Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Forchheim

⁠FORCHHEIM, a fortified town of Bavaria, circle of Upper Franconia, is situated near the junction of the Wiesent with the Regnitz, 16 miles S.S.E. of Bamberg. It has a castle, a collegiate and two other churches, a synagogue, a monastery, and a hospital. Its industries include brewing, tanning, soap-boiling, and glass manufacture. Forchheim is of very early origin. Charlemagne transplanted thither in 804 a number of Saxons from the Elbe, and made it an important commercial entrepôt. In the 9th and 10th centuries many assemblies, both of the princes and the kingdom, were held at Forchheim, and in 890 a council of the church. In 1007 it was presented by the emperor Henry II. to the newly founded bishopric of Bemberg, but in 1040 Henry III. united it again to the kingdom. Henry IV., however, again presented it to the bishopric of Bemberg, with which it remained till 1802, when it came into the possession of Bavaria. In 1552 it was captured by the Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, and in 1634 besieged by Bernhard of Wiemar. Its fortifications were restored in 1791. On the 6th and 7th August 1796 a battle took place near it between the French and Austrians, when the French held possession of the field. Forchheim ceased to occupy the position of a fortified town after 1838. The population in 1875 numbered 3847.