Alsace History

While evidences deduced from excavations point out that Alsace had inhabitation in one form or the other through the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, the first concrete evidence of evolution of History of Alsace starts being found from 1500 BC when the first settlers the Celts started clearing the forests and settling down. When Romans invaded this city around 58 BC, from then onwards era of prosperity and burgeoning culture made its debut in History of Alsace. Next major date in history of Alsace came in 5th century BC when Alsace was invaded by Alemanni. This attack was followed by another attack by Merovingian’s who with the help of Church gave recognition to this area.

Circa 625-630 is an important landmark in the history of Alsace as name Alsace came into being around this time. Another milestone in history of Alsace came in 11th century when the Ottonian emperors founded the German holy empire in which Alsace played a role of eminence. The annals of history of Alsace where also bestowed with the honor of providing a Pope Leo IX who ruled from 1048 to 1054 and was responsible for modernization of Church. 12th century added one more milestone in history of Alsace when it emerged as the power base of Hohenstaufen. With the onset of 15th century Alsace emerged as a city of intellectual eminence as it was a city where printing was evolving and therefore in history of Alsace another facet of being an intellectual capital was added.

Between 16th and 19th century Alsace emerged as an important centre of Humanism and Reformation. Luther’s theses got popularity here and the fallout was the Peasant’s War of 1525 which saw harsh repression of the Peasants. With the dawn of renaissance history of Alsace turned a new leaf once again and it was manifest in the magnificence of architecture exemplified through public buildings and bourgeoisie mansions. The growth of renaissance was skidded when Thirty Years war raised its head. History of Alsace took another turn and it was thrown to the precipice of wastage. In 1648 Alsace was incorporated into the kingdom of France. With this incorporation history of Alsace again stained its glorious heights and emerged in the city an amalgamation of the finest of German and French influence finding its representation in religious buildings as also those of the common folks. With the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 Alsace’s integration into French nation was completed.

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