Coburg

Coburg stands on the Itz beneath the great fortress of Veste Coburg, where Franconia meets the Thuringian uplands. The name appears in a document of 1056, and the castle passed to the counts of Henneberg in 1248. In 1353 the marriage of Friedrich of Wettin to Katharina of Henneberg brought it to the Wettin dynasty, which held it as a Saxon outpost in Franconia.

During the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, Martin Luther spent six months at the fortress while his lord, Elector Johann of Saxony, attended the assembly. Luther continued translating the Bible into German during his stay. In 1547 the princely residence moved down from the Veste to Ehrenburg, a former monastery rebuilt as a Renaissance palace. The fortress and the palace gave the town two distinct seats of its rulers.