Meissen and the House of Wettin in 1089. In 1015 Meissen was besieged by the Poles led by future King Mieszko II. In 1241 the city was attacked in the Mongol raid on Meissen. The small Mongol force under Orda Khan defeated the city's defenders and much of the city was destroyed. The Mongols withdrew from Germany after the death of Ögedei Khan, sparing the region from further destruction. The city was at the forefront of the Ostsiedlung, or intensive German settlement of the rural Slavic lands east of the Elbe, and its reception of city rights dates to 1332. The
Meissen station passing through Meissen, but, in 1835, it selected a route running further north via Riesa because of the more favourable topography. It proposed to connect the then important town of Meissen with a branch line. This meant that in 1839 the citizenry of Meissen needed to travel to Priestewitz station or Oberau station at the end of Oberau Tunnel to board trains, although from 1842 they could use Niederau station, which was around seven kilometres away. Two decades later, on 9 July 1860, the first sod was turned for the construction of the Coswig–Meißen branch line. The company opened it