MAINZA CIVITAS

Mainz has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the CITY OR CIVITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the entire history of european integration and the future of Europe.

Mainz is one of the most ancient cities of the history of European integration, signed in great part by Christianity. The Civitas Mainz was founded in 13 BC by Romans on a strategic point at the river Rhine on the northern Limes of the Roman Empire and called Mogontiacum from a celtic local god name. In origin Mainz was a Castra of Germans and Romans veterans of the various legions and the river fleet Classis Germanic there stationed: for this reason, within the reform of Augustus Mainz became the capital of the Germania Superior province and one of the most important trade and stategic civitas of the empire, connected throught the roman Germanica Way starting in Cologne and passing through the civitas of Strasbourg and Augst to end in Aosta. With the reform of Constantine I (see Christian Empire), Mainz became part of the imperial Gallia Diocesi and was the starting point of the emperor militar escalation to the power, rewarded with imperial governors resident in the city as an important and populated Christian community since IV century AD, obtained a Roman bridge to pass the Rhine and control the river Main plain.

Mainz remained the principal strategic strong base against the Barbarian invasions until 460 AD, when the city was occupied by the Salian Franks tribe and included in the Austrasia reign, then recovered to Christianity in the VI century by the Merovingian dinasty kings. Thanks to the english monks missions, who built the St. Stephan monastir as basis for the evangelization of Saxons, Frisons and Slavs, and the renovatio imperii of Charlemagne Mainz became one of the biggest and wide Christian archbishopric, attribuited of temporal powers and included in the Imperial Diet for centuries: in its St. Alban's Abbey was baptized Harald "Klak" King of Jutland in 826 AD, while the monks started to build the Cathedral. With the 843 AD Treaty of Verdun, Mainz fell into the dominion of Germany reign ruled by the emperor's families until 911 AD when the crown passed to german families: the emperor Otto I assigned the Archbishops of Mainz (the primate of Germany church) noteworthy with the prerogatives of secular princes power and archichancellors of the Empire endured until XX century AD!

From the X century AD there is evidence of a Jewish presence in Mainz, Speyer and Worms, coming from east Europe and known as "Askenaz people" for the study of the Talmud, creating a German Jewish tradition and a regular rabbis synods since then: sometimes they were expelled or persecuted, massacred or isolated in the Ghetto, but always returned to be a numerous community that could obtain a synagogue and the Jewish cemetery. Mainz was granted of a City Charter in 1244 AD by the Prince-Bishop with the citizen power to elect the city council, but it was revoked by the archbishop named by the roman Pope in XV century AD against the elected one. Within the Reich, Mainz was seat of the Imperial Diet and the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, always on the Catholic side during the Protest crisis, had its priviliges confirmed with the Augusta Peace treaty and continued all along the modern era.

When the Holy Roman Empire (Reich) was dissolved in 1806 by Napoleon I, the German states were reunited into the Rhine Confederation and Mainz was designated capital of the Hesse-Darmstadt Ducky assigned to the homonimous family, while the city became one of the Fortresses against France and provided of strong garrison of Austrian, Prussian and Bavarian troops: after the 1871 AD war and the founding of the German Empire (II Reich), Mainz was demilitarized cause the new french borders was now in Alsace-Lorraine. So Mainz started to became a rich industrial city in modern era, provided of a big railway station and the Rhine harbour to transport products and freights to/from the rest of the country. Between First and Second World wars, Mainz was occupied by French troops, then by a Nazi Wermacht division, finally by the Allied french zone until 1949 AD when the new Germany state were founded.

Today Mainz preserve lots of medieval buildings and religoius seats, such as the Old Jewish Cemetery (Judensand) and "ShUM city of Speyer Worms and Mainz" enlisted in the UNESCO Wordl Heritage. Nowadays it is a medium size city in the west of Germany, capital of the Rhineland-Palatinate lander, whose patron is Saint Boniface the first archbishop in Mainz that converted to Christianity all Germany.

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