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 to 1644, and again from 1662 to 1741, when it finally fell to Saxe-Weimar. The town of Eisenach, by reason of its associations, has been a favourite centre for the religious propaganda of Evangelical Germany, and since 1852 it has been the scene of the annual conference of the German Evangelical Church, known as the Eisenach conference.

 EISENBERG (Isenberg), a town of Germany, in the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, on a plateau between the rivers Saale and Elster, 20 m. S.W. from Zeitz, and connected with the railway Leipzig-Gera by a branch to Crossen. Pop. (1905) 8824. It possesses an old castle, several churches, and monuments to Duke Christian of Saxe-Eisenberg (d. 1707), Bismarck, and the philosopher (q.v.). Its principal industries are weaving, and the manufacture of machines, ovens, furniture, pianos, porcelain and sausages.

 EISENERZ (“Iron ore”), a market-place and old mining town in Styria, Austria, 68 m. N.W. of Graz by rail. Pop. (1900) 6494. It is situated in a deep valley, dominated on the east by the Pfaffenstein (6140 ft.), on the west by the Kaiserschild (6830 ft.), and on the south by the Erzberg (5030 ft.). It has an interesting example of a medieval fortified church, a Gothic edifice founded by Rudolph of Habsburg in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th. The Erzberg or Ore Mountain furnishes such rich ore that it is quarried in the open air like stone, in the summer months. There is documentary evidence of the mines having been worked as far back as the 12th century. They afford employment to two or three thousand hands in summer and about half as many in winter, and yield some 800,000 tons of iron per annum. Eisenerz is connected with the mines by the Erzberg railway, a bold piece of engineering work, 14 m. long, constructed on the Abt’s rack-and-pinion system. It passes through some beautiful scenery, and descends to Vordernberg (pop. 3111), an important centre of the iron trade situated on the south side of the Erzberg. Eisenerz possesses, in addition, twenty-five furnaces, which produce iron, and particularly steel, of exceptional excellence. A few miles to the N.W. of Eisenerz lies the castle of Leopoldstein, and near it the beautiful Leopoldsteiner Lake. This lake, with its dark-green water, situated at an altitude of 2028 ft., and surrounded on all sides by high peaks, is not big, but is very deep, having a depth of 520 ft.

 EISLEBEN (Lat. Islebia), a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, 24 m. W. by N. from Halle, on the railway to Nordhausen and Cassel. Pop. (1905) 23,898. It is divided into an old and a new town (Altstadt and Neustadt). Among its principal buildings are the church of St Andrew (Andreaskirche), which contains numerous monuments of the counts of Mansfeld; the church of St Peter and St Paul (Peter-Paulkirche), containing the font in which Luther was baptized; the royal gymnasium (classical school), founded by Luther shortly before his death in 1546; and the hospital. Eisleben is celebrated as the place where Luther was born and died. The house in which he was born was burned in 1689, but was rebuilt in 1693 as a free school for orphans. This school fell into decay under the régime of the kingdom of Westphalia, but was restored in 1817 by King Frederick William III. of Prussia, who, in 1819, transferred it to a new building behind the old house. The house in which Luther died was restored towards the end of the 19th century, and his death chamber is still preserved. A bronze statue of Luther by Rudolf Siemering (1835–1905) was unveiled in 1883. Eisleben has long been the centre of an important mining district (Luther was a miner’s son), the principal products being silver and copper. It possesses smelting works and a school of mining.

The earliest record of Eisleben is dated 974. In 1045, at which time it belonged to the counts of Mansfeld, it received the right to hold markets, coin money, and levy tolls. From 1531 to 1710 it was the seat of the cadet line of the counts of Mansfeld-Eisleben. After the extinction of the main line of the counts of Mansfeld, Eisleben fell to Saxony, and, in the partition of Saxony by the congress of Vienna in 1815, was assigned to Prussia.

 EISTEDDFOD (plural Eisteddfodau), the national bardic congress of Wales, the objects of which are to encourage bardism and music and the general literature of the Welsh, to maintain the Welsh language and customs of the country, and to foster and cultivate a patriotic spirit amongst the people. This institution, so peculiar to Wales, is of very ancient origin. The term Eisteddfod, however, which means “a session” or “sitting,” was probably not applied to bardic congresses before the 12th century.

The Eisteddfod in its present character appears to have originated in the time of Owain ap Maxen Wledig, who at the close of the 4th century was elected to the chief sovereignty of the Britons on the departure of the Romans. It was at this time, or soon afterwards, that the laws and usages of the Gorsedd were codified and remodelled, and its motto of “Y gwir yn erbyn y byd” (The truth against the world) given to it. “Chairs” (with which the Eisteddfod as a national institution is now inseparably connected) were also established, or rather perhaps resuscitated, about the same time. The chair was a kind of convention where disciples were trained, and bardic matters discussed preparatory to the great Gorsedd, each chair having a distinctive motto. There are now existing four chairs in Wales,—namely, the “royal” chair of Powys, whose motto is “A laddo a leddir” (He that slayeth shall be slain); that of Gwent and Glamorgan, whose motto is “Duw a phob daioni” (God and all goodness); that of Dyfed, whose motto is “Calon wrth galon” (Heart with heart); and that of Gwynedd, or North Wales, whose motto is “Iesu,” or “O Iesu! na’d gamwaith” (Jesus, or Oh Jesus! suffer not iniquity).

The first Eisteddfod of which any account seems to have descended to us was one held on the banks of the Conway in the 6th century, under the auspices of Maelgwn Gwynedd, prince of North Wales. Maelgwn on this occasion, in order to prove the superiority of vocal song over instrumental music, is recorded to have offered a reward to such bards and minstrels as should swim over the Conway. There were several competitors, but on their arrival on the opposite shore the harpers found themselves unable to play owing to the injury their harps had sustained from the water, while the bards were in as good tune as ever. King Cadwaladr also presided at an Eisteddfod about the middle of the 7th century.

Griffith ap Cynan, prince of North Wales, who had been born in Ireland, brought with him from that country many Irish musicians, who greatly improved the music of Wales. During his long reign of 56 years he offered great encouragement to bards, harpers and minstrels, and framed a code of laws for their better regulation. He held an Eisteddfod about the beginning of the 12th century at Caerwys in Flintshire, “to which there repaired all the musicians of Wales, and some also from England and Scotland.” For many years afterwards the Eisteddfod appears to have been held triennially, and to have enforced the rigid observance of the enactments of Griffith ap Cynan. The places at which it was generally held were Aberffraw, formerly the royal seat of the princes of North Wales; Dynevor, the royal castle of the princes of South Wales; and Mathrafal, the royal palace of the princes of Powys; and in later times