Short history of Thuringia - PorcelainSite.com

THURINGIA, historic region of central Germany. It was named for the Thuringians, a Germanic tribe that established a kingdom there in the 5th century AD.
Germany and Thuringia

The landgraviate of Thuringia was founded in 1130 and was an important principality during the 12th and 13th centuries. The seat of the landgraves was the famous castle of Wartburg, near Eisenach, noted as the site of contests of minnesingers. The old line of landgraves then passed to the house of Wettin, which ruled in the margraviate of Meissen, and which in the 15th century also acquired the electoral duchy of Saxony. When the Saxon dominions were partitioned in 1485, most of Thuringia passed to the Ernestine branch of the Wettin house.

During the Reformation, the Saxon duchies and principalities were separated, becoming again merged into the state of Thuringia following World War I. After World War II Thuringia was included in the Soviet Zone of Occupation. It became a state of East Germany in 1949 but was dissolved in 1952.

After German unification in 1990, the state of Thuringia was created. It is bordered by Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. The chief cities of Thuringia are Erfurt and Weimar.