Antiquity The first mention of a settlement on the present site of Sarrebourg was found in the
Tabula Peutingeriana. The town is referred to as
Ponte Saravi, located between
Ad Decem Pagos (
Tarquimpol) and
Tabernis (Saverne) on the edge of the
Silva Vosagus, the present-day Vosges mountains. The
Antonine Itinerary, a second, later Roman source, refers to the place as
Ponte Sarvix. From a toponymic aspect, the meaning of
Ponte Saravi and
Ponte Sarvix is "a bridge over the Saar". This is why scholars have named the ancient city of Sarrebourg "Pont de la Sarre", i.e.
Pons - the Latin nominative for "bridge" - and
Saravi - the Latin genitive of "
Saravus", the name given by the Romans to the river that nowadays flows across the commune. At that time, the town was located on the
via salinensis, an important Roman road linking
Divodurum (Metz) to
Argentorate (Strasbourg) via the Saverne pass and part of the great itinerary from
Gesoriacum (
Boulogne-sur-Mer) to
Argentorate (Strasbourg) via
Samarobriva (
Amiens) and
Durocortorum (
Reims). The ancient town of
Pons Saravi developed around the Sarre, thanks to a wooden bridge. It was of an estimated width of eight meters and connected the current halls to the street of the Lieutenant-Bildstein. Its last version was dated from 247 AD.
Medieval period At the beginning of the Middle Ages, Sarrebourg was a fortified town, located on the edge of the Lorraine and Rhine regions. It became the centre of a territory on the fringes of the influence zones of the neighbouring Lorraine and Alsatian powers. The existence of a saroensis pagus has been documented since the end of the 7th century; at that time the city had, among other things, a mint workshop. The Treaty of Meerssen, which concluded in 870 the division of Lotharingie between Charles the Bald and Louis the Germanic, refers to the county Sarachuua subterior, also known as Oberer Saargau. The latter stretched from the springs of the Saar to Sarreguemines and Sarrebourg was its capital, however it quickly disappeared. From the 12th century to the 15th century, Sarrebourg is governed by the
Bishopric of Metz, which makes a Christianization zone facing Alsace. However, at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century, the Counts of Dabo and the
Counts Palatine of Metz possessed Sarrebourg and the upper Saar valley. It was not until the death of Gertrude de Dabo and the extinction of the Dabo-Moha lineage that the bishops of Metz again exercised authority over the city. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, Sarrebourg underwent significant urban development. The city asserts itself as a commercial center and extends its influence on the surrounding countryside. In 1222 the management of this place and the
leprosery of Hoff, was ensured by the
Teutonic commandery. The latter had just settled near the market place, at the time. Bishop Jacques de Lorraine turned the church of Saint-Étienne into a collegiate church by installing a chapter of canons. In 1265-1266
Franciscan monks settled in Sarrebourg and built the chapel of the Cordeliers; between 1250 and 1276 the
Dominican convent of Weyerstein was founded. On the military level, the bishop of Metz Jean d'Apremont undertook the consolidation of the city’s fortifications and the construction of new walls between 1230-1240 which would be completed by his successor Jacques de Lorraine.
Kauffmann Sarburg, the Burgundian wars and the integration into the Duchy of Lorraine Kaufmannstadt Saarburg The urban development of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as well as the economic expansion of the city, with the strengthening of commercial links with Alsace, earned Sarrebourg the nickname of Kaufmannstadt-Saarburg. As Sarrebourg became a merchant city, the bourgeois emancipated themselves from the episcopal tutelage. In 1464 they met in the chapel of the Cordeliers and decided to pledge allegiance to the
Duke of Lorraine in the context of the
Burgundian Wars that were about to take place. However, the city did not join the bailiwick of Germany and remained autonomous within the duchy.
Burgundian Wars In 1463, Ludwig von Lichtenberg and the authorities of Saarbrücken passed on military information to the magistrate of Strasbourg concerning war preparations made by the
Duke of Burgundy and Ferry II, Lord of Blâmont and ally of the
Burgundians. In 1475,
Charles the Bold conquered Lorraine and forced Duke René II to flee in
Champagne. Of all the nobility of the duchy, only the counts of
Bitche and the city of Sarrebourg refused to pay tribute to the invader. The latter was defended by a garrison of Strasburgers who wanted to protect the access to the Saverne pass, the main road to Alsace and the Rhine from the Lorraine plateau. In addition, the free city of Strasbourg was itself part of a military alliance against the Duke of Burgundy - the Lower Union also called the Alemannic League - formed in the spring of 1474 by the free imperial cities of Strasbourg,
Basel,
Colmar and
Selestat, joined by the Confederation of the VIII swiss cantons and the Archduke of Austria,
Sigismund of Habsburg. At the same time, the Duke of Lorraine sought to join the forces of the Lower Union after his retreat at
Joinville in Champagne. He asked
King Louis XI of France for an escort to get to
Switzerland through Lorraine in the absence of the Duke of Burgundy's troops. René II and the French hid their plan by pretending to take the duke back to Germany so that he could retire there after the loss of his duchy.
Annexations, revolutions and wars The town suffered greatly from the Thirty Years' War, from 1618 to 1648, and its population declined considerably. In 1661 with the Treaty of Vincennes, Louis XIV linked the city to the Kingdom of France. Sarrebourg opened its railway station on 29 May 1851, thanks to the construction of the line between Strasbourg and Paris. In accordance with the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871, which ended the war against Prussia and its allies, the city of Sarrebourg was annexed, like the rest of Alsace-Lorraine, to the new German Empire. Between 18 August and 20 August 1914 thousands of soldiers died around the city during the
Battle of Sarrebourg, one of the first major battles of
World War I. The
Battle of Lorraine ended 25 August 1914. == Cultural, historical and architectural heritage ==