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A great number of Gallo-Roman tombs found out at the end of the second half of the19th century in Colmar proves that the foundation of this city goes up to the times of the Roman occupation. Old "Argentuaria" was close. The Frankish kings owned a mansion that was called "Fiscus Columbarium" and "Columbia" according to historians and charters. Charters of 1216 already mention a communal power. In 884, Charles "the Fat" held there an assembly with the Grands of the Empire. The city was subdued and dismembered in the 10th century. A part of it was entrusted to the benedictine abbey of Payerne, another part to the chapter of the cathedral of Constancy, and the third part to the abbey of Münster. The city grew around these three nuclei of settlement. It is devastated by a fire, in 1106. During the 12th and the 13th centuries, the position of Colmar was indeed a significant asset for its development. Its geographical situation at a crossroads where the roads coming from the Mediterranean through Lyon and Belfort join up, or from Switzerland through the Great-Saint-Bernard and Saint-Gothard, and the roads leading to Strasbourg and the valley of the Rhine, or towards Brisach and the countries of the Danube make it benefit from cultural and commercia flows as well .The Ill river becomes navigable there. In 1226, thebourgeois got rid of the trusteeship of the abbey of Payerne and of the chapter of Constancy. Friedrich (Frederic) III of Hohenstaufen fortified it with walls. Rudolf (Rodolphe) of Habsbourg granted it with new privileges in 1277. However, it was only in 1424 that Colmar acquired the full rights of an imperial free city. Colmar knew a great prosperity in the 14th century. In the 16th century, the city adopts Protestantism : when the emperor Ferdinand II forbade to celebrate the cult many patrician families emigrated. In 1632, the bourgeois raised against the imperial garrison and delivered the city to the Swedes who were besieging it. En1634, France started a war against the Habsbourgs : and the Swedes definitively gave up Colmar which became a possession of the king of France in 1635. By the treaty of Rueil, Louis XIV recognized the privileges of the city. In 1678, by the treaty of Nimègue, Colmar became a French royal city. It turned the seat of the Sovereign Council of Alsace,after Brisach and until the Revolution. From 1814 to 1818, the city was occupied by troops from Baden. Colmar considerably increased under the German occupation, after the war of 1870. Colmar was occupied again by the Germans in 1940, thenset free on February 2, 1945. The name of «Conspiracy of Colmar» was given to the insurgent movement which burst in Belfort, in 1820, and whose authors were judged in Colmar. |
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