History Of Eisenstadt
The area was a part of the Celtic domain of Noricum before the advent of Christ, and it included the area around the Celtic hilltop enclave of Burg on the Schwarzenbacher Burgberg. What is today Eisenstadt thereafter became part of Pannonia during Roman rule. Early Hallstatt era settlement in the Eisenstadt region is shown by archeological discoveries, and both Celts and Romans followed. Many Germanic tribes and the Huns also settled in the Eisenstadt area during migrations. Bavarian settlement in the area started in 800 AD, under the reign of Charlemagne. Eisenstadt first appeared historically as “castrum ferrum” in 1118; the first recorded mention to it is from 1264, when it was known as “minor Mortin” (Hungarian for “Kismarton”). Remarkably, one of the westernmost points of the Kingdom of Hungary was the Eisenstadt district.
Once the town was acquired by the Hungarian aristocratic Kanizsai family in 1373, they strengthened the fortifications and built a moated fortress inside. The word “Eysenstat,” which means “strong iron,” therefore Eisenstadt, first appeared at this time. Market privileges were given to Eisenstadt in 1388. Germans made up most of the population of Western Hungary, which Duke Albrecht VI acquired in 1445. Eisenstadt was under Austrian control for the next 150 years, ruled from Vienna, even during the Turkish War, when the Turks captured it in 1529 and 1532.
The Hungarian nobility asked that Austrian direct control end and that western Hungary be reintegrated into Hungary proper. Emperor Ferdinand III integrated the aristocratic Hungarian family Esterházy into the House of Habsburg in 1648. Then in 1687, Leopold I made the area an imperial prince. The Esterházy family was a major force in changing the face of the city by means of massive building projects. They most famously transformed the old defended castle into a magnificent palace.
Eisenstadt, while within its city walls, was simultaneously proclaimed a royal free city by imperial order on October 26, 1648, and was therefore immune to all outside authority save that of the monarch. Paul I Esterházy de Galantha moved around 3,000 Jews outside of the city walls in 1670, close to Eisenstadt and in the neighboring towns known as the Siebengemeinden.
The Esterházy family became one of the richest in Central Europe during the ensuing period, and Eisenstadt was their princely residence. A golden age of art arrived in Eisenstadt in the 1760s with the appointment of Joseph Haydn as royal court music director. But a time of muted activity followed financial hardship from 1865 until 1898. Culturally a part of Vienna, Eisenstadt fought Budapest’s late 19th-century attempts to convert it to Magyar.
By peace accords after World War I, Eisenstadt became a part of Austria and in 1925 it became the capital of Burgenland. Eisenstadt established its place as a major cultural and administrative hub in spite of the turbulent 20th century; it was officially designated as the state capital in 1965 and included in the state constitution in 1981.
