Egeln

Egeln is a small town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Egelner Mulde.GeographyEgeln is situated on the river Bode, approx. 15km northwest of Staßfurt, and 25km southwest of the state capital Magdeburg on the road to Halberstadt. A train connection to Staßfurt via Hecklingen is provided at Egeln station.HistoryThe fertile Bode basin had been settled since the Paleolithic; the town's name may refer to Anglian tribes which in the 2nd and 3rd century AD moved from the Baltic coast southwards to present-day Thuringia. A fortification at the site named Osteregulon is mentioned in a 941 deed of donation, issued by German king Otto I when he enfeoffed Siegfried, firstborn son of Margrave Gero, with the surrounding estates. The castle secured a causeway across the Bode river, part of an important trade route from the cities of Goslar and Quedlinburg to the Ottonian residence in Magdeburg.