East Franconian

The East Franconians speak the Main dialect around Würzburg, Bamberg and Nuremberg, transitional between Central and Upper German. Franks settled the region in the sixth century, and it became the eastern heartland of the Duchy of Franconia; after Duke Eberhard rebelled against Otto I and died in 939, the duchy broke into bishoprics, cities and knightly estates.

Saint Kilian was martyred at Würzburg in the seventh century; Henry II founded Bamberg bishopric in 1007, and about 1190 the Burgraviate of Nuremberg passed to the Zollerns, the Franconian Hohenzollern line later ruling Brandenburg and Prussia; in 1500 to 1512 these states formed the Franconian Circle.

Nuremberg, where the Luther Bible was printed, led the turn to Protestantism, but the 1525 Peasants' War ravaged the Würzburg countryside, the Second Margrave War of 1552 devastated towns, and the Thirty Years' War and later witch trials hit the region hard. When Napoleon reorganised Germany in 1803 to 1806, bishoprics and lordships were mediatised, most of Franconia passing to Bavaria as Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia.