Barbarossa city

"Barbarossa city" () is a nickname for five German cities that the Staufer Emperor Frederick Barbarossa stayed in or near for some time.

Sinzig

Sinzig is a city on the Middle Rhine in Ahrweiler County. Celtic in its early history and settled by the Roman, the city was first mentioned in 762 as a Franconian king's court, sentiacum. The city was at its height from the 12th through the 14th century as a Kaiserpfalz often visited by the German kings and emperors. Barbarossa himself stayed at Sinzig four times.

Kaiserslautern

The settlement history of Kaiserslautern, an industrial city and university seat at the northern edge of the Palatinate forest, begins in the 5th millennium BC. Around 1100 Salian rulers built themselves a castle on the grounds of the present-day city hall. Between 1152 and 1158 Barbarossa had the castle expanded that would bear his name and serve as his Kaiserpfalz "with no insignificant amount of pomp". He designated Lautern the center of his Staufen empire, which marked the beginning of a boom for the community. The Kaiser's (imperial) palace was mentioned for the first time as "castrum domini imperatoris". In 1176 Barbarossa donated a hospital to the community and called Norbertines into Lautern to take on the hospital's management. The people of "Kaiser's Lautern" were proud to call their city a "Barbarossa city".

Gelnhausen (Hesse)

The "Barbarossa city" of Gelnhausen is a...
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