The name Aschaffenburg (Ascaffaburc, Ascapha or Ascaphaburg in the Middle Ages) originally meant "castle at the ash tree river" deriving from the river Aschaff that runs through parts of the town.
The earliest remains of settlements in the area of Aschaffenburg date from the Stone Age. Aschaffenburg was originally a settlement of the Alamanni. Roman legions were stationed here, and on the ruins of their castra the Frankish mayors of the palace built a castle. In the Middle Ages the town was known as Ascaffaburc, Ascapha or Ascaphaburg. Saint Boniface erected a chapel to Saint Martin and founded a Benedictine monastery here. A stone bridge over the Main was built by Archbishop Willigis in 989. Adalbert increased the importance the town in various ways about 1122. In 1292 a synod was held here, and in 1474 an imperial diet, preliminary to that of Vienna, approved a concordat (sometimes called the Aschaffenburg Concordat).
The town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War, being held in turn by the various belligerents. It formed part of the electorate of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1803 was made over to the chancellor, Archbishop Charles of Dalberg as the Principality of Aschaffenburg.
Site of the Royal Bavarian Central Forest Academy (Koniglich Bayerischen Central Forstlehranstalt), established in 1807, "made famous by the researches of Professor Dr Ernst Ebermayer." The Academy was "dissolved in 1832, but re-organized under the Ministry of Finance in 1874"; and, as "of 30th March, 1874, united to the University of Munich."
In 1810 it was merged into the new Grand Duchy of Frankfurt, although Dalberg retained Aschaffenburg as his residence. In 1814 the city was transferred to the Kingdom of Bavaria by an Austrian-Bavarian treaty. In 1817 it was included within Bavarian Lower Franconia. From 1842�1849, King Ludwig I of Bavaria built a country house to the west of town. It was named Pompejanum after its model, the house of Castor
