Braunschweig - Burg Dankwarderode

Not much is known about the foundation of Braunschweig. Tradition tells, Brunswick (= Braunschweig) was created through the merger of two settlements on either side of the River Oker around 860.

The city was first mentioned in documents from the St. Magni Church in 1031. Up to the 12th century, Brunswick was ruled by the Saxon noble family, then, through marriage, it fell to the House of Welf. In 1142, Henry the Lion of the House of Welf became Duke of Saxony and made Braunschweig the capital of his state. He turned Dankwarderode Castle into his own Pfalz and developed the city further to represent his authority. Under Henry's rule, the Cathedral of St. Blasius was built and he also had the statue of a lion, his heraldic animal, erected in front of the castle.

Henry the Lion became so powerful that he dared to refuse military aid to Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, which led to his banishment in 1182. Henry went into exile in England. He had previously established ties to the English crown in 1168, through his marriage to King Henry II of England's daughter Matilda, sister of Richard the Lionheart. However, his son Otto, who could regain influence and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor, continued to foster the city's development.

Brunswick was an important center of trade, an economic and a political centers and a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th century on. By the year 1600. Brunswick was the seventh largest city in Germany. It was de facto ruled independently by a powerful class of patricians and the guilds throughout much of the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Because of the growing power of Brunswick's burghers, the Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel finally moved their Residenz out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel in 1432. The Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel did not regain control over the city until the late 17th century, when Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, took the city by siege.
As early as the 11th century, the local counts had a fortress on a natural island on the Oker, which was first mentioned in 1134 as "Castrum Tanquarderoth". The Brunonen, who died out in the male line in 1090 and in the female line in 1117, had built and maintained it. It passed to Lothar von Supplinburg, the grandfather of Henry the Lion, who built Dankwarderode Castle in its place from around 1160 to 1175 as his palace.

Based on the Goslar Imperial Palace, the main building was designed as a two-story palace with a double chapel. From the upper floor, there was direct access to the northern transept of the cathedral, which had been under construction since 1173.

Dankwarderode and large parts of the old town were destroyed by fire in 1252. Dankwarderode was the ducal residence until 1282 before the court of the Brunswick principality was moved to Wolfenbüttel.