Hildesheim

Hildesheim grew around a bishopric established in 815, near a ford of the Innerste on the Hellweg trading route. Its cathedral and churches made it an important ecclesiastical centre, while market rights granted in 983 encouraged the town beside them. By the thirteenth century Hildesheim was one of the larger cities of northern Germany, with a town hall and a growing measure of civic independence from its bishops.

Hildesheim joined the Hanseatic League in 1367. Relations between citizens and their bishop could be costly and violent, as the diocesan feud of 1519–1523 showed. In 1542 the town adopted Lutheranism, while the cathedral and some other religious buildings remained Catholic. The Thirty Years' War brought repeated siege and occupation: imperial troops entered in 1628 and 1632, followed by forces from Brunswick and Lüneburg in 1634. In 1813 the town became part of the Kingdom of Hanover.