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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WIL-YAK |
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WORMS , a city of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, situated in a fertile plain called the Wonnegau, on the left bank of the Rhine, 25 M. S. of Mainz, 20 M. N.W. of Heidelberg, and 9 m. by rail N.W. of Mannheim. Pop. (1895) 28,636; (1905) 43,841, about a third of whom are Roman Catholics. The town is irregularly built, and some of the old walls and towers still remain, but its general aspect is modern. The principal church and chief
dome has been rebuilt. The ornamentation of the older parts is simple to the verge of rudeness; and even the more elaborate later forms show no high development of workmanship. The baptistery contains five remarkable stone reliefs of the late 15th century. The cathedral is 358 ft. long, and 89 ft. wide, or including the transepts, which are near the west end, 118 ft. (inside measurements). It belongs to the Roman Catholic community, who possess also the church of St Martin and the church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche), a handsome Gothic edifice outside the town, finished in 1467. The principal Protestant place of worship is the Trinity church, built in 1726. Second in interest
The town hall
associated with the stories of the wooing of Kriemhild (see infra), has been laid out in keeping with the old traditions and was opened with great festivities in 1906. Extensive burial-grounds, ranging in date from neolithic to Merovingian times, have recently been discovered near the city. The trade and industry of Worms are important, and not the least resource of the inhabitants is vine-growing, the most famous vintage being known as Liebfraumilch, grown on vine-yards near the Liebfrauenkirche. The manufacture of patent leather employs about 5000 hands. Machinery, wool, cloth, chicory, slates, &c., are also produced. Worms possesses a good river harbour, and carries on a considerable trade by water. Worms was known in Roman times as Borbetomagus, which in the Merovingian age became Wormatia, afterwards by popular etymology connected with Wurm, a dragon. The name Borbetomagus indicates a Celtic origin for the town, which had, however, before Caesar's time become the capital of a German tribe, the Vangiones. Drusus is said to have erected a fort here in 14 B.C. In 413 the emperor Jovinus permitted the Burgundians under their king Guntar or Guntiar to settle on the left bank of the Rhine between the Lauter and the Nahe. Here they founded a kingdom with Worms as its capital . Adopting Arianism they came into conflict with the Romans, and under their king Gundahar or Gundicar (the Gunther of the Nibelungenlied) rose in 435 against the Roman governor Aetius, who called in the Huns against them. The destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in 436 was the subject of heroic legends afterwards incorporated in the Nibelungenlied (q.v.) and the Rosengarten (an epic probably of the late 13th century). In the Nibelungenlied King Gunther and Queen Brunhild hold their court at Worms, and Siegfried comes hither to woo Kriemhild.Worms was rebuilt by the Merovingians, and became an episcopal see, first mentioned in 614, although a bishop of the Vangiones had attended a council at Cologne as early as 347. There was a royal palace from the 8th century, in which the Frankish kings, including Charlemagne, occasionally resided. The scene of the graceful though unhistorical romance of Einhard and Emma, the daughter of Charlemagne, is laid here. Under the German kings the power of the bishops of Worms gradually increased, although they never attained the importance of the other Rhenish bishops. Otto I. granted extensive lands to the bishop, and in 979 Bishop Hildbold acquired comital rights in his city. Burchard I. (bishop from l000 to 1o25)destroyed the castle of the Franconian house at Worms, built the cathedral and laid the foundations of the subsequent territorial power of the see. There were frequent struggles between the bishops and the citizens, who espoused the cause of the emperors against them; and were rewarded by privileges which fostered trade. Herny IV. granted a charter to Worms in 1074, and held a synod there in 1076, by which Pope Gregory VII. was declared deposed. Henry V. acquired Worms in 1121 by the treaty of Wtirzburg, built a castle and granted privileges to the city, which retained its freedom until 18o1, in spite of the bishops, who ruled a small territory south of the city, on both sides of the Rhine, and resided at Ladenburg near Mannheim till 1622. The city of Worms was frequently visited by the imperial court, and won the title of " Mother of Diets." The concordat of Worms closed the investiture
recent
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