The eastward expansion of the Frankish kingdom beyond the Rhine also ended a time of economic isolation for Speyer as old and new travel routes opened and trade relations developed.

Around 650, the Frankish King Sigebert III, granted Bishop Principus the tithe of all royal estates in the Speyergau and the church was exempt from paying taxes to the comes.

Apart from the royal privileges, the economic basis for Speyer's bishops were their acquired possessions, substantial estates, customs and ferry levies as well as the prerogative of coinage received in the 10th century.

He referred to the construction, embellishment and enrichment of the cathedral in the following terms: ”[...] ecclesiam Spirensem a nostris parentibus Cunrado imperatore augusto, avo videlicet nostro, et Heinrico imperatore augusto, patre videlicet nostro, et a nobis gloriose constructam veneramur et quam pluribus prediis et mancipiis diversisque ornamentis ad honorem dei sancteque dei genitricis Marie celebramus.” The cathedral received more valuable gifts from successors and other rulers.

Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118) gave the cathedral a valuable antipendium (appendage which covers the entire front of the altar) in 1083 and Empress Beatrix (died 1184) donated a gold, silver and ivory reliquary cupboard.

Huzman also accompanied Henry IV in December that same year on his voyage from Speyer to Canossa and Bishop Bruno in his capacity of imperial chancellor who negotiated the Concordat of Worms with Pope Callixtus II in 1122.

The purpose of the building, already a strong motive for Conrad, was the emperor's "claim to a representative imperial Roman architecture" in light of the continuing struggle with Pope Gregory VII.

By and by, Henry IV added possessions in the Wetterau and Nahegau districts, in the valley of the river Rems, in Saxony and with the counties of Lutramsforst (southern Palatine Forest) and Forchheim.

[22] Among other things, the charter freed the citizens of Speyer from the oppressive inheritance tax, from duties and the fees and tolls of the city and it granted the right to be heard when coins were to be devaluated.

The chapter was an important factor in the city's economy because it operated various administrative departments (cellar, barn, granary, portal, factory, ornaments, and bakery), staffed by cathedral vicars (Domvikare, vicarii) who carried out their duties under the supervision of a capitular canon.

As a counter measure they decided that neither council members, other citizens or their relatives down to the fourth generation would be allowed to become canons or friars of the Speyer church or to receive benefices.

The guild houses of the chandlers, shoemakers and blacksmiths settled south of the big market street, the bakers, butchers, tailors, wine sellers, weavers and masons on the northern side.

He not only awarded the clergy the right to taxation in the city, to import grain and serve wine, to fill posts of courts and offices but also confirmed the bishop's secular lordship.

The city at least received a formal confirmation of its privileges and customary law but Conrad's verdict nevertheless remained in place for all newly upcoming disagreements and couldn't be altered without the clergy's consent.

On June 23/24, 1525, the peasants suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Pfeddersheim at the hands of Count Palatine Louis V. This had immediate effects on Speyer as the clergy directly set about to have the enforced commitments revoked.

With this protestation by the Lutheran princes and cities against a resolution of the diet an incident of historical proportion emanated from Speyer: although firstly a legality, it sealed the schism of the Christian church and is considered the birth of Protestantism.

When Maximilian II entered the city, more than 500 people were counted in his entourage, including Empress Maria, the daughters Anne, Elisabeth, Eleonore, Margaret, the sons Maximilian, Mathew, Albert, Wenzel, 6 personal physicians, 27 falconers and hunters, a tamer, a guard for leopards, 2 paper hangers, 40 bakers, 15 craftsmen, an organ maker, 21 trumpeters and kettle-drummers, a band-master with 12 bassists, a Kammersänger (bass), 9 tenors, 13 alto singers, 7 discant players and about 16 choir boys.

In preparation of the meeting, the council had several streets paved and temporary wooden huts built including a stable for the emperor's elephant, the first ever to come to Speyer.

As the staff was purely Catholic, the verdicts were markedly partisan which aggravated the religious tensions in the empire and so contributed to the formation of the Schmalkaldic League, a defensive alliance of Lutheran princes.

Having to retreat after initial successes, at the orders of war minister Louvois and his closest confidant Chamlay, the French armies systematically laid waste to abandoned areas.

The French did not want the people to flee across the Rhine and offered them resettlement areas in Alsace and Lorraine including free building lots, 10 years no tax and support for transportation.

A Dutch and imperial Hessian relief force commanded by Count John Ernst and Landgrave Frederick arrived in Speyer on 13 November and set up camp southwest of the city to wait for reinforcement and to continue the following day.

In 1806, the bishop of Mainz Joseph Ludwig Colmar saved the cathedral from being demolished by the French who had in mind to transform the westwork into a triumphal arch in honour of Napoleon.

Once again it stood in the international limelight when, on 27 June 1815, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Francis I of Austria and King Frederick William III of Prussia met at the allied headquarters in Speyer.

On 28 April 1849, the Speyer city council supported a demand by the people's association for the Bavarian parliament to convene in order to put pressure on King Maximilian II.

Speyer's proximity to the French border made it a transit point for troops and the wounded which put a heavy burden on city finances because of quartering, hospital expenses, supplies and harness services.

With the neighbouring building of the district archives, the Protestant Consistory of the Palatine Church, the Humanistic Grammar School and the Bishop's seat built around the same time, the cathedral square received a character which it has kept to this very day.

Among these was former prime minister Johannes Hoffman, who unsuccessfully tried to separate the Palatinate from Bavaria and form an independent state within the Empire on October 24, 1923, while Munich was being rocked by civil-war-like conditions.

On the evening of January 9, 1924, 20 men came across the frozen Rhine, stormed the “Wittelsbach Court,” a hotel-restaurant in Speyer, where Heinz was dining and shot him, an aide and an uninvolved third person.

For the 2000-year celebration in 1990 the main street, the cathedral district and some parts of the medieval town were elaborately renovated with a new design and Speyer has developed into one of Germany's important tourist centres.