Salzgitter in the Middle Ages

From this event onwards, the local and regional medieval happenings in and around Salzgitter are depicted. Manorial estates and castles illustrate the ruling structures of this time. Life in the countryside of the approximately fifty villages in the Salzgitter area was characterized by agriculture and craftsmanship. With the integration of the Salzgitter area into the Frankish Empire, Christianity was introduced. The Christianization occurred from the Fulda Monastery through its branch monastery in Brunshausen near Gandersheim and through Corvey Monastery. Numerous property transfers to churches and monasteries since the 8th/9th century attest to this. In the Salzgitter urban area, there were three monasteries: in Ringelheim (941), in Steterburg (1001), and in Engerode (1235). In the south of Salzgitter, the salt site "Solte to gittere" emerged in the High Middle Ages. Several salt springs surfaced in the Warnetal valley. The farmers from the surrounding villages of Gitter, Vöppstedt, and Kniestedt extracted the "white gold." There were 49 salt houses where salt was boiled. The settlement that developed around the salt springs was relatively small. A rampart and water ditches protected the place.