Spires

(spīrz.) (Gr. SPEYER, or SPEIER; anc. Civitas No rio magus.] A manuf. city of Germany, C. of the Bavarian circ. of the Palatinate, at the confluence of the Speyerbach with the Rhine, 17 m. N.E. of Landau. This was a place of importance under the Romans, and the seat of residence of several of the German emperors in the Middle Ages. Of the 41 diets which have a embled in this city, that held in 1529 was memorable for the protest of the Reformers against the decrees of the Papacy. Pop. 11,742. [s. 847]