Editing Diekirch (section)

== History ==
The town received its name, according to old sources, when [[Charlemagne]] in the late 8th century resettled Saxons, in order to bring them under his control. One of the centres of these settlements was in the area of Diekirch. In order to convert the pagan Saxons to Christianity, a church was built, which gave the settlement its name: "Diet-Kirch" ("people's church"). In [[Old Dutch|Old Franconian]], ''thioda'' ([[Old High German]]: "diota" – the people). Þeudō is a reconstructed word from Germanic, which plays a role in the etymology of the term "Deutsch".

In the 14th century, [[John of Bohemia|John the Blind]], King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg, fortified it, surrounding the place with a [[Battlement|castellated]] wall and a ditch supplied by a stream. It remained more or less fortified until the beginning of the 19th century when the French, during their occupation, levelled the old walls and substituted avenues of trees.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Diekirch |volume=8 |page=209}}</ref>

In the course of extensive excavation in the 1960s, it was shown that the St. Laurence church is a Roman building. In the early 20th century, wall ruins and mosaics were found north of the town center. Archaeological investigations in 1992–1993, 1999, and 2008 enabled the reconstruction of a large Roman villa, which extended over all the land of the medieval town and was abandoned in the early 5th century.

[[File:492nd Civil Affairs Battalion conducts Rising Phoenix Battalion March, Marche Internationale de Diekirch.webp|thumb|LTC Laura Miller, Commander of the 492nd Civil Affairs Battalion with Paul Binsfeld, the Luxembourg honorary Consul prior to the Marche Internationale de Diekirch event in Buckeye, Arizona 2022.]]