Trier inRhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to theRoman Empire, is the oldest city inGermany. Traditionally it was known inEnglish by itsFrench name ofTreves.
The first traces of human settlement in the area of the city show evidence oflinear pottery settlements dating from the earlyNeolithic period. Since the lastpre-Christian centuries, members of theCeltic tribe of theTreveri settled in the area of today's Trier.[1]
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TheRomans underJulius Caesar first subdued theTreveri in 58 to 50 BC. No later than 16 BC, at the foot of the hill later christened the Petrisberg, upon which a military camp had been set up in 30 BC and abandoned again a few months later, the Romans founded the city ofAugusta Treverorum ("City ofAugustus in the land of theTreveri"),[2] which has a claim to being the oldest city in Germany.[3] The honour of being named after the Emperor was only locally shared byAugsburg andAugst in northernSwitzerland. Following the reorganisation of theRoman provinces inGermany in 16 BC, Emperor Augustus decided that the city should become the capital of the province ofBelgica. Shortly before AD 100, anamphitheatre was built, the signal sign of a city of any importance. By the first half of the second century another major structure,a Roman circus, had reached truly monumental proportions.
Trier rose in importance during theEmpire's third-century crisis, as the chief city of the province ofGallia Belgica. From 271 to 274 AD, Trier was the second city of the breakawayGallic Empire, at first underPostumus, who was proclaimed in Cologne, then under his ephemeral successor,Victorinus, who made his base at Trier, where he had rebuilt a large house with a mosaic proclaiming his position as tribune in Postumus' GallicPraetorian Guard;[4] the city served again as capital under the emperorsTetricus I andII. From the second half of the 3rd century onwards, Trier was the seat of anarchbishopric; the first bishop beingEucharius.[5] In the year 275, the city was destroyed in an invasion by theAlamanni.Diocletian recognized the urgency of maintaining an imperial presence in the Gauls, and established firstMaximian, thenConstantius Chlorus as caesars at Trier; from 293 to 395, Trier was one of the residences of theWestern Roman Emperor,[6] and its position required the monumental settings that betokened imperial government.
Amint was immediately established by Constantius, which came to be the principal mint of the Roman West.[4] A new stadium was added to theamphitheater, to stagechariot races. Under the rule ofConstantine the Great (306–337), the city was rebuilt and buildings such as thePalastaula[7] (known today as theConstantine Basilica) and theImperial Baths (Kaiserthermen), the largest surviving Roman baths outside Rome, were begun under Constantius and completedc 314,[8] constructed[9] by his son Constantine, who left Trier in the hands of his son Crispus. In 326, sections of the imperial family's private residential palaces were extended and converted to a large double basilica, the remains of which are still partly recognisable in the area of theTrier Cathedral (Trierer Dom) and the church "Liebfrauenkirche".[10] A demolished imperial palace has left shattered sections of painted ceiling, which scholars believe once belonged to Constantine's young wife,Fausta, whom he later put to death.[11]
From 318 onwards Trier was the seat of theGallic prefecture (thePraefectus Praetorio Galliarium) which governed the western Roman provinces from Morocco to Britain. The praetorian prefects usually numbering 3–4, were the senior civilian officials taking precedence over all other officials and army officers. They were vice-regents of the emperors who alone with them could pronounce final verdicts. Constantine's sonConstantius II resided here from 328 to 340. Roman Trier was the birthplace ofSaint Ambrose ca. 340, who later became the Bishop ofMilan and was eventually named a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church long after his death in 397. It is also where SaintAthanasius was first exiled by Constantine in 336.
From 367 underValentinian I Trier once more became an imperial residence until 375. It was the largest city north of theAlps.Gratian resided there for most of his reign until assassinated in 383. It was the capital ofMagnus Maximus, who ruled the prefecture of Gaul, as emperor from 383 to 388. Valentinian II visited the city. In 407, shortly after the invasion ofGaul by theVandals,Alans andSuebi, the Gallic prefecture was relocated toArles, on theRhône.
