BING'EN (anciently, Di n yin In rte' capital of a Billie' tribe). A town in the Grand Duchy of ]lose, Germany. 17 miles west of Mainz, and nearly opposite 1:1111VA]ei :MI rummy. P, 4). It is situated in a charming country on the left bank of the Mine, :It the month of the :Calm, here crossed by a med bcval brill n' built on the foundation of the Roman bridge of Drusus, a name the bridge still bears. its (:iithic parish church, dating from the Fifteenth Century, contains a fine crypt of much older date. Bingen possesses a Realschule, and number of other educational institutions. In the vicinity of the town is the Rochusberg, with a chapel, to which annual pilgrimages ;ire made. On the other side of the Nahe is the Rupertsberg, with the ruins of a monastery, in which Saint Hildegard resided in the Twelfth Century. Below the town is the celebrated Binger Loch, formerly a dangerous point in the navigation of the Rhine, but since I834 rendered safe through the deepening of the channel. In the middle of
the river stands the Mouse Tower, in which, ac cording to the legend, Archbishop Matto was devoured by mice in the year 969. Bingen's prin cipal industries include the manufacture of starch and tobacco. and there is a large trade in wine. Population, in 1895, 8187; in 1900, 9670. Bingen was a town of the ancient Belga% Drusus built a castle there and threw- a bridge across the Rhine, in 13.C. 13. In 12S1 it came under the rule of the Archbishop of Mainz. During the Thirty Years' War, it was taken in turn by the French, the Swedes, and the Imperialists. In 1689 the French burned the town and blew up the castle. From 1797 to 1814 the town belonged to France. In 1815 it became a part of Hesse.