EISLEBEN (Latin, Islebia), the chief town of the Mansfield circle, in the government of Merseburg, province of Saxony, Prussia, is situated on the railway from Halle to Nordhausen and Cassel, 18 miles west from Halle. It consists of an old and a new town, the former beiug surrounded by walls. In the vicinity are extensive copper and silver mines, and the town itself possesses smelting furnaces, several breweries, and manufactories of linen, tobacco, and saltpetre. Among its principal buildings are—the old castle; the church of St Andrews, which contains numerous monuments of the counts of Mansfield; the church of St Paul and St Peter, in which is the font where Luther was baptized; the Royal Gymnasium, founded by Luther shortly before his death in 1546; and the hospital. Eisleben is celebrated as the place where Luther was born and died. The house in which he was born was burned in 1689, but was rebuilt in 1693 as a free school for orphans; that in which he died has lately been renovated, and his deathchamber is still preserved.

The first mention of Eisleben dates from the 11th century. During the insurrection of the peasants in 1525, it was partly destroyed, and it was immediately after this that the new town was founded. In 1780, when the countship of Mansfield became extinct, Eisleben came into the possession of Saxony, and in 1815 of Prussia. The population in 1875 was 14,378.