View source for Eisenach

=== Early-modern period ===
[[File:Eisenach-1647-Merian.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Eisenach in 1647]]
Between 1498 and 1501, the young [[Martin Luther]] attended the St. George's Latin school in Eisenach in preparation for his following studies at the [[University of Erfurt]]. In 1521/22 he was hidden by [[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony|Frederick the Wise]] at Wartburg castle to protect him from the [[Imperial ban]]. During that time Luther translated the [[New Testament]] from Greek into German, in what was an important step both for the [[German Reformation]] and the development of a consistent German standard language.

Luther referred to Eisenach as ''ein Pfaffennest'' ("a clerical backwater"), since during his time there were 300 monks and nuns per 1,000 inhabitants.<ref name="Baedeker"/>{{rp|139}}

In 1525 there was heavy fighting in the area during the ''[[German Peasants' War|Bauernkrieg]]''.<ref name="Baedeker"/>{{rp|139}}
In 1528 the Lutheran Reformation was implemented in Eisenach. In 1596 Eisenach became a ducal residence again for the house of [[Saxe-Eisenach]].

[[Johann Sebastian Bach]] was born in Eisenach in 1685, when it was a part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. His father, [[Johann Ambrosius Bach]], worked there as a musician at that time. Other famous composers and musicians associated with Eisenach during that period were [[Johann Pachelbel]], [[Johann Christoph Bach]] and [[Georg Philipp Telemann]]. As the Eisenach dukes died out in 1741, the town and the state became part of [[Saxe-Weimar]].<ref name="Baedeker"/>{{rp|139}} Nevertheless, the cultural life remained unimpaired. The coterie around the poet {{Interlanguage link|Julie von Bechtolsheim|de}} met up with famous personalities like [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Christoph Martin Wieland]] in Eisenach.<ref name="Klauss"/>{{rp|37}}

From 1809 to 1918 Eisenach was part of the Duchy (after 1815 Grand Duchy) of [[Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach|Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach]].