Bayreuth

Bayreuth lies on the Red Main between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. First recorded as Baierrute in 1194, it passed from the counts of Andechs-Merania to the Hohenzollern burgraves of Nuremberg. In 1361 Emperor Charles IV gave Burgrave Friedrich V the right to mint coins at Bayreuth and Kulmbach. The principality formed in 1398 kept its residence at Kulmbach until 1604.

Hussite forces devastated Bayreuth in 1430, destroying its town hall and churches. The local rulers adopted Lutheranism in 1528. A great fire destroyed much of the town in 1605, soon after it became the princely residence, and another fire followed in 1621. Despite such disasters, Bayreuth developed as a court town under its margraves, whose palaces and gardens reshaped the settlement on the Red Main.