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.
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.
The name of Bower was derived from a queen's residence attached to the ancient royal hunting-lodge in the vicinity.
In the vicinity are the castles of Murthly, one a modern mansion in the Elizabethan style, erected about 1838 from designs by James Gillespie Graham (1777-1855), and the other the old castle, still occupied, which was occasionally used as a hunting-lodge by the Scottish kings.
Laurentum was also accessible by a branch from the Via Ostiensis at the eighth mile (at Malafede) leading past Castel Porziano, the royal hunting-lodge, which is identical with the ancient Ager Solonius (in which, Festus tells us, was situated the Pomonal or sacred grove of Pomona) and which later belonged to Marius.