Roman Trier had been subjected to attacks byGermanic tribes from 350 onwards, but these had been repulsed byEmperor Julian. After the invasions of 407 the Romans were able to reestablish the Rhine frontier and hold northern Gaul tenuously until the end of the 450s, when control was finally lost to the Franks and local military commanders who claimed to represent central Roman authority. During the early 5th century, sources indicate Trier was sacked four times by theFranks. According to Lanting & van der Plicht (2010), this happened in 411 (more probable than 407), 413, 421, and probably 428 or 435.[12] TheHuns underAttila also sacked Trier in 451.[citation needed] The city became definitively part of Frankish territory (Francia Rhinensis) around 485; the last Roman administrator of Trier wasArbogast.[12] As a result of the conflicts of this period, Trier's population decreased from an estimated 80,000 in the 4th century to 5,000 at the beginning of the 6th century.[13]
By the end of the 5th century, Trier was underFrankish rule, first controlled by theMerovingian dynasty, then by theCarolingians. The city still maintained a small group ofromance speaking inhabitants in the early 8th century.[14] As a result of theTreaty of Verdun in 843, by which the grandsons ofCharlemagne divided his empire into three parts, Trier was incorporated into theKingdom of Lorraine (Lotharingia). After the death ofLothair II, ruler of Lorraine, Trier in 870 became part of theEast Frankish Empire, later called Germany, underHenry I.[15]
Manyabbeys andmonasteries were founded in the early Frankish time, including St. Maximin, St. Martin, St. Irminen, St. Maria ad Martyres/St.Mergen and others.[16] The only important abbey that survived wars andsecularization by theFrench at the beginning of 1800 is the Benedictine abbeySt. Matthias in the south of Trier. Here, the first three bishops of Trier,Eucharius,Valerius andMaternus are buried alongside the apostleSaint Matthias.[17] This is the only tomb of anapostle to be located inEurope north of theAlps, thus making Trier together withRome inItaly (burial place ofSt. Peter the apostle) andSantiago de Compostela inSpain (tomb ofSt. James) one of three major places ofpilgrimage in Europe forCatholics. In 882, Trier was sacked by theVikings, theGreat Danish Army, who burnt most churches and abbeys.[18] This was the end of the systematically built Roman Trier.[19]
Medieval legend, recorded in 1105 in theGesta Treverorum, makesTrebeta son ofNinus the founder ofTrier.[20] Also of medieval date is the inscription at the facade of the Red House of Trier market,
being mentioned in theCodex Udalrici of 1125.
From 902, when power passed into the hands of the archbishops, Trier was administered by theVogt of the archbishopric, which developed its ownseal in 1149. TheArchbishop of Trier was, as chancellor ofBurgundy, one of the sevenElectors of theHoly Roman Empire, a right which originated in the 12th or 13th century, and which continued until theFrench Revolution. From the 10th century and throughout theMiddle Ages, Trier made several attempts to achieve autonomy from the Archbishopric of Trier, but was ultimately unsuccessful. In 1212, the city received a charter from EmperorOtto IV, which was confirmed byConrad IV. In 1309, however, it was forced to once again recognise the authority of the Archbishop, who was at that time the imposingBaldwin of Luxembourg, son of the Count of Luxemburg.[21]
Elected in 1307 when he was only 22 years old, Baldwin was the most important Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Trier in the Middle Ages. He was the brother of the German King and EmperorHenry VII and his grandnephew Charles would later become German King and Emperor asCharles IV. He used his family connections to add considerable territories to the Electorate of Trier and is also known to have built many castles in the region. When he died in 1354, Trier was a prospering city.[22]
The status of Trier as an archbishopric city was confirmed in 1364 by Emperor Charles IV and by theReichskammergericht; the city's dream of self-rule came definitively to an end in 1583. Until the demise of the old empire, Trier remained the capital of the electoral Archbishopric of Trier, although not the residence of its head of state, the Prince-Elector. At its head was a court of lay assessors, which was expanded in 1443 by ArchbishopJacob I to include bipartisan mayors.[23]
TheDombering (curtain wall of the cathedral) having been secured at the end of the 10th century, ArchbishopTheoderich I and his successorArnold II later set about surrounding the city by walls.[24] This curtain wall, which followed the path now taken by theAlleenring, enclosed 1.38 square kilometres.
