The town is believed to have been founded by the counts of Andechs probably around the midth century, [2] but was first mentioned in as Baierrute in a document by Bishop Otto II of Bamberg.
The syllable -rute may mean Rodung or "clearing", whilst Baier- indicates immigrants from the Bavarian region. Already documented earlier, were villages later merged into Bayreuth: Seulbitz in as the royal Salian estate of Silewize in a document by Emperor Conrad II and St.
Johannis possibly as Altentrebgast. Even the district of Altstadt formerly Altenstadt west of the town centre must be older than the town of Bayreuth itself. Even older traces of human presence were found in the hamlets of Meyernberg : pieces of pottery and wooden crockery were dated to the 9th century based on their decoration.
While Bayreuth was previously referred to as a villa "village" , the term civitas "town" appeared for the first time in a document published in One can therefore assume that Bayreuth was awarded its town charter between and The town was ruled until by the counts of Andechs-Merania. After they died out in the burgraves of Nuremberg from the House of Hohenzollern took over the inheritance. Until , however, the princely residence and the centre of the territory was the castle of Plassenburg in Kulmbach and as such the territory was officially known as the Principality of Kulmbach.
The town of Bayreuth developed slowly and was affected time and again by disasters. In February , the Hussites devastated Bayreuth and the town hall and churches were razed. By , less than ten years after the start of the Reformation , the lords of the Frankish margrave territories switched to the Lutheran faith.
