EILENBURG  , a

town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Saxony, on an island formed by the Mulde, 31 M . E. from Halle, at the junction of the railways Halle-Cottbus and Leipzig-Eilenburg . Pop . (1905) 15,145 . There are three churches, two Evangelical and one Roman Catholic . The industries of the town include the manufacture of chemicals, cloth, quilting, calico, cigars and agricultural implements, bleaching, dyeing, basket-making, carriage-building and trade in cattle . In the neighbourhood is the iron foundry of Erwinhof . Opposite the town, on the steep left bank of the Mulde, is the castle from which it derives its name, the original seat of the noble family of Eulenburg . This castle (Ilburg) is mentioned in records of the reigns of Henry the Fowler as an important outpost against the Sorbs and Wends . The town itself, originally called Mildenau, is of great antiquity . It is first mentioned as a town in 981, when it belonged to the house of Wettin and was the chief town of the East Mark . In 1386 it was incorporated in the margraviate of Meissen .

In 1815 it passed to

Prussia . See Gundermann, Chronik der Stadt Eilenburg (Eilenburg, 1879) .