Mainz

MAINZ (Fr. Mayence), a city and episcopal see of Germany, situated on the left bank of the Rhine, which is here crossed by three bridges, almost opposite the influx of the Main, in the republic of Hesse, and at the junction of the important main lines of railway from Cologne to Mannheim and Frankfort-on Main, 25 m. W. of the latter. Pop. (1933) 142,428, of whom two-thirds are Roman Catholic.

History.

Mainz was a pre-Roman settlement, at which, about 13 B.c. Drusus, the step-son of Augustus, erected a fortified camp; the castellum Mat,tiacorum (the modern Castel) on the opposite bank was afterwards added to it, the two being connected with a bridge at the opening of the Christian era. The earlier name became latinized as Maguntiacum, or Moguntiacum, and a town gradually arose around the camp, which became the capital of Germania Superior. During the Volkerwanderung Mainz suf fered severely, being destroyed on different occasions by the Alamanni, the Vandals and the Huns. Christianity seems to have been introduced into the town at a very early period, and in the 6th century a new Mainz was founded by Bishop Sidonius. In the middle of the 8th century under Boniface it became an archbish opric, and to this the primacy of Germany was soon annexed. Charlemagne, who had a palace in the neighbourhood, gave privi leges to Mainz, which rose rapidly in wealth and importance, becoming a free city in 1118. In r 16o the citizens revolted against Archbishop Arnold, and in 1163 the walls of the city were pulled down by order of the emperor Frederick I.

In 1244 certain rights of self-government were given to the citizens; and in 1254 Mainz was the centre and mainspring of a powerful league of Rhenish towns. In 1462 there was warfare between two rival archbishops. The citizens espoused the losing cause and were deprived of their privileges. Many of the inhabit ants were driven into exile, and these carried into other lands a knowledge of the art of printing, which had been invented at Mainz by Johann Gutenberg in 1450. During the Thirty Years' War Mainz was occupied by the Swedes and by the French. In 1792 the citizens welcomed the ideas of the French Revolution; they expelled their archbishop, and opened their gates to the French troops. Mainz was ceded to France by the treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, and again by the Treaty of Luneville in 18o1. In 1814 it was restored to Germany and in 1816 it was handed over to the grand duke of Hesse. After the war of 1914-18 it was occupied by Allied troops.

Architecture and Trade.

The first object of historical and architectural interest in Mainz is the cathedral, a Romanesque edifice with numerous Gothic additions and details. It was origi nally erected between 975 and 1009, but has since been repeatedly burned down and rebuilt, and in its present form dates chiefly from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. The whole building was re

stored by order of Napoleon in 1814, and another thorough reno vation was made more recently. The most noteworthy of the other churches are those of St. Ignatius, with a finely painted ceiling, of St. Stephen, built 1257-1328, and restored after an explosion in 1857, and of St. Peter. The old electoral palace (1627-1678), a large building of red sandstone, now contains a valuable col lection of Roman and Germanic antiquities. Among the other principal buildings are the former palace of the grand duke of Hesse, built in 1731-1739 as a lodge of the Teutonic order, and the government buildings. A statue of Gutenberg, by Thor waldsen, was erected at Mainz in 1837. Mainz still retains many relics of the Roman period, the most important of which is the Eigelstein, a monument believed to have been erected by the Roman legions in honour of Drusus. It stands within the citadel, which occupies the site of the Roman castrum. A little to the south-west of the town are the remains of a large Roman aqueduct, of which upwards of sixty pillars are still standing. The university of Mainz, founded in 1477, was suppressed by the French in 1798.

The site of Mainz would seem to mark it out naturally as a great centre of trade, but the illiberal rule of the archbishops and its military importance seriously hampered its commercial and industrial development, and prevented it from rivalling its neigh bour Frankfort. It is now, however, the chief emporium of the Rhenish wine traffic, and also carries on an extensive transit trade in grain, timber, flour, petroleum, paper and vegetables. The prin cipal manufactures are leather goods, furniture, carriages, chemi cals, musical instruments, cement and boots. Other industries include brewing, ship-building and printing. Mainz is the adminis trative and judicial capital of the province of Rhein-Hessen.

The Archbishopric of Mainz,

dating from 747, was one of the seven electorates of the Holy Roman Empire, and became a power ful state during the middle ages, retaining some of its importance until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. Its archbishop was president of the electoral college, arch-chancellor of the empire and primate of Germany. The lands of the electorate lay around Mainz, and were on both banks of the Rhine; their area at the time of the French Revolution was about 3,200 sq.m. The arch bishopric was secularized in 1803, two years after the lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France. Some of those on the right bank of the river were given to Prussia and to Hesse ; others were formed into a grand duchy for Dalberg. The archbishopric itself was transferred to Regensburg.