Oldest German City

[Pompieus]

The oldest cities in Germany are those that were ancient Roman towns such as Trier, Cologne, Mainz et al; but what is the oldest city NORTH/EAST of the Rhine and NORTH of the Danube...that was NOT derived from a Roman settlement?  Paderborn? Fulda?  Utrecht?

[Viggen]

...not sure about Germany but in Austria it might be Bregenz.

 

The first settlements date from 1500 BC. Celtic tribe named Brigantii is mentioned by Strabo as a sub-tribe in these region of the Alps. In the 5th century BC, the Celts settled at Brigantion, which was one of their most heavily fortified locations. After battles in 15 BC, the Romans conquered Brigantion and the city became a Roman camp. It was conferred the status of a municipality (Brigantium) around 50 AD and was the seat of the Roman admiralty for Lake Constance.

 

Bregenz is still around today and even the capital of the Austrian province "Vorarlberg", classic music and theater lovers might now it from the Bregenz Festival

 

p.s. and even though Bregenz is quite far south it still is east of the Rhine

here a link to google maps so people know where it is

https://www.google.at/maps/place/Bregenz/@46.8084641,11.4771852,6z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x479b0d620e6982ef:0xbf6aa7993530ff24

 

intersting fact; in that region people speak allemanic German unlike the rest of Austria that speaks bavarian German

[caldrail]

Roman towns were more often than not based on native settlements in provincial areas, simply because that was already an established civic centre and thus government was easier. In some cases the town was thorughly redeveloped into the typical planned layout we expect, but in other caes, such as the failed romano-british town Venta Icenum, a mix of Roman and native archeitecture went hand in hand. Such settlemnts are known to have exosted in the occupied areas north of the Rhine prior to the Roman withdrawal after the VArian Disaster in ad9.

 

Having said that, I cannot think of any purely germanic settlement that had developed to any appreciable size, nor was germanic culture condicuve to such civic development before Roman influence inspired them. The German tribes were not very united or conformal in that period - their culture being one of individual voice and pride - and it's hard to see how the Germans were going to expand beyond villages without some form of overall government and infrastructure to encourage larger urban development, especially in a region that Tactius had described as "Fearful forest and stinking swamp".