Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgaden lies in an Alpine basin south of Salzburg. An Augustinian foundation was established here in the early twelfth century, and its provosts built a small ecclesiastical territory around the monastery. Salt and metal working supported the growth of a market, first recorded in 1328. The provosts acquired increasing independence within the Empire, though neighbouring Salzburg contested their lands and held them from 1393 to 1404.

In 1559 Berchtesgaden became the seat of a prince-provost who ruled both the monastery and its territory. From 1594 to 1723 members of the Bavarian Wittelsbach house administered the principality. The Thirty Years' War spared the town much destruction but brought heavy financial demands. Protestant inhabitants were expelled during the Counter-Reformation. Secularisation ended the provosts' rule in 1803; after several changes of sovereign, Berchtesgaden passed to Bavaria in 1810.