who was stationed at Bida. The province is divided into three administrative districts—Bida, Lapai and Agaie. These are again divided into nine native districts, five to the west and four to the east of the Kaduna river. Provincial courts of justice have been established.
See Nigeria, Bida. For an interesting account of the ancient constitution of Nupe see “The Fulani Emirates of Northern Nigeria,” by Major J. A. Burdon in the Geo Journ., vol. xxiv (London, 1904).
NUREMBERG (Ger. Nürnberg), a city of Germany, the second town in Bavaria in size, and the first in commercial importance. It lies in the district of Middle Franconia in a sandy but well cultivated plain, 124 m. by rail N.W. from Munich. The city is divided by the small river Pegnitz, a tributary of the Main, into two parts, called respectively the Lorenzer Seite and the Sebalder Seite, after the two principal churches. There are four islands in the Pegnitz, which is crossed here by fourteen bridges. Formerly among the richest and most influential of the free imperial towns, Nuremberg is one of the few cities of Europe that have retained their medieval aspect largely unimpaired. Considerable sections of the ancient walls and moat still remain, though the demolition of portions to meet the exigencies of modern traffic and expansion has somewhat destroyed its quaint medieval character. Of the 365 bastions which formerly strengthened the walls, however, nearly 100 are still in situ, and a few of the interesting old gateways have also been preserved. Most of the streets are narrow and crooked, and the majority of the houses have their gables turned towards the street. The general type of architecture is Gothic, but the rich details, which are lavished with especial freedom in the interior courts, are usually borrowed from the Renaissance. Most of the private dwellings date from the 16th century, and there are practically none of earlier date than the 15th century. A praiseworthy desire to maintain the picturesqueness of the town has led most of the builders of new houses to imitate the lofty peaked gables, oriel windows and red-tiled roofs of the older dwellings. Altogether Nuremberg presents a faithful picture of a prosperous town of three hundred years ago.
The old burg, or castle (Kaiserschloss), is picturesquely placed on a rock on the north side of the town. This dates most probably from the early part of the 11th century, but it received its present form mainly during the reign of the emperor Frederick I. about 150 years later. It was restored in careful harmony with its original appearance in 1854-1856, and part of the interior is fitted up as a royal residence, the families of the German emperor and of the king of Bavaria having apartments therein. In the Heidenturm are two late Romanesque chapels, one above the other. Other parts of the castle are the pentagonal tower, the oldest building in the town, wherein are preserved the famous “iron virgin of Nuremberg,” and other instruments of torture; the granary (Kornhaus), also called the Kaiserstallung; and the Vestnertor or Vestnerturm. The castle of Nuremberg was a favourite residence of the German sovereigns in the later middle ages, and the imperial regalia were kept here from 1424 to 1796. Near it are the remains of the burg of the Hohenzollerns, the principal existing part of which is the chapel of St Walpurgis, which was destroyed with the rest of the building in 1420, but was restored in 1892. Not far from these ruins stands the Luginsland, a stronghold with four corner turrets, said to have been built by the burghers in 1367 as a watch-tower against the burg of the Hohenzollerns.
Nuremberg contains several interesting churches, the finest of which are those of St Lorenz, of St Sebald and of Our Lady; All three are Gothic edifices and are notable for their elaborately carved doorways, in which free play has been given to the exuberant fancy of the Gothic style, and all three enshrine valuable treasures of art. The Church of St Lawrence, the largest of the three, was built in the 13th and 14th centuries and has recently been restored. In it is the masterpiece of the sculptor, Adam Krafft, consisting of a ciborium, or receptacle for the host, in the form of a florid Gothic spire 65 ft. high; the carving of this work is exquisitely minute and delicate. The west front contains a magnificent rose-window, and some of the stained glass dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. In front of the altar hangs a curious piece of wood-carving by Veit Stoss, representing the Salutation. The shrine of St Sebald, in the church of St Sebald, consisting of a bronze sarcophagus and canopy, in the richest Gothic style, adorned with numerous statues and reliefs, is looked upon as one of the greatest achievements of German art. It was executed by Peter Vischer, the celebrated artist in bronze, who was occupied on the work for thirteen years (1506-1519), and has here shown himself no unworthy rival of Lorenzo Ghiberti. The church of Our Lady possesses some fine old stained-glass windows and some paintings by Michael Wohlgemuth. The Tuchersche altar, with its winged picture, is one of the finest works of the Nuremberg school about the middle of the 15th century. This church was restored in 1878-1881. Other noteworthy churches are those of St Jacob, founded about 1200 and restored in 1824; and of St Aegidius.
The town hall (Rathaus), an edifice in the Italian style, erected in 1616-1619, contains frescoes by Dürer, and a curious stucco relief of a tournament held at Nuremberg in 1446. The building incorporated an older one of the 14th century, of which the great hall, with its timber roof, is part. The most interesting secular buildings are the houses of the old patrician families. Among the most characteristic of these are the old residence of the counts of Nassau, and the houses of the Tucher, Funk and Peller families. A special interest attaches to the dwellings of Albert Dürer, Hans Sachs, the cobbler-poet, and Johann Palm, the patriotic bookseller who was shot by order of Napoleon in 1806. There are statues of Dürer, Sachs, Melanchthon, the reputed founder of the grammar-school, the navigator Martin Behaim, and Peter Henlein, the inventor of the watch; and the streets are further embellished with several fountains, the most noteworthy of which are the Schöne Brunnen, 1385-1396, in the form of a large Gothic pyramid, adorned with statues of the seven electors, the “nine worthies,” and Moses and the prophets; and the Gänsemännchen or goose-mannikin, a clever little bronze figure by Pankratz Labenwolf. On the way to the cemetery of St John, which contains the graves of Dürer, Sachs, Behaim and other Nuremberg worthies, are Krafft's stations, seven pillars bearing stone reliefs of the Passion, and ranked among the finest works of the sculptor.
The Germanic national museum, established in an old Carthusian monastery, has developed into one of the largest and most important institutions of its kind in Germany. It includes a picture-gallery, principally of German works of the 15th and 16th centuries, including masterpieces by Holbein, Dürer, Wohlgemuth and others. The municipal library contains about 2000 manuscripts and 80,000 printed books, some of which are of great rarity.
The population of Nuremberg was, in 1905, including a garrison of about 3000 men, 294,344, of whom 145,354 were males and 148,990 females. Of these again 196,907 were Protestants (Evangelical), 86,939 Roman Catholics and 6819 Jews. At the height of its prosperity in the middle ages the population has been estimated at as high a figure as 150,000, but there seems good reason to believe that it did not exceed 40,000 to 50,000 souls. In 1818 it had sunk to 27,000, but since then has steadily increased. On the 1st of January 1899, thirteen outlying communes were incorporated, extending the area of the town from 2805 to 13,700 acres.
Nuremberg occupies a high place among the industrial and commercial centres of Europe. The principal manufactures are toys and fancy articles in metal, carved wood and ivory, which are collectively known as Nuremberg wares. Nuremberg is the chief market in Europe for hops. It is an important junction for railways to all parts of Germany, and is on the main line from Cologne and Frankfort-on-Main to Munich, Vienna and Eger. In addition to its railways, trade is facilitated by the Ludwig canal, connecting the Danube and the Main.
History.—The first authentic mention of Nuremberg, which seems to have been called into existence by the foundation of the castle, occurs in a document of 1050; and about the same period
