Castra Regina

About

The first settlements in the Regensburg area date from the Stone Age. The oldest Celtic name given to a settlement near Regensburg was Radasbona, a site where a Roman fort was built around AD 90. In 179, a major new Roman fort, called Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen"), was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It was an essential camp at the most northerly point of the Danube; it corresponds to what is today the core of Regensburg's Old City or Altstadt east of the Obere and Untere Bachgasse and west of the Schwanenplatz. It is believed that as early as the late Roman period, the city was the seat of a bishop.

From the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of the ruling family, the Agilolfings. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, it was the capital of Bavaria. The bishopric established by the Romans was re-established by St Boniface as the Bishopric of Regensburg in 739. In the late 8th century, Regensburg remained an important city during the reign of Charlemagne. In 792, Regensburg hosted the ecclesiastical section of Charlemagne's General Assembly, the bishops in council who condemned the heresy of the…