Einwilligung zur Nutzung.

Over the course of its more than 1000-year history, Erlangen belonged to various dominions. Being part of the Forchheim church estate, in 1002 it fell to the Collegiate Estate of Haug in the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg. In 1017 it was handed on to the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg, where it remained until it was bought by Charles IV in 1361. Erlangen thereby became a fiefdom of the Bohemian kings, who extended it as a staging post on the bridge of landholdings they established between Bohemia and Frankfurt am Main. In 1402, Erlangen passed to the Burgraves of Nuremberg (House of Hohenzollern), the later Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach-Bayreuth. Being almost completely surrounded by estates belonging to Nuremberg and Bamberg respectively, it formed this principality’s Unterland (lower lands) exclave.

During two 'Margrave Wars' (1449–1453 and 1552–1554), Margraves Albrecht Achilles and Albrecht Alkibiades tried to expand their territory at the expense of the Imperial City of Nuremberg and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bamberg and Würzburg. Conversely, Nuremberg troops conquered Erlangen several times, including in 1449 and 1553, and pillaged the town. Many houses were burned down, and the fortress, mint, and town walls were destroyed.

Erlangen became a theatre of war several times during the Thirty Years' War, too. In the years 1632/1634, the Imperial forces occupying the fortress of Forchheim devastated the protestant town. Erlangen was almost completely reduced to rubble.