The History of Cologne Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

The Ubii named the city Oppidum Ubiorum but it was soon renamed Colonia Agrippina after Emperor Claudius' wife Agrippina who was born in the city. Colonia Agrippina was primarily used by the Romans as a military base in Germany and was home to some of the largest aqueducts in all of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Charles Martel

The Battle of Cologne occurred because the then King of the Franks Chilperic II, invaded territory in Austrasia (the original Frankish area of settlement) that Charles Martel and is relatives had influence over. Chilperic II was able to defeat Martel by forming an alliance with Radbod, the King of Frisa, who was actually the one who sent Martel into hiding. Martel later returned to and captured Cologne easily and ruled for nearly thirty years afterward.

Answer: France

Cologne had a series of powerful and successful rulers after Charles Martel, including Charlemagne. However, by the 9th century, its rulers were significantly weaker and Cologne fell to East Francia in in 876 where it was destroyed by Vikings. Henry the Fowler managed to take both Cologne and Lorraine, then called Lotharinga, after Frankish King Charles the Simple unsuccessfully invaded Germany and Henry the Fowler violated the terms of the brokered peace treaty.

Answer: It was built with a Baroque design.

The Cologne Cathedral is actually built in a Gothic design. Although construction began in 1248, it actually was not completed until 1880. It also isn't the first Cologne Cathedral. The very first Cologne Cathedral was built sometime in the 4th century on a site nearby.

Each day, over 20,000 people visit the Cologne Cathedral according to the cathedral's website. It was the world's tallest manmade structure until it was surpassed by the Washington Monument in 1884. It remained the world's tallest cathedral until 1890 when the Ulm Minster, also in Germany, was completed. Cologne Cathedral is located near a railway station that was heavily bombed during World War II. The cathedral was damaged, but not significantly and was repaired almost immediately after the war ended.

Answer: The Archbishop of Cologne

In 1279, the Duke of Limburg died without a son so his territory was inherited by his daughter who also died without a son, leaving Cologne and its vicinity up for grabs. Various people formed hasty alliances with the Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried II, gaining the most power. Siegfried II did defeat his enemies, but he was unpopular both with the people and with his army and was imprisoned by John of Brabant. From then on, the Archbishop of Cologne held a relatively weak position in Cologne, outside of religious matters.

Answer: Bubonic Plague

The Black Death first entered Cologne 1349. The Jewish people were then subjected to pogroms for allegedly bringing the disease inside of Cologne. Later in 1359, they were all expelled from the city but were allowed back in 1369 with temporary citizenship status.

However, the Cologne Council did not renew this status and the Jews were forced to leave in 1424 and were banned from Cologne until readmitted in 1798, when the city was under French occupation.

Answer: Religious war

The Cologne War was fought between Protestant Reformers and the Anti-Reformist Catholics. The Catholics claimed victory and they pushed to restore the traditional teachings of the church before Martin Luther and the Reformation. As a result of the war, Germany was split religiously between Catholics in the south and the Rhineland, and Protestants in the north and the east.

Answer: Katharina Henot

Katharina Henot had inherited her father's post office along with her brother Harger. Both her and her brother Haarger were arrested and accused of witchcraft, likely as revenge by Count Leonhard II von Taxis, who wanted to centralize the postal system. Harger was let go, but Katharina was sentence to burn at the stake after months of being tortured and not admitting to witchcraft. Harger Henot had unsuccessfully fought to free her and failed to clear her name after her execution.

He was arrested again on sorcery charges and convicted but was not executed when the witch trials ended suddenly. Katharina Henot and all victims of the witch hunts were exonerated in 2012.

Answer: True

Despite the strong Catholic (and also Communist sentiment) in Cologne, the Nazis won nearly 40% of the vote in the 1933 local elections. They were aided by the many different political parties that fielded a candidate that year. The Communists were immediately expelled or imprisoned.

By the end of World War II, almost all of Cologne's buildings had been damaged by aerial bombardment and only 20,000 people lived in the city that once had a population of over 700,000.

Answer: City Archives

Two people who were in nearby buildings were killed when the evacuation crew failed to notify them of the eminent collapse. Everyone who had been inside the building managed to escape unscathed. While it is unknown just what was lost in the collapse, experts agree that most of the city's historical documents dating back for centuries were likely destroyed.