Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt (called Aureatum and Chrysopolis—i.e. 'the golden city'), a town and first-class fortress of Bavaria, on the left bank of the Danube, 53 miles by rail N. of Munich. It contains two castles of the former dukes of Bavaria-Ingolstadt (now used for military purposes); the Gothic church of Our Lady (1425), in which is the tomb of Eck, Luther's opponent; and the former Jesuit college. Brewing, cannon-founding, and the manufacture of gunpowder and salt are the only industries. Pop. (1875) 14,474; (1885) 16,390, mostly Roman Catholics. A university was founded here in 1472, which reckoned Reuchlin and other eminent scholars among its professors, and a century after its foundation had 4000 students. It was removed to Landshut in 1800, and to Munich twenty-six years later. Ingolstadt was the first German town at which the Jesuits were permitted to establish themselves, and to teach publicly from the university chairs. Loyola gave it the fond title of 'his little Benjamin.' Here, too, Adam Weishaupt established the Illuminati (q.v.). Ingolstadt, which existed in the 9th century, was first fortified in 1539. In 1827 the fortifications, which had been destroyed by the French in 1800, were restored upon a first-class scale. See works by Gerstner (1853) and Kleemann (1883).