The origins of Göttingen lay in a village called "Gutingi", first mentioned in a document by Otto I in 953. It is presumed that Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, founded the town northwest of this village, between 1150 and 1200. Its inhabitants obeyed welfish ownership and ruling rights, and the first Göttingen burghers are mentioned then, indicating that Göttingen was already organized as a true city. It was not, however, a Free Imperial City ("Reichsstadt"), but subject to the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The city was initially protected by ramparts, at the end of the 13th century by walls on top of the ramparts. Permission to erect the wall was granted in 1362 by Duke Ernst of Brunswick-Göttingen, and construction ultimately took 200 years.Around 1350, Göttingen joined the Hanseatic League. Göttingen only became a paying member in 1426, and in 1572 it left the Hanseatic League.
The Reformation initially seemed to bypass Göttingen. Even when the Peasants' War raged through Germany in 1524/25, things remained quiet in Göttingen. It was not until 1529, twelve years after Luther posted his theses, that the Reformation began in Göttingen.
Göttingen suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War, which led to the city's economic and political decline. The number of inhabitants, which was still 6000 in 1400, fell to less than 3000 around 1680. The principality of Brunswick-Calenberg, to which Göttingen had belonged since 1634, was made an electorate by Emperor Leopold I in 1692 under Duke Ernst August. From 1714, the Electors of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electoral Hanover) were also kings of Great Britain. Ernst August's son, Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover, was to ascend the British throne as George I.
Until then, the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg had not had its own university. A university was founded in Göttingen to train the theologians, lawyers and doctors needed in the country. During the reign of George II August of Great Britain, who gave the university its name, teaching at the George August University was opened in 1734.
St. Johannis is a three-nave Gothic hall church from the 14th century.
A Romanesque basilica once stood on the site of the church. It was first mentioned in a document in 1272. The north portal and a round arch portal have survived from her. They were integrated into the new Gothic building. The west facade is designed in early Gothic forms below the free stories of the towers.
The North Tower's historic spire was destroyed by fire in 2005. At first the top of the tower threatened to collapse. The dangerous parts and the charred beams were lifted off on the day of the fire with special cranes and dismantled on the ground.
Just one day after the fire, the police arrested two suspected arsonists, young people aged 19 and 15, who made a confession. The young people had entered the tower via scaffolding. The reconstruction work was completed in February 2006.
