Baden

The margraves took their title from the town: Hermann II first called himself Margrave of Baden in 1112 and ruled from the castle of Hohenbaden on the hill above. From 1306 the hot springs below were opened for bathing, and they drew guests as grand as Emperor Frederick III, who came in 1473 to take the cure and hold a meeting of princes. In 1479 Christoph I moved his residence down from the old castle to the New Castle above the town, and after the partition of 1535 Baden remained the capital of the Catholic margraviate that first bore the name Baden-Baden. In August 1689 French troops burned the town down and its bathing trade died with it, and in 1705 Margrave Louis William moved his court to Rastatt. Only at the end of the 18th century, when the Congress of Rastatt brought diplomats to the springs, did Baden begin to revive.