Eger (Boh. Cheb), a frontier city of Bohemia, on a river of the same name, at the foot of the Fichtelgebirge, and at the junction of six lines of railway, 91 m. W. of Prague; pop. • in 1869, 13,463. It has cotton and woollen manufactories, and in its vicinity at Franzens-bad are chalybeate springs and baths. Its fortifications, formerly strong, were demolished in 1808. It has a city hall, in which Wal-lenstein was assassinated, Feb. 25, 1634, the ruins of a castle in which the friends of Wal-lenstein were murdered, a gymnasium, military school, chamber of commerce, two convents, and four churches. - Eger was formerly the capital of a county of that name, and belonged to the margrave of Vohburg, and passed over by marriage to the emperor Frederick I. In 1270 the city was burned down, and in 1285 the emperor Rudolph gave it as a marriage portion to King Wenceslas of Bohemia. In 1350 a great massacre of the Jews took place here. It was taken and retaken by both Swedes and imperialists during the thirty years' war.

In the Silesian wars it was taken by the French under Marshal Saxe in 1742, and again under the marshal de Belleisle in 1745. (For Eger in Hungary, see Erlau.)