Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern takes its name from the Lauter and from its association with the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Frederick I Barbarossa built an imperial palace here in the twelfth century, and King Rudolf of Habsburg granted the town its privileges in 1276. In 1375 it became part of the Electoral Palatinate, whose rulers maintained a residence beside the older imperial palace.

Count Palatine Johann Casimir began a new castle in 1571, linking his residence to the place once used by Barbarossa. The Thirty Years' War brought devastation: in 1635 troops stormed the town and destroyed much of it. Later French wars further damaged the palaces. Under Napoleon, Kaiserslautern became the seat of a sub-prefecture in 1801, reflecting a new political order in the lands west of the Rhine.