Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt, a fortified town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, on the left bank of the Danube at its confluence with the Schutter, 52 m. north of Munich, at the junction of the main lines of railway, Munich, Bamberg and Regensburg-Augsburg. Pop. (1900) 22,207. The principal buildings are the old palace of the dukes of Bavaria-Ingolstadt, now used as an arsenal; the new palace on the Danube; the remains of the earliest Jesuits’ college in Germany, founded in 1555; the former university buildings, now a school; the theatre; the large Gothic Frauenkirche, founded in 1425, with two massive towers, containing several interesting monuments, among them the tomb of Dr Eck, Luther’s opponent; the Franciscan convent and nunnery; and several other churches and hospitals. Ingolstadt possesses several technical and other schools. In 1472 a university was founded in the town by the Bavarian duke, Louis the Rich, which at the end of the 16th century was attended by 4000 students. In 1800 it was removed to Landshut, whence it was transferred to Munich in 1826. Its newer public buildings include an Evangelical church, a civil hospital, an arsenal and an orphanage. The industries are cannon-founding, manufacture of gunpowder and cloth, and brewing.

Ingolstadt, known as Aureatum or Chrysopolis, was a royal villa in the beginning of the 9th century, and received its charter of civic incorporation before 1255. After that date it grew in importance, and became the capital of a dukedom which merged in that of Bavaria-Munich. The fortifications, erected in 1539, were put to the test during the contests of the Reformation period and in the Thirty Years’ War. Gustavus Adolphus vainly besieged Ingolstadt in 1632, when Tilly, to whom there is a monument in the Frauenkirche, lay mortally wounded within the walls. In the War of the Spanish Succession it was besieged by the margrave of Baden in 1704. In 1743 it was surrendered by the French to the Austrians, and in 1800, after three months’ siege, the French, under General Moreau, took the town, and dismantled the fortifications. They were rebuilt on a much larger scale under King Louis I., and since 1870 Ingolstadt has ranked as a fortress of the first class. In 1872 even more important fortifications were constructed, which include têtes-de-pont with round towers of massive masonry, and the redoubt Tilly on the right bank of the river.

See Gerstner, Geschichte der Stadt Ingolstadt (Munich, 1853); and Prantl, Geschichte der Ludwig Maximilians Universität (Munich, 1872).

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