The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-12-23
CITY WITH A HISTORY.
Lots of Interesting Things Have Come
to Pass in Strasbourg.

"Strashourg was a town in Germany, the
capital Of the Imperial Province of Alsace-
Lorraine, and a fortress of the first rank.
30 the guidebooks used to describe it, and
they would assuredly 90 on to tell that il
Is situated in fertile plain at the junction
Of the Ill and the Breusch. some $40 miles
southwest Of Berlin and 80 miles east OF
the French frontier. After all, such de
scription, for concisenesS, at any rate.
could not well be improved upon: but
there is wealth OF story behind it all
The Ill and the Breusch, as they nave
flowed together at Strasbourg through all
the centuries have seen much history
They are undoubtedly the oldest features
in the old town, although their actual
waters may have been ever the most tran
.icnt Of visitors They were there before
Strasbourg. They were there when the
Roman legions marched through the pass
Cs Of the Nosges on to the fertile plain
and captured the Celtic settlement which
spread itself over the land where Stras-
bourg now stands. and they are there to-
day. joining hands and moving Oh togeth-
er toward the Rhine.
The Romans. as was 80 generally their
custom, replaced tie Celtic settlement
with fortified station. They gave it the
name of Argcntoratum, and in after years
\ il became an important military post and
/ the headquarters Of the Eighth Le-
gion. 1t was here that the Emperor Jul
4 liam, for a time, in the fourth century,
J stemmed the tide Of the barbarian inva-
/ sion by a decisive victory over the Ale
+ manni; but, about fifty Years afterward
n Argentoratum and the whole district now
\ called Asace fell into the hands OF that
people Later on. toward the end of the
nth century, the town passed into tho
\ posse ion OF the Franks, and il was the
Franks who gave il its present name
Christianity, Of course, came with Clovis
the Frank and it was chiefly in coEse
uuence Of its ecclesiastical difficulties tia,
Strasbourg gained such prominence in medI
aeyal times The Bishops of StraSbour-
! were princes OF the church. not at all Civ
on to democratic views, and they early Eel
foul of the good citizens OF the town
SIasbourg had prospcIed as the years had
passed Its citizens had grown wealthy
and the more the Bishop tried To assert
his authority the more firmly were the citi
2ens convinced that such ecclesiastical rule
was inconsistent with their full develop
mcnt And 50 from protest added to pro
test they went to open warfare. The con
fict was finally decided, hy the battle o
Gherhausbergeu, in favor Of The citizens
in 1862, and Strasbourg gained a full rccog
rition OF its position as free impelia
city, status which had been conicrre,
upon it by the German King Henry o
Swabia
. Once freed from the dominance Of tn
: church, Strashourg set about organizing a,
internal revolution. Its citizens had al
ways favored TIE democratic view o
, things, and the government of the cit
was not democratic enough to satisf
them. so toward the middle Of the foul
teenth century they secured tie admi,
: SION OF the guilds to the munic;pal cour
s ellis. Thereafter Strasbourg nourishe
! more than ever, and when it had TO max
: the choice between the Old and the L,
:. formed religion in the sixteenth centur
!: il listened readily to the preaching Of Ma,
Tin Bucer. accepted the teachings Of II
/, Reformation, and through all the trouble
g which followed, was peculiarly immun
= from the miseries endured hv 50 many
z is neighbors, far and near so its hstol