Neuss

Neuss lies near the Rhine opposite the approaches to Dusseldorf, where river commerce and fertile countryside support an important urban community. Markets, crafts and shipping connect the town with distant suppliers and customers, while farms provide food and agricultural goods. Roads and crossings give the settlement strategic importance alongside its commercial role. Churches and civic institutions organise life within walls whose protection matters during periods of conflict.

Under the archbishops of Cologne, Neuss grew as a trading town. Charles the Bold of Burgundy besieged it for nearly a year in 1474–1475; after the siege ended, Emperor Frederick III granted the town new privileges, including the right to mint coins. During the Cologne War, Alessandro Farnese's army captured and plundered Neuss in 1586, and a devastating fire destroyed much of the town.