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In 1473, EmperorFrederick III andCharles the Bold, Duke ofBurgundy convened in Trier. In this same year, theUniversity of Trier was founded in the city.[25]
From 1581 until 1593,intense witch persecutions, involving nobility as well as commoners, abounded throughout this region, leading to mass executions of hundreds of people.
In the 17th century, the Archbishops and Prince-Electors of Trier relocated their residences toPhilippsburg Castle inEhrenbreitstein, nearKoblenz.A session of theReichstag was held in Trier in 1512, during which the demarcation of theImperial Circles was definitively established.
TheThirty Years' War (1618–1648) did initially not touch Trier. Warfare reached the city as part of theFrench–Habsburg rivalry and the conflict between townspeople and the archbishopPhilipp Christoph von Sötern. The city asked the Spanish government in Luxemburg for help against the bishop's absolutist tendencies in 1630. While Spain sent troops and installed a garrison, the bishop used the aid of French troops to regain Trier two times in 1632 and 1645, interrupted by a surprise Spanish attack in 1635 and 10 years of Spanish occupation and imprisonment of the bishop, an event that served as a pretext to start theFranco-Spanish War. The cathedral chapter finally disempowered the bishop in 1649 using mercenaries and Lorrain troops against the bishop's French auxiliary forces.[26]
Trier experienced peace until 1673 whenFrench troops besieged and occupied the city. They fortified it heavily and destroyed all churches, abbeys and settlements in front of the city walls for military reasons. Despite their efforts, they were forced to leave by Imperial troops after theBattle of Konzer Brücke in 1675[27] In 1684, with theWar of the Reunions, an era of French expansion began. Trier was again captured in 1684; all walls and fortresses were destroyed this time. After Trier and its associated electorate were yet again taken during theWar of Palatinate Succession in 1688, many cities in the electorate were systematically destroyed in 1689 by the French Army. Nearly all castles were blown up and the only bridge across theMoselle in Trier was burnt. KingLouis XIV of France personally issued the order for these acts of destruction but also gave the command to spare the city of Trier. As the French Army retreated in 1698, it left a starving city without walls and only 2,500 inhabitants.
During theWar of the Spanish Succession in 1702, Trier was occupied again by a French army. In 1704-05 an alliedBritish-Dutch army commanded by theDuke of Marlborough passed Trier on its way to France. When the campaign failed, the French came back to Trier in 1705 and stayed until 1714. After a short period of peace, theWar of the Polish Succession started in 1734; the following year Trier was again occupied by the French, who stayed until 1737. The last Prince-Elector,Clement Wenceslaus of Saxony, relocated toKoblenz in 1786. In August 1794,French Republican troops took Trier. This date marked the end of the era of the old electorate. Churches, abbeys and clerical possessions were sold or the buildings put to practical use, such as stables.[28]
With the peace treaties ofBasel andCampo Formio in 1797, German hegemonic powersPrussia andAustria ceded all German territories on the left bank of theRhine river to France. Trier became ade facto French city. TheUniversity of Trier was dissolved in the same year. In 1798, it became the capital of the newly founded FrenchDépartement de la Sarre. With theTreaty of Lunéville in 1801, Trier became also ade jure French city. In 1801,Napoleon Bonaparte signed a concordate withPope Pius VII, thus stopping defamations of clerics and making Trier adiocese. Its territory was identical with the Département de la Sarre, much smaller than theArchbishopric of Trier had been until 1794. In 1802, the FrenchmanCharles Mannay became first bishop of the new founded diocese and, in 1803, the firstHoly Mass since 1794 was celebrated in theCathedral of Trier. Emperor Napoleon visited Trier in 1804. In this time, French Trier began to prosper.
