A Brief History of Regensburg
Regensburg was first established as a Celtic colony, Radasbona, located here five centuries before the Romans erected a military camp in AD 80. By AD 179, this camp had been enlarged and was called Castra Regina. Two centuries later, Bavarian tribes forced out the Romans. Regensburg was the ducal seat of the Bavarian rulers from the sixth up to the 13th century.
In the High Middle Ages, Regensburg, with 10,000 inhabitants, was the largest and richest city in the region. In 1245, it became a Free Imperial City. Its decline after that was gradual. By the 16th century, trade routes had shifted and talent moved to the new upcoming cities of Augsburg and Nürnberg. As a result, much of the core of Regensburg that survived is older than that of those two cities. The changing fortunes saw the traders losing business and most of the city indebted to the Jewish bankers. In 1519, the city expelled the Jews and wiped the slate clean. However, the prosperity of previous centuries would never return.
From 1663 to 1806, Regensburg had the prestige of housing the Reichstag – the first Permanent Diet or Parliament in Germany. The Napoleonic wars saw an end of the Holy Roman Empire and in 1810 Regensburg lost its independence and became a provincial backwater in an enlarged Kingdom of Bavaria.
Regensburg’s economic revival waited until after World War II. New industries were founded in the region, including a BMW plant where virtually all 3-series models are produced – wait at the main station and a long train loaded with newly produced cars will pass by sooner or later.
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