Arlon

Arlon grew from Orolaunum, a Roman settlement in the country of the Treveri. Its position made it a commercial and administrative centre, and defensive walls rose on the Knipchen hill in late antiquity. Count Waleran of Arlon built a castle there in the eleventh century. The town passed to the counts of Luxembourg in the thirteenth century and shared the duchy's later fortunes.

Luxembourg came under Burgundian rule in the fifteenth century. Wars between France and the Habsburg Netherlands brought destruction to Arlon: in 1558 French troops under the Duke of Guise destroyed nearly half the town and its castle. Capuchins later built a convent on the ruins, and French engineers strengthened the defences. Fire struck again in 1785; in 1793 French revolutionary troops defeated the Austrians nearby and occupied the town.