Glogau

Glogau, a fortified town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, 59 m. N.W. from Breslau, on the railway to Frankfort-on-Oder. Pop. (1905) 23,461. It is built partly on an island and partly on the left bank of the Oder; and owing to the fortified enceinte having been pushed farther afield, new quarters have been opened up. Among its most important buildings are the cathedral, in the Gothic, and a castle (now used as a courthouse), in the Renaissance style, two other Roman Catholic and three Protestant churches, a new town-hall, a synagogue, a military hospital, two classical schools (Gymnasien) and several libraries. Owing to its situation on a navigable river and at the junction of several lines of railway, Glogau carries on an extensive trade, which is fostered by a variety of local industries, embracing machinery-building, tobacco, beer, oil, sugar and vinegar. It has also extensive lithographic works, and its wool market is celebrated.

In the beginning of the 11th century Glogau, even then a populous and fortified town, was able to withstand a regular siege by the emperor Henry V.; but in 1157 the duke of Silesia, finding he could not hold out against Frederick Barbarossa, set it on fire. In 1252 the town, which had been raised from its ashes by Henry I., the Bearded, became the capital of a principality of Glogau, and in 1482 town and district were united to the Bohemian crown. In the course of the Thirty Years’ War Glogau suffered greatly. The inhabitants, who had become Protestants soon after the Reformation, were dragooned into conformity by Wallenstein’s soldiery; and the Jesuits received permission to build themselves a church and a college. Captured by the Protestants in 1632, and recovered by the Imperialists in 1633, the town was again captured by the Swedes in 1642, and continued in Protestant hands till the peace of Westphalia in 1648, when the emperor recovered it. In 1741 the Prussians took the place by storm, and during the Seven Years’ War it formed an important centre of operations for the Prussian forces. After the battle of Jena (1806) it fell into the hands of the French; and was gallantly held by Laplane, against the Russian and Prussian besiegers, after the battle of Katzbach in August 1813 until the 17th of the following April.