Haguenau

Haguenau grew on the Moder beside a great forest that served the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire as a hunting ground. An imperial castle stood on an island in the river, and the settlement around it became an important town of Alsace. The incorporation of Alsace into France in 1648 brought tensions with royal authority. In 1677, on the orders of Louis XIV, fires devastated Haguenau and destroyed its imperial castle.