248 GERMANY. 



The only important towns on the Isar below Munich are Freidng (8,253 

 inhabitants) and Lamhhut (14,780 inhabitants). The former, an old episcopal 

 see, has a Byzantine church of the twelfth century. Landshut, though of more 

 modern origin, is a larger city, remarkable, moreover, for its architectural features. 

 The Gothic church of St. Martin has a steeple nearly 460 feet in height. On a 

 neighbouring hill rises the castle of Trausnitz, the birthplace of Conradin, the 

 last of the Hohenstaufen. 



Nûrnherg (Nuremberg, 94,878 inhabitants) holds as prominent a position in 

 Franconia as does Munich in Bavaria proper. Niirnberg lies on the Pegnitz, a 

 small river tributary to the Eegnitz. The names of these rivers prove that the 

 country was formerly peopled by Slavs. But in 1050, when the Cast rum 

 Norcnberc is first mentioned in history, these Slavs, or Wends, lived under the 

 protection of a fortress built by Germans. The tomb of St. Sebaldus attracted 

 many pilgrims to the town, and Niirnberg very quickly became one of the most 

 important commercial cities of Germany. The old high-road from the Rhine to 

 Italy led through it, and thence to Augsburg and up the Lech. Another road 

 connected Niirnberg with Thuringia and Northern Germany, and so extensive had 

 the commercial relations of the Franconian city become that a contemporary 

 proverb said, " Niirnberg's hand is seen in every land." 



Though situated in a sandy plain at a distance of several miles from the 

 wooded hills, Niirnberg, with its old castle, its towers and walls, has an appearance 

 of imposing grandeur. Of all the large towns of Germany it presents us with the 

 best picture of what an " imperial free city " used to be in the Middle Ages. The 

 old gates and city walls, and the castle in which the emperors used to take np 

 their residence, have now partly fallen, and the ditches have been planted with 

 trees, suburbs and market gardens extending far beyond them. Houses with gable- 

 ends and oriel windows abound in the sinuous streets, and beautiful fountains 

 ornament the open places. The Gothic church of St. Lawrence is famous on 

 account of its large rose-window, whilst that of St. Sebaldus, the patron saint of 

 the city, has a Byzantine choir. The churches and public buildings have been 

 ornamented by Adam KrafPt, Veit Stoss, and Peter Vischer, the great masters of 

 the German Penaissance. 



Niirnberg has very appropriately been chosen as the city in which to establish 

 the " Germanic Museum," founded in 1852 by Baron Aufsess. Its collections 

 are displayed in an old monastery, and they enable us to obtain a very clear 

 insight into the public and private life of mediaeval Germany. The town-hall 

 contains paintings by Albert Durer, the most famous amongst the sons of Niirn- 

 berg, which was also the birthplace of Wohlgemuth the painter, Hans Sachs the 

 poet, and Martin Behaim the traveller. 



On the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War Niirnberg found itself reduced to a 

 position of impotence. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it only had 

 26,000 inhabitants. A revival has, however, taken place ; Nïirnherger Wifz* 

 proverbial during the Middle Ages, is once more exercising itself; and the manu- 



* Niirnberg ingenuity. 



