Calbe

Calbe stands on the Saale at a crossing of the road from Magdeburg towards Leipzig. A royal estate recorded in 936, it passed to the newly established archbishopric of Magdeburg in 968. Archbishop Wichmann granted market and trading privileges around 1160, encouraging the growth of a town beside the river. In the 1360s Archbishop Dietrich of Portitz rebuilt or renewed the castle as a residence, while Calbe expanded and acquired stronger walls and towers. The archbishops used the castle for government as well as residence. The town suffered during the Thirty Years' War, when fighting reached it repeatedly. The Peace of Westphalia assigned the archbishopric's secular lands to Brandenburg, bringing a new ruler to Calbe.