Meiningen

Meiningen stands near the Werra in southern Thuringia. Long held by the bishops of Würzburg, the town gained extensive autonomy in 1344. Its citizens later joined other episcopal towns in conflict with their lord; Würzburg forces besieged Meiningen until it capitulated in 1399. In 1542 the town passed to the Henneberg family, and in 1583 to the Wettins.

Linen and fustian weaving, dyeing and cloth trading helped the town prosper into the early seventeenth century. The Thirty Years' War brought plunder in 1634 and a Swedish siege in 1641. From 1680 Meiningen became the capital of Saxe-Meiningen, and its rulers built the Elisabethenburg palace between 1682 and 1692.