In 1814, the French era ended suddenly as Trier was taken byPrussian troops. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Franco-German borders of 1792 were restored in the1814 and1815 Paris peace treaties. The city was proclaimed part of theKingdom of Prussia in 1815 and made part of theGrand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, with six administrative districts. Trier became seat of one these district administrations, theRegierungsbezirk Trier. Because of the new political situation and the newcustoms frontiers in the West, the economy of Trier began a steady decline that was to last until 1840. The Province of the Lower Rhine was merged into theRhine Province in 1822.
The influential philosopher and revolutionaryKarl Marx was born in Trier in 1818. His birthplace, theKarl-Marx-Haus, was opened in 1947 and renovated in 1983.
From 1840 on, the situation of Trier began to improve as the neighbouring state ofLuxembourg, an important market for Trier-made products, joined theGerman Customs Union in 1842. Trier, with a population of 15,500 at this time, produced mainlyleather,cloth,wine andtobacco. Iron works were founded in Quint near Trier at this time. An important infrastructural improvement was the introduction of a shipping line operating withpaddle-wheel steamers on theMoselle River, connecting Trier, Koblenz andMetz. The first railway line, linking Trier withSaarbrücken and Luxembourg was inaugurated in 1860, followed by the Trier-Cologne line across theEifel in 1871 and theMoselle Railway to Koblenz in 1879. Minor lines toBitburg viaIrrel along theSauer River, toHermeskeil along theRuwer River and theMoselbahn toBullay (nearZell) were built later. A sign of increasing prosperity were the firsttrade fairs in modern Trier in 1840 and 1842.
During therevolutions of 1848 in the German states, Trier also saw protests and conflicts. The city council sent a letter to KingFrederick William IV of Prussia, demanding more civic liberties. The lawyerLudwig Simon was elected to represent Trier in the first Germanparliament in Frankfurt. After Prussian soldiers killed one citizen and wounded others in a melée, the situation escalated. The people of Trier hoistedblack-red-gold flags asdemocratic symbols, rang the church bells, organized amilitia and took away the signs of Prussian rule. A second melée between demonstrators and soldiers, which left two citizens dead, led to a collective outburst of fury. The people began to build barricades and wave thered flag. There were even reports that a statue of the Prussian king was smashed into pieces. Trier was on the eve of acivil war when the commander of the VIII Prussian army corps arrived and threatened to shell Trier. After being confronted with superior Prussian military power, the citizens gave up and removed the barricades. Some citizens were jailed for their democratic attitude; Ludwig Simon emigrated like many others and died inSwitzerland. Trier became part of theGerman Empire during the Prussian-ledunification of Germany in 1871.
In September 1944 during theSecond World War, Trier was only a short distance from the frontline fighting and was subjected to almost daily bombardment byAmericanartillery. Allied forces carried out three large-scale aerial attacks on the city later in the same year. On December 19 at 15:30, 30 BritishLancaster bombers dropped 136 tonnes ofhigh-explosive bombs over Trier. Two days later, on December 21 at 14:35, 94 Lancasters and 47 Americanfighter-bombers dropped 427 tonnes of ordnance (high-explosive,incendiary andnapalm bombs). Another two days after that, 700 tonnes of bombs were released over the city.[29]
According to research by the historian Adolf Welter, at least 420 people were killed in the December 1944 attacks on Trier. Numerous buildings were damaged. During the entire war, 1,600 houses in the city were completely destroyed.
On March 2, 1945, the city surrendered to theU.S. 10th Armored Division with minimal resistance.[30]
At the end of April 1969, the old Roman road at thePorta Nigra was uncovered. Shortly afterward, on May 12, 1969, the open-air wildlife enclosure in the Weisshaus forest was opened. TheUniversity of Trier was reestablished in 1970, initially as part of the combined university of Trier-Kaiserslautern. The evolution of Trier as a university city took a further step forward with the opening on April 1, 1974, of the Martinskloster student residence halls. In 1975, the university once more became independent.[31]
Other significant events of the 1970s include the discontinuation of the 99-year-old "Trierische Landeszeitung" newspaper on March 31, 1974, and the reopening of the restoredCathedral of Trier on May 1 of that same year.
