Biggest Cities in the Holy Roman Empire in 1648 with a Map
With the help of a map, can you name the most populous cities of the Holy Roman Empire with an estimated population of over 10,000 after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648?
Click on the map to zoom in.
Population figures are based off this dataset by Dr. E. Buringh.
The devastation in the Thirty Years War caused a lot of cities to fall in population. One city that was hit especially was Magdeburg, which had lost almost all of its 25,000 inhabitants after a brutal sack of the city in 1631. A census in 1632 reported only 449 inhabitants and the city would cross 10,000 inhabitants again by 1700 and only recover to its previous size by 1800.