HAGENAU, the chief town of a circle and canton in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, district of Lower Alsace, is situated in the middle of the Hagenau Forest, on the Moder, and on the railway from Strasburg to Weissenburg, 10 miles N.N.E. of the former town. It has two ancient Catholic churches, one dating from the 12th the other from the 13th century, a gymnasium, a reformatory for boys, a female penitentiary, a public library, a hospital, and a theatre. The principal industries are wool and cotton spinning, and the manufacture of porcelain, earthenware, soap, leather, oil, and beer. There is also considerable trade in hops, vegetables, and wine. Population (1875), 11,786.

Hagenau dates from the beginning of the 12th century, and owes its origin to the erection of a hunting lodge by the dukes of Swabia. Frederick Barbarossa surrounded it with walls and gave it a constitution. On the site of the hunting lodge he founded an imperial palace, in which were preserved the jewelled imperial crown, sceptre, imperial globe, and sword of Charlemagne. Subsequently the town obtained imperial rights, and after the extinction of the Hohenstaufens it remained the capital of the bailiwick of Lower Alsace. In 1648 it came into the possession of France, and in 1673 Louis XIV. caused the fortifications to be razed. In 1675 it was captured by imperial troops, but in 1677 it was retaken by the French and nearly all destroyed by fire. In 1871 it came, along with the rest of Alsace-Lorraine, into the possession of Prussia.