Tübingen
City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. The city lies along the Neckar River at its junction with the Ammer and the Steinlach rivers. Originating as Castra Alamannorum around the castle of the counts palatine of Tübingen (first mentioned in 1078) and recorded as a town in 1231, it was purchased by the counts of Württemberg in 1342, and the county became a duchy in 1495. It was captured in 1519 by the Swabian League, and during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) it fell to Holy Roman Empire troops (1634), the Swedes (1638), and the French (1647). Tübingen's important university was founded by Count Eberhard VI of Württemberg in 1477. The university's Protestant theological seminary, established by Duke Ulrich in 1534, numbered the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the poet Friedrich Hölderlin, and the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel among its students. The poet Ludwig Uhland was born (1787) in Tübingen.
The city's most conspicuous building is the ducal castle of Hohentübingen, built in the 16th–17th century on earlier foundations and now housing several institutes of the university. The Gothic Stiftskirche of St. George (1470–90) contains fine stained glass and tombs of the dukes of Württemberg. The town hall, dating from 1435, has been much restored.
A publishing centre, modern Tübingen has metal and machinery, textile, woodworking, and paper industries. Pop. (1989 est.) 76,046.
Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Sources
- Encylopedia Britannica 2002, Expanded Edition DVD
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