Rottenburg an der Laaber

Rottenburg lies on the Große Laber in Lower Bavaria, beneath the site of a castle built on an older Roman watch post. After the local counts died out in 1279, the fortress and its lands passed to Duke Heinrich of Bavaria. A road between Kelheim and Landshut encouraged the settlement below the castle, and in 1378 the dukes granted it market rights.

Craftsmen settled around the market, which acquired its own seal in 1396 and later built fortifications. During the Thirty Years' War Swedish troops repeatedly ravaged Rottenburg and its surroundings; in 1632 the castle was burned, leaving only its keep standing above the town. Fires struck again in 1669 and 1681. Around 1800 the old keep was dismantled, its stone used to pave the road to Landshut.