Bitterfeld

Bitterfeld developed as a German settlement east of an older Slavic village, later growing into a market town with an ordered street plan. It was first recorded in 1224. Its position between the Elbe and Saale regions placed it among the towns contested by the rulers of central Germany. In 1476 the margrave of Meissen captured Bitterfeld, which thereafter belonged to Saxony for more than three centuries. The settlement after the Napoleonic wars transferred it to Prussia in 1815.