From May 24 to 27 1984, Trier officially celebrated its 2,000th anniversary. In 1986, Roman Trier (theamphitheater,Barbara Baths,Imperial Baths,Constantine Basilica,Igel Column,Porta Nigra,Roman bridge,Dom St. Peter andLiebfrauenkirche) was declared aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site titled "Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier." Another cultural heritage site isSt. Paulinus' Church, designed byBalthasar Neumann. During construction of an underground parking lot in October 1988, remnants of Romanfresco paintings were discovered beneath the Viehmarkt. On November 5, the TrierObservatory was officially inaugurated. In the course of excavation work on a further subterranean garage near the Roman bridge, a collection of 2,558 Roman gold coins was discovered on September 9, 1993. The coins have an estimated value of 2.5 millionEuro.[32]
From April 22 to October 24, 2004, the State Garden Show was held on the Petrisberg heights and attracted 724,000 visitors.[33]
A new discovery of Roman remains was made in April 2006, when traces of building walls were unearthed during demolition works in the city centre.
A large exhibition on the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was the largest exhibition in Trier up to date. It ran from the 2nd of June to the 4th of November 2007. Some 1,600 pieces lend by 160 museums in 20 countries were on exhibit in three museums in Trier. In all 353,974 tickets were sold and all three museums counted 799,034 visitors, making it one of the most successful exhibitions in Germany.[34]The Ehrang/Quint district of Trier was heavily damaged and flooded during the July 16, 2021 floods of Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Formerly autonomous municipalities and territories that have been incorporated into the city of Trier. Some localities had already formed part of the urban area between 1798 and 1851. In 1798, the city area covered a total of 8.9 square kilometres.[35]
| Year | Localities |
|---|---|
| 1888 | St. Paulin, Maar, Zurlauben, Löwenbrücken, St. Barbara |
| 1888 | Separation of Heiligkreuz and Olewig |
| 1912 | Pallien (southern part), Heiligkreuz, St. Matthias, St. Medard, Feyen (with Weismark) |
| 1930 | Euren, Biewer, Pallien (northern part), Kürenz, Olewig |
| June 7, 1969 | Ehrang-Pfalzel (formed on March 1, 1968, through unification of the two previously autonomous municipalities) |
| June 7, 1969 | Eitelsbach, Filsch, Irsch, Kernscheid, Ruwer,Tarforst, Zewen |
At the beginning of the 4th century AD, Trier was the residence of the Roman Emperor and, with an estimated 80,000 inhabitants, the largest city north of theAlps. Through theMiddle Ages and up until the start of theModern Age, numerous wars, epidemics and famines caused the city's population to drop to only 2,677 in 1697. The population began to increase once more in the course of the 18th century, reaching 8,829 in 1801. The onset ofindustrialisation in the 19th century accelerated this growth. In 1900, the city was home to over 43,000 people. By 1939, this figure had doubled to over 88,000.
TheSecond World War cost Trier roughly 35% of its population (30,551 people) and the number of inhabitants had dropped to 57,000 by 1945. Only through the incorporation of several surrounding localities into the city on June 7, 1969, did the population once more reach its prewar level. This reorganisation in fact pushed the number of inhabitants beyond the 100,000 mark, which accorded the city of TrierGroßstadt status. On June 30, 2005, thepopulation of Trier according to official records of theRhineland-Palatinate state authorities was 99,685 (registered only byHauptwohnsitz and after comparison with other regional authorities).
The following overview illustrates the city's different population levels, according to thecurrent size of the city area. Up until 1801, these figures are mostly estimates; after this date they have been sourced fromcensus results or official records of state authorities. From 1871 onwards, these statistics correspond to the "present population", from 1925 to the "resident population" and from 1987 to the "population resident atmain domicile". Prior to 1871, the population was recorded using inconsistent survey methods.
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¹ Census figure[36]
There is not much literature in English on Trier. The three volumes on Trier's history published by the history department of the University of Trier between 1985 and 1996 represent a complete history including all researches up to the time when they were published. Clemens' 2007 book (Clemens is a history professor of Trier University, earlier he worked at the Roman Museum in Trier) can be viewed as an update.