Wolfenbüttel

Wolfenbüttel developed around a moated castle on the Oker, south of Brunswick. As the citizens of Brunswick acquired greater independence, the Welf dukes increasingly preferred this residence; from 1432 their court was permanently established here. Palace, churches and carefully laid-out streets made the small town the centre of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's government and courtly life.

Duke Julius's collection of books became the basis of the ducal library, formally established by an ordinance of 1572. Duke August greatly enlarged its holdings in the seventeenth century, making Wolfenbüttel a place of study for scholars from far beyond the principality. Its books and manuscripts reflected the ambitions of a court that valued learning as well as government. In 1753 Duke Charles I moved his residence back to Brunswick, leaving the palace at Wolfenbüttel without its court. The library remained: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing became its librarian in 1770 and lived for a time in rooms of the former palace. The town's scholarly life thus outlasted its centuries as a ducal residence.