Foundation of the city

In 1198, King Philipp of the house of Staufen set fire to Bonn and Duke heinrich von Brabant arrived with fire and sword in 1239 AD. Not surprisingly, the inhabitants were delighted when, in 1244, Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden ordered them to fortify the hitherto undefended settlement by building a wall around the town, thus confirming Bonn’s ancient rights. 
 
The citizens of Bonn are said by a Cologne chronicler to have been “burning with zeal” whilst they constructed the trenches and walls. The archbishop’s motives for having the walls built were not entirely altruistic.

Konrad von Hochstaden, by no means a gentleman of meek disposition, happened to have quarrelled with the patricians of his cathedral city, Cologne. Older stories report that he rode away from Cologne under cover of darkness and mist and never returned. He and his successors frequently held court in Bonn and had their coins stamped with the inscription, “Du seliges Verona wirst siegen” (Blessed Verona, you will triumph). Verona was another historical name for Bonn.

When the Archbishops who, as Electors, were amongst the highest-ranking, most powerful man in the German Empire, drew up documents, they used to write, “Dit geschah zu Bunne” (Done in Bonn).