Eichstätt
Encyclopedia
Eichstätt (ˈaɪçʃtɛt, formerly also Eichstädt or Aichstädt) is a town in the federal state of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and capital of the District of Eichstätt
Eichstätt (district)
Eichstätt is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Donau-Ries, Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Roth, Neumarkt, Kelheim and Pfaffenhofen, and by the city of Ingolstadt.-History:...

. It is located along the Altmühl River, at 48°53′30"N 11°11′0"E, and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The K-U was founded in 1980, and was granted full rights of a university, including Ph.D. and Habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 degrees by the State of Bavaria.

St. Willibald
Willibald
Saint Willibald was an 8th century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.Information about his life is largely drawn from the Hodoeporicon of Saint Willibald, a text written in the 8th century by Huneberc, an Anglo-Saxon nun from Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm who knew Willibald and his brother personally...

 founded the Bishopric of Eichstätt
Bishopric of Eichstätt
The Bishopric of Eichstätt was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Centered on the town of Eichstätt, it was located in the present-day state of Bavaria, somewhat to the west of Regensburg, to the north of Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt, to the south of Nuremberg, and...

 on the site of an old Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 station in 741. The city was chartered in 908 and ruled by a prince-bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...

 until secularization in 1802, and became a part of Bavaria in 1806. In 2008, the city celebrated the 1100th anniversary of its charter. Eichstätt was included as part of the Landgraviate of Leuchtenberg
Leuchtenberg
Leuchtenberg is a municipality in the district of Neustadt in Bavaria in Germany, essentially a suburb of nearby Weiden in der Oberpfalz, and a historical region in Old Germany governed by the Landgrave of Leuchtenberg....

, which Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria granted to his son-in-law Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...

 in 1817 and an episcopal
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 see was reestablished in 1821. The town reverted back to Bavaria in 1855. Eichstätt is famous for the quarries
Quarries
Quarries - The "Royal Quarries" — not found in Scripture — is the namegiven to the vast caverns stretching far underneath the northern hill, Bezetha, on which Jerusalem is built. Out of these mammoth caverns stones, a hard limestone, have been quarried in ancient times for the buildings in the...

 of Solnhofen Stone and Jurassic limestone. On the Blumenberg the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...

 was found by Jakob Niemeyer. Hortus Eystettensis (Garden at Eichstätt) is the name of an important botanical book first published in 1613, see entry of author Basilius Besler
Basilius Besler
Basilius Besler was a respected Nuremberg apothecary and botanist, best known for his monumental Hortus Eystettensis. He was curator of the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria...



Mayor of Eichstätt is Arnulf Neumeyer (SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

). The current bishop is Gregor Maria Franz Hanke, O.S.B
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...

(appointed 14, Oct. 2006)
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