Worms

Worms, Ger.

Worms, city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. Worms is a port on the left (west) bank of the Rhine River, just northwest of Mannheim. Known originally as Celtic Borbetomagus, by the reign of Julius Caesar it was called Civitas Vangionum, the chief town of the Vangiones. In 413 ce it became the capital of the Burgundians, who, after disputes with the Romans, rose in revolt in 435 against the Roman governor Flavius Aelius. He called upon his Hun allies, who destroyed the city in 436. The Hun destruction of Worms and the Burgundian kingdom inspired heroic legends in the epic poem Nibelungenlied (c. 1200).

Rebuilt by the Merovingian kings, Worms became a bishopric about 600 and a favourite residence of the Carolingian and Salian emperors. The bishopric (secularized in 1803) grew steadily in temporal power and territory, particularly under Bishop Burchard I (1000–1025), and Worms became a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire in 1156, remaining free until 1801.

More than 100 imperial diets (assemblies) were held in the city (see Diet of Worms). The Concordat of Worms closed the Investiture Controversy in 1122, the “perpetual public peace” (Ewiger Landfriede) was proclaimed by the emperor Maximilian I there at the Diet of 1495, and Martin Luther appeared before the famous Diet of 1521 to defend his doctrines to the emperor Charles V. Worms became Protestant in 1525 and was the site of religious conferences in 1540 and 1557. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years’ War and was looted and burned by the French in 1689. These events led to a precipitous decline, which lasted until the city revived and expanded under the stimulus of industrial development in the 19th century. It was annexed to France in 1797 and passed to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1816.

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Worms has an important wine trade. Its industries include the manufacture of leather, machinery, chemicals, and synthetic fibre. Although Worms was severely damaged in World War II, it was subsequently rebuilt. The Cathedral of St. Peter (also known as Worms Cathedral) ranks with those of Speyer and Mainz as one of the finest Romanesque churches of the Rhine. The original building was consecrated in 1018 and was completed and remodeled in the 12th century. Additions were made in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the whole has often been damaged and restored. In the crypt are tombs of the dukes of the Salian line. Other noteworthy churches include the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche; consecrated 1467), whose vineyards produce the famous white wine known as Liebfraumilch (a term now broadly applied to a variety of exported German semisweet white wines); St. Paul’s Church (1002); St. Andrew’s (1016; now the municipal museum); and the Trinity Church (1726). The old synagogue (1034, restored 13th century), which was destroyed in 1938, was rebuilt and modernized after World War II. The Jewish community of Worms claims to be the oldest in Germany and to have existed since the earliest Christian era, although the first authenticated mention of it was in 588. The city’s other historic landmarks include the Hagen Monument and the Siegfried Fountain, both commemorating the Nibelungen legends, and the 19th-century Luther Monument. Pop. (2011) 79,207.