Prettin

Ortsteil of Annaburg

Coat of arms

Prettin

Coordinates: 51°40′N 12°55′E / 51.667°N 12.917°ECoordinates: 51°40′N 12°55′E / 51.667°N 12.917°E

Country

Town

Area

• Total

28.79 km² (11.12 sq mi)

Elevation

77 m (253 ft)

Population (2009-12-31)

• Total

1,889

• Density

66/km² (170/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

06922

035386

Prettin is a town and a former municipality in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt.

The town lies about 30 km southeast of Wittenberg and about 12 km north-northwest of Torgau in the lowland on the Elbe's east bank, west of the Annaburg Heath. This is, however, to a great extent a Bundeswehr troop drilling ground, and is therefore off limits. West of the community runs the Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 182, and to the north is the B 187. In the south, the community borders on Saxony. Prettin is linked with the Saxon community of Dommitzsch by a ferry on the Elbe.

Lying at an old river crossing in the Elbe valley, the first settlers in the Prettin area were Slavs, and the area itself belonged to the Slavic domain of Nisizi. After the German Burgward ("castle district"), which first crops up in one of Otto I's documents as "Pretimi", had passed in 1012 from Archbishop Dagino to the Church estate of Magdeburg, and then by way of the County of Brehna in 1290 to the Dukes of Saxony-Wittenberg, Rudolf I of Saxony-Wittenberg built the so-called "Schlösschen" (little castle) about 1335. In this small hunting lodge, the Electress Elisabeth von Brandenburg, who had secretly given herself over to Evangelical teachings, found refuge between 1536 and 1545 after the staunchly Catholic Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg had threatened to have her walled up alive. Only after his death did she return to the capital. Some thirty years later, Elector August of Saxony had the Schlösschen torn down and the stones used to build Lichtenburg Castle, which centuries later would become infamous.

East of the townsite, about 1300, the Antonian Preceptorate of "Lichtenbergk" was founded, whose Preceptor General, Goswin von Orsoy became the first Chancellor of Wittenberg University. The Antonian monastery of Lichtenbergk was witness to an historic occasion when in 1518, Martin Luther and Georg Spalatin met in Elector Frederick the Wise's presence for consultations. After the discussion, the Elector decided on Luther's disposition in Wittenberg (the Elector always supported Luther). Two years after this came a dramatic discussion, in Philipp Melanchthon's presence, between Luther and the Papal envoy Karl von Miltitz. He tried in vain to get Luther to recant, and the break with Rome was inescapable. Miltitz drowned in the river Main on the way back to Rome. That Luther could have his discussions here shows how broadminded the Antonians were.

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Wikipedia