Tilleda

Tilleda is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2009, it has been part of the town Kelbra. Tilleda is located at the northern rim of the Kyffhäuser mountain range with the Kyffhäuser Monument, located in neighbouring Thuringia. The population is about 900.Tilleda is notable mainly for having been the site of a medieval Royal palace or Pfalz which has been partially excavated and reconstructed.HistoryIn around 700 a small settlement was founded on the Pfingstberg. The settlement was first mentioned in the early 9th century as Dullide, an estate of Hersfeld Abbey.The 972 marriage certificate of Emperor Otto II denotes a Kaiserpfalz (imperial palace) at Tilleda. Otto gave the Pfalz as a gift to his bride, Theophanu. Between that year and 1042, the palace was used on and off by the German kings and emperors. However, between 1042 and 1174, when Emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa" stayed there, it is not mentioned in documents at all. In 1194, his son, Henry VI made peace with his former enemy Heinrich der Löwe (Henry the Lion) at Tilleda. This is the last time a king is documented to have been there. By the first half of the 13th century, Tilleda is now assumed not to have served as a Pfalzany more.