Wurzen

Wurzen stands on the Mulde east of Leipzig. It was recorded in 961, and in the early twelfth century Herwig, bishop of Meissen, founded a collegiate church there. The bishops' castle and church made Wurzen an ecclesiastical centre as well as a river crossing.

In 1581 the town passed to the elector of Saxony. During the Thirty Years' War Swedish troops sacked Wurzen in 1637 and much of it burned. The town later recovered, remaining a local centre on the route between Leipzig and Dresden.