Andernach - Haus von der Leyen

Andernach is a very old Roman settlement in Germany. Already in the Gallic War Gaius Iulius Caesar had a bridge build in 55BC. over the Rhine in just ten days. 55 BC. The settlement was named Antunnacum and the place, where the Rhine Valley narrows near Andernach, was called "Porta Antunnacensis" by the Romans.

After the Romans had left, the Franks took over and Andernach became a royal seat of the Merovingians. In 859 the Kings Charles the Bald, Louis II (the German) and Lothair II met here for a discussion, that was not really a success. After Louis II´s death in 876, Charles the Bald asked Louis III. the surrender the areas left of the Rhine and began with the military conquest. This ended in the Battle of Andernach, in which Charles the Bald was defeated. In 882 and 883, the city was pillaged three times during the Viking raids in the Rhineland.

In 1167 Emperor Friedrich I ("Barbarossa") gave the imperial court of Andernach with coinage and customs rights to his imperial chancellor and archbishop of Cologne Rainald von Dassel, who had accompanied the Emperor on his wars in Italy (and brought the remains of the Magis to Cologne). with this takeover, the city slid into the dispute over the German throne between Otto IV (Guelphs) and Philip (Staufers). Philip captured the city in 1198 and set it on fire. The old town church was also destroyed up to the current bell tower.

In 1194 Emperor Heinrich VI. handed Andernach over to Archbishop Johann I of Trier, which prompted him to build a larger new bishop's church (1198–1220). Andernach grew and got fortified. The complete medieval fortification secured the city with five double gates - as well as with 15 towers.

The "Haus von der Leyen" was built between 1594 and 1600 by the administrator of the Cologne Electorate Georg von den Leyen and his wife Katharine von Eltz. Since 1936 it has been housing the municipal museum.
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P.S.
In 1920 American author Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach.