MUHLHAUSEN  , a

town of Germany, in Prussian Thuringia, on the right bank of the Unstrut, 25 M . N.W. of Gotha by rail . Pop . (1905), 34359 . It consists of a new and an old town, surrounded by five suburbs, and has numerous old churches and towers . The most interesting churches are those of St Mary and of St Blasius, dating respectively from the 14th and the 12th century; the town-hall is also a fine medieval structure . The chief industries are the spinning and weaving of woollen and cotton . Other manufactures include needles, machinery, cigars, soap, hosiery, furniture and shoes . There are also establishments for dyeing, tanning, lime-burning, iron-making, brewing and the preparation of liqueurs . Muhlhausen is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and is said to have been fortified in 925 . Its early importance is shown by the grant of privileges made to it by the German King Henry I., and by the diet held here in 1135 . During the Reformation period Muhlhausen became notorious as one of the chief seats of the Anabaptists .

Thomas Munzer, one of their leaders, was captured in the vicinity and executed in the town . Internal dissensions and injuries received during the Thirty Years' War and the Seven Years' War afterwards reduced Muhlhausen to unimportance . In 1802 it lost its independence and passed to Prussia, in 1807 it was attached to the kingdom of Westphalia, but in 1815 it again became Prussian . The Teutonic Order established itself at Muhlhausen in 1200 . See E . Heydenreich, Aus der Geschichte der Reichsstadt Miihlhausen (Halle, 1900) ; Nebelsieck, Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt Muhlhausen (Magdeburg, 2905) ; Herquet, Urkundenbuch der ehemaligen freien Reichsstadt Muhlhausen (Halle, 18744) ; F . Stephan, Verfassungsgeschichte der Reichsstadt Muhlhausen (Sondershausen, 1886) ; Jordan, Chronik der Stadt Muhlhausen (Muhlhausen, 1900-1906); and Fuhrer durch Muhlhausen and Umgegend (Not) .