Erfurt

Erfurt, a Prussian town on the Gera, in Saxony, 13 miles W. of Weimar, and the capital of a government of the same name containing 1,263 square miles. In the 15th and 16th centuries it enjoyed a great degree of freedom, being almost independent, and was a noted commercial centre by reason oi its woollen and linen manufactures, and it had a famous university, which was suppressed by Prussia in 1816. It still has manufactures of cotton and woollen goods, leather, shoes, candles, ironmongery, brandy, and liqueurs. In the tower of its Gothic cathedral is a famous bell, which weighs 275 cwts. Luther lived here as a monk, and his cell used to be shown, but it has been burnt along with the house that contained it. The town was bombarded and taken by the Prussian in 1813, and was granted to them by the

Congress of Vienna in 1814. Napoleon, Alexander of Russia, and some of the German sovereigns held a congress here in 1808.