HEIDE, a town of Prussia, chief town of the circle of North Ditmarsh, province of Schleswig-Holstein, is situated on a small plateau which stands between the marshes and moors bordering the North Sea, 35 miles N.N.W. of Gliickstadt. It is the seat of a provincial office, a court of justice, and a head tax office, and possesses tobacco and cigar manufactories, a tannery, and a rope work. Heide in 1117 became the capital of tire Ditmarsh peasant republic, but on the 13th June 1559 it was the scene of the complete defeat of the peasant forces by the Danes and the duke of Schleswig-Holstein. The population in 1875 was 6772.