Harzburg

Harzburg, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Brunswick, beautifully situated in a deep and well-wooded vale at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, at the terminus of the Brunswick-Harzburg railway, 5 m. E.S.E. from Goslar and 18 m. S. from Wolfenbüttel. Pop. (1905), 4396. The Radau, a mountain stream, descending from the Brocken, waters the valley and adds much to its picturesque charm. The town is much frequented as a summer residence. It possesses brine and carbonated springs, the Juliushall saline baths being about a mile to the south of the town, and a hydropathic establishment. A mile and a half south from the town lies the Burgberg, 1500 ft. above sea-level, on whose summit, according to tradition, was once an altar to the heathen idol Krodo, still to be seen in the Ulrich chapel at Goslar. There are on the summit of the hill the remains of an old castle, and a monument erected in 1875 to Prince Bismarck, with an inscription taken from one of his speeches against the Ultramontane claims of Rome—“Nach Canossa gehen wir nicht.”

The castle on the Burgberg called the Harzburg is famous in German history. It was built between 1065 and 1069, but was laid in ruins by the Saxons in 1074; again it was built and again destroyed during the struggle between the emperor Henry IV. and the Saxons. By Frederick I. it was granted to Henry the Lion, who caused it to be rebuilt about 1180. It was a frequent residence of Otto IV., who died therein, and after being frequently besieged and taken, it passed to the house of Brunswick. It ceased to be of importance as a fortress after the Thirty Years’ War, and gradually fell into ruins.

See Delius, Untersuchungen über die Geschichte der Harzburg (Halberstadt, 1826); Dommes, Harzburg und seine Umgebung (Goslar, 1862); Jacobs, Die Harzburg und ihre Geschichte (1885); and Stolle, Führer von Bad Harzburg (1899).

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