It spans the banks of the Main river. The population as of is approximately , residents. The regional dialect is East Franconian German. A Bronze Age Urnfield culture refuge castle , the Celtic Segodunum , [ 6 ] and later a Roman fort, stood on the hill known as the Leistenberg, [ 7 ] the site of the present Fortress Marienberg.
The former Celtic territory was settled by Alamanni in the 4th or 5th century later by the Franks in the 6th to 7th. The Ravenna Cosmography lists the city as Uburzis at about the same time. The bishops eventually created a secular fiefdom, that extended to Eastern Franconia in the 12th century. The city was the site of several Imperial Diets , including the one of , at which Henry the Lion , duke of Saxony and Bavaria, was banned for three years from the Empire [ 7 ] and his duchy Bavaria was handed over to Otto of Wittelsbach.
Massacres of Jews took place in and The citizens of the city revolted several times against the prince-bishop. However, the German ruling princes forced him to withdraw these promises. In , the bishop's troops decisively defeated the citizenry in the Battle of Bergtheim [ de ] , and the city fell under his control permanently until the dissolution of the fiefdom.
Riemenschneider and the entire town council was incarcerated and tortured in Marienberg Fortress. In , the town became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria and a new bishopric was created seven years later, as the former one had been secularized in see also Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.
Many Jews were killed, and much Jewish property was destroyed. The conference, however, had no result. The Nazi Party in achieved total control. During the Kristallnacht pogroms in , many Jewish houses and shops were raided, looted, or destroyed. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city centre, which mostly dated from medieval times, was destroyed in a firestorm in which 5, people perished.
