Early history Regensburg

the remains of east tower of porta praetoria of roman times

the first settlements in regensburg date stone age. celtic name radasbona oldest given settlement near present city. around ad 90, romans built fort there.

in 179, new roman fort castra regina ( fortress river regen ) built legio iii italica during reign of emperor marcus aurelius. important camp on northerly point of danube: corresponds today core of regensburg s old city or altstadt east of obere , untere bachgasse , west of schwanenplatz. believed in late roman times city seat of bishop, , st boniface re-established bishopric of regensburg in 739.

from 6th century, regensburg seat of ruling family known agilolfings. 530 first half of 13th century, capital of bavaria. regensburg remained important city during reign of charlemagne. in 792, regensburg hosted ecclesiastical section of charlemagne s general assembly, bishops in council condemned heresy of adoptionism taught spanish counterparts, elipandus of toledo , felix of urgel. after partition of carolingian empire in 843, city became seat of eastern frankish ruler, louis ii german. 2 years later, fourteen bohemian princes came regensburg receive baptism there. starting point of christianization of czechs, , diocese of regensburg became mother diocese of of prague. these events had wide impact on cultural history of czech lands, consequently part of roman catholic , not slavic-orthodox world. memorial plate @ st john s church (the alleged place of baptism) unveiled few years ago, commemorating incident in czech , german languages.

on 8 december 899 arnulf of carinthia, descendant of charlemagne, died @ regensburg (known ratisbon @ time), bavaria, germany.

in 800 ad city had 23,000 inhabitants , 1000 ad had doubled 40,000 people.

in 1096, on way first crusade, peter hermit led mob of crusaders attempted force mass conversion of jews of regensburg , killed resisted.

regensburg in 16th century

between 1135 , 1146, stone bridge across danube built @ regensburg. bridge opened major international trade routes between northern europe , venice, , began regensburg s golden age residence of wealthy trading families. regensburg became cultural centre of southern germany , celebrated gold work , fabrics.