Freising is one of the most historic towns in Bavaria and is host to an important cathedral and the oldest working brewery in the world.

The origins of Freising date back to the Stone Age. Settlements from the time of the Bronze Age have been discovered on the cathedral hill. The current settlement is first mentioned in the 8th century when a palace and a chapel was constructed for a local ruler, making it also the oldest settlement in upper Bavaria.

The town is also connected to St. Corbinian, a French monk sent as missionary to Bavaria around this time , who became the first bishop of Freising and set up an abbey on the nearby Weihenstephan hill.

Freising, with its important strategic position on the Isar and its income from tolls on the river traffic as well as its religious importance , was one of the most prominent settlements in the southern part of Bavaria during the early Middle Ages until it lost its reginal prominents to the nearby growing settlement of Munich.