Thesaurus

The German river port of Speyer is situated on the east bank of the Rhine river some 22 miles north of Karlsruhe. A major Celtic settlement in ancient times, by 100 BCE it had become a Roman military outpost. It was sacked by Huns around 450 CE. In the 7th century it was rebuilt and made an episcopal see. Powerful bishops ruled it until 1294 when it became a free city of the Holy Roman Empire, having already become a major trading center by the 11th century. A protest in 1529 against the loss of certain concessions made by the Roman Catholic Church to the Lutherans brought the word "Protestant" into use. French troops destroyed the city in 1689 in the War of the Grand Alliance. It was absorbed by France in 1797, passed to Bavaria in 1815, and became the capital of the Bavarian Palatinate from 1816 to 1945. Surviving historic structures include an 11th-century Romanesque cathedral, the old town gate with a 13th-century gate tower, the underground Jews' bath built 1104, and the Baroque Trinity Church of 1701-1717. Speyer has a diverse range of industries, including oil refining, the manufacture of building materials, and brewing. The calculated population for 2005 was 50,608.