page_title: History of Strasbourg
section_title: Imperial city
hierarchical_section_title: History of Strasbourg / From Romans to Renaissance / Imperial city
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Holzschnitt von Strassburg aus der Schedel'schen Weltchronik, Blatt 139v/140r English: Woodcut of Strasbourg from the Nuremberg Chronicle
context_page_description: Strasbourg is a city in the historic Alsace region on the left bank of the Rhine. Founded by the Romans in 12 BCE, the city passed under the control of the Merovingians in the eighth century, and then became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Flourishing throughout the middle ages and Renaissance, it was conquered by Louis XIV in 1681. After having changed nationality four times between 1870 and 1945, Strasbourg today is a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation and European integration. The following is a detailed history of Strasbourg, France.
context_section_description: In the fifth century Strasbourg was occupied successively by Alemanni, Huns, and Franks. In the ninth century it was commonly known as Strazburg in the local language, as documented in 842 by the Oaths of Strasbourg. This trilingual text contains, alongside texts in Latin and Old High German (teudisca lingua), the oldest written variety of Gallo-Romance (lingua romana) clearly distinct from Latin, the ancestor of Old French. The town was also called Stratisburgum or Strateburgus in Latin, from which later came Strossburi in Alsatian and Straßburg in Standard German, and then Strasbourg in French. The Oaths of Strasbourg is considered as marking the birth of the two countries of France and Germany with the division of the Carolingian Empire.
  A major commercial centre, the town came under the control of the Holy Roman Empire in 923, through the homage paid by the Duke of Lorraine to German King Henry I. The early history of Strasbourg consists of a long conflict between its bishop and its citizens. The citizens emerged victorious after the Battle of Oberhausbergen in 1262, when King Philip of Swabia granted the city the status of a free imperial city – the Imperial City of Strassburg.
  Around 1200, Gottfried von Straßburg wrote the Middle High German courtly romance Tristan, which is regarded, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Nibelungenlied, as one of great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages.
  A revolution in 1332 resulted in a broad-based city government with participation of the guilds, and Strasbourg declared itself a free republic. The deadly bubonic plague of 1348 was followed on 14 February 1349 by one of the first and worst pogroms in pre-modern history: over a thousand Jews were publicly burnt to death, with the remainder of the Jewish population being expelled from the city. Until the end of the 18th century, Jews were forbidden to remain in town after 10 pm. The time to leave the city was signalled by a municipal herald blowing the Grüselhorn (see below, Museums, Musée historique);. A special tax, the Pflastergeld (pavement money), was furthermore to be paid for any horse that a Jew would ride or bring into the city while allowed to.
  Construction on Strasbourg Cathedral began in the twelfth century, and it was completed in 1439 (though, of the towers, only the north tower was built), becoming the World's Tallest Building, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza. A few years later, Johannes Gutenberg created the first European moveable type printing press in Strasbourg.
caption: Strasbourg as seen in 1493
exif: {}