hanseatic League. Its bench of jurats (Schoppenstuhl) became celebrated, and "Magdeburg law" (Magdeburger Recht), securing the administrative independence of municipalities, was widely adopted. During the middle ages the citizens were almost con stantly at variance with the archbishops, and by the end of the 5th century had become nearly independent of them. The town embraced the Reformation in 1524, and was thenceforth governed by Protestant titular archbishops. It successfully resisted Wallen stein for seven months in 1629, but was stormed and sacked by Tilly in May 1631. The whole town, with the exception of the cathedral, and about 14o houses, was burned to the ground, and the greater part of its inhabitants were butchered. By the peace of Westphalia (1648) the archbishopric was converted into a secular duchy, to fall to Brandenburg on the death of the last administrator, which happened in 1680. In 1806 Magdeburg was taken by the French and annexed to Westphalia, but it was restored to Prussia in 1814, on the downfall of Napoleon.
the Elbe, between the old town and the Fried richstadt, lies an island whereon stands the citadel ; this is united with both banks by bridges. With the exception of the Breite Weg running from north to south, the streets of the town proper are narrow and crooked. The Friedrich Wilhelms Garten stands on the site of the convent of Berge, which was founded in 968 and suppressed in 1809. The most important building in Magdeburg is the cathedral, dedicated to SS Maurice and Catherine, a struc ture of the 14th century, exhibiting an interesting blending of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The two western towers were completed about 1520. The Liebfrauenkirche, the oldest church in Magdeburg, is a Romanesque edifice of the 12th and 13th centuries, which was restored in 1890-91. The town hall (Rathaus) was built in 1691 and enlarged in 1866. The Breite
Weg and the old market contain gable-ended private houses in the style of the Renaissance. In front of the town hall stands an equestrian statue of Otto the Great, erected about 1290. There are an agricultural college and an observatory.
The first place amongst the industries is taken by the ironworks (one being a branch of the Krupp firm, the Grusonwerke), which produce armour and machinery. Of almost equal importance are the sugar refineries and chicory factories. Then come establishments for making tobacco, gloves, chocolate, artificial manure, cement, varnish, chemicals, glass and pottery. There are also distilleries and breweries, and factories for the manufacture of instruments and rubber wares. Magdeburg is the central market in Germany for sugar and chicory, but trades extensively also in cereals, fruit, vegetables, groceries, cattle, horses, wool, cloth, yarn, leather, coal and books. It has three harbours for the river traffic along the Elbe. Magdeburg is the seat of the provincial court of appeal and administrative offices, and of a Lutheran consistory.
Magdeburg was carved out of the bishopric of Halberstadt when it was founded in 968. The doc trines of the reformers made their appearance in the diocese early in the 16th century, and soon Archbishop Sigismund, a son of the elector of Brandenburg, openly accepted Lutheranism. The distinct office of burgrave dates from Charlemagne, although its holder was not at first called by this name, and it soon became one of great importance. The burgrave was the king's representative; he was charged with the administration of the royal estates in a given district, and in general with watching the royal interests therein. In 1294 it was united with the archbishopric and the pre lates, except from 1538 to 1579, retained it until the secularization of the see.
(Magdeburger Zenturien) is the name given to the first general history of the Christian Church written from a Protestant point of view. It was compiled in Magdeburg, and was written in Latin in 1562. The cost of the undertaking was borne by some of the German Protestant princes. As the Historia ecclesiae Christi it was first published at Basel in seven volumes (I559-74)• It deals with the Church down to 1400, and the earlier part has been translated into German (Jena, 1560-65).