​BRETTEN, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden, on the Saalbach, 9 m. S.E. of Bruchsal by rail. Pop. (1900) 4781. It has some manufactories of machinery and japanned goods, and a considerable trade in timber and livestock. Bretten was the birthplace of Melanchthon (1497), and in addition to a ​statue of him by Drake, a memorial hall, containing a collection of his writings and busts and pictures of his famous contemporaries, has been erected.