The nucleus of the city was an early medieval castle, which was located in the area of today's Old Town. The earliest traces of settlement can be archaeologically dated for the transition from the 7th to the 8th century. For the 10th century, a massive fortification of the main and outer castle is archaeologically documented. Since Carolingian times, Nabburg has been an important center of administrative organization in eastern Nordgau.
The "marca Napurch", as it is called in documents of July 29, 1040 and February 13, 1061, experienced its heyday under the rule of Diepoldinger from about 1100; after their extinction in 1146, the Nabburg came for a short time to the Counts of Sulzbach. After she was probably in imperial possession until 1188, she came to the Wittelsbacher. 1271 Nabburg is first handed down as a city. Duke Rudolf confirmed on March 31, 1296 all previous privileges and awarded Nabburg in paragraph 17 of the Letter of Freedom all rights of the city of Amberg. After the death of the Duke, the city fell to Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian, who granted her further privileges and declared them to be unsellable in 1317. From 1353 to 1410 Nabburg was the seat of a deputy office. During the heyday of the bourgeoisie, the statutes of the city, the Instituta Civilia (1405), arose.
In 1420, Hussite troops marched through the town plundering and incendiary. Subsequently, the already begun fortification system was completed. In the late summer of 1433, the fortified city resisted another siege by Hussite troops. 1536 burned the northern tower of the parish church after lightning.
In the Thirty Years' War, an interim storage facility for an imperial army of 24,000 men with more than 100 guns was built at Nabburg on May 26, 1634. The army came from Pilsen and moved on to Regensburg to recapture the city occupied by the Swedes in the fight for Regensburg.