Büdingen

Büdingen is a fortified town in the Wetterau, ruled for centuries by the lords and counts of Isenburg. The settlement was recorded in 1206, and Emperor Louis IV granted it market rights in 1330. In 1353 its inhabitants received freedoms in return for the duty of defending the town. After a local war, Count Ludwig II enclosed the old stronghold within a new wall with twenty-two towers, built between 1480 and 1510.

Büdingen became Protestant in 1521 and later adopted the Reformed faith. Plague, fire and the Thirty Years' War afflicted the town, while witch trials claimed many victims in 1633 and 1634. In 1712 Count Ernst Casimir I offered refuge to religious dissenters. Huguenots, Waldensians and other communities settled outside the Lower Gate, creating a new suburb. After the Napoleonic settlement, Büdingen passed to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1816.