Germersheim

Germersheim stands on the western bank of the Rhine, at a crossing place used since Roman times. Mentioned by name in 1090, it received town rights from King Rudolf of Habsburg in 1276. A castle and religious houses stood within the town, which passed to the Electoral Palatinate in 1325 and became a centre of its local administration.

The wars fought along the Rhine repeatedly exposed Germersheim to attack. In 1674 French troops destroyed the town and castle, leaving little standing apart from parts of the church. Germersheim was rebuilt, but its position on the river continued to make it valuable to rulers concerned with defending the frontier. After the upheavals of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, it became a Bavarian administrative centre in 1818; construction of a new fortress began in 1834.