Free Imperial City of Offenburg

Origins

Offenburg grew at the crossing of the Rhine valley road and the Kinzig valley into the Black Forest, under the dukes of Zähringen. After their line died out in 1218, it fell to the Hohenstaufen and by the 1240s was treated as an imperial city.

Rule and society

The town was governed by a council and lived from its market, crafts and the Kinzig timber trade. With the rest of the Ortenau it was repeatedly pledged by the emperors to neighbouring lords, including the bishops of Strasbourg and the Palatinate, which limited its independence. After a brief Protestant phase it remained Catholic. French troops burned the town in 1689 during the Nine Years War.

Decline and legacy

Offenburg lost its freedom in 1803 and was annexed by Baden. In 1847 the Offenburg Programme of the democratic movement was proclaimed there. It is now a town in Baden-Württemberg.