Lower Franconia in the context of "Upper Franconia"

Würzburg (German: [ˈvʏʁtsbʊʁk] ; Main-Franconian: Wörtzburch) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main river.

Würzburg is situated approximately 110 km west-northwest of Nuremberg and 120 km east-southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The population as of 2019 is approximately 130,000 residents.

East Franconian (German: Ostfränkisch [ˈɔstfʁɛŋkɪʃ] ), usually referred to as Franconian in German (Fränkisch [ˈfʁɛŋkɪʃ] ), is a dialect spoken in Franconia, the northern part of the federal state of Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, Bamberg, Coburg, Würzburg, Hof, Bayreuth, Meiningen, Bad Mergentheim, and Crailsheim. The major subgroups are Unterostfränkisch (spoken in Lower Franconia and southern Thuringia), Oberostfränkisch (spoken in Upper and Middle Franconia) and Südostfränkisch (spoken in some parts of Middle Franconia and Hohenlohe). Until the wholesale expulsion of Germans from Bohemia, the dialect was also spoken around Saaz (today: Žatec).

In the transitional area between Rhine Franconian in the northwest and the Austro-Bavarian dialects in the southeast, East Franconian has elements of Central German and Upper German. The same goes only for South Franconian German in adjacent Baden-Württemberg. East Franconian is one of the German dialects with the highest number of speakers.

Aschaffenburg (German pronunciation: [aˈʃafn̩bʊʁk] ; Hessian: Aschebersch, pronounced [ˈaʒəˌbɛːʃ]) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg.

Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz for more than 800 years. The town is located at the westernmost border of Lower Franconia and separated from the central and eastern part of the Regierungsbezirk (administrative region) by the Spessart hills, whereas it opens towards the Rhine-Main plain in the west and the north-west. Therefore, the inhabitants speak neither Bavarian nor East Franconian but rather a local version of Rhine Franconian.

Franconia (German: Franken [ˈfʁaŋkn̩] ; East Franconian: Franggn [ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍]; Bavarian: Frankn) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (Ostfränkisch). Franconia is made up of the three Regierungsbezirke (governmental districts) of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia in Bavaria, the adjacent, Franconian-speaking South Thuringia, south of the Thuringian Forest—which constitutes the language boundary between Franconian and Thuringian—and the eastern parts of Heilbronn-Franconia in Baden-Württemberg.

Those parts of the Vogtland lying in Saxony (largest city: Plauen) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian-speaking parts of Lower Franconia west of the Spessart (largest city: Aschaffenburg) do consider themselves Franconian, although not speaking the dialect. Heilbronn-Franconia's largest city of Heilbronn and its surrounding areas are South Franconian-speaking, and therefore only sometimes regarded as Franconian. In Hesse, the east of the Fulda District is Franconian-speaking, and parts of the Oden Forest District are sometimes regarded as Franconian for historical reasons, but a Franconian identity did not develop there.

The Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg (German: Fürstbistum Würzburg; Hochstift Würzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire located in Lower Franconia, west of the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg. Würzburg had been a diocese since 743. As established by the Concordat of 1448, bishops in Germany were chosen by the canons of the cathedral chapter and their election was later confirmed by the pope. Following a common practice in Germany, the prince-bishops of Würzburg were frequently elected to other ecclesiastical principalities as well. The last few prince-bishops resided at the Würzburg Residence, which is one of the grandest Baroque palaces in Europe.

As a consequence of the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, Würzburg, along with the other ecclesiastical states of Germany, was secularized in 1803 and absorbed into the Electorate of Bavaria. In the same year Ferdinand III, former Grand Duke of Tuscany, was compensated with the Electorate of Salzburg. In the 1805 Peace of Pressburg, Ferdinand lost Salzburg to the Austrian Empire, but was compensated with the new Grand Duchy of Würzburg, Bavaria having relinquished the territory in return for the Tyrol. This new state lasted until 1814, when it was once again annexed by Bavaria.

The Franconian Saale (German: Fränkische Saale, pronounced [ˈfʁɛŋkɪʃə ˈzaːlə] ) is a 140 km long river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right-bank tributary of the Main, in Lower Franconia. It should not be confused with the larger Saxon Saale (German: Sächsische Saale), which is a tributary of the Elbe River.

The Franconian Saale flows through Bad Königshofen, Bad Neustadt, Bad Kissingen, Hammelburg and flows into the Main River in Gemünden am Main.