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TheChambers of Reunion (Chambres des Réunions) were French courts established by KingLouis XIV in the early 1680s. The purpose of these courts was to increase French territory. Louis had been expanding theborders of France in a series of wars. Territory was gained in theTreaty of Nijmegen in 1679 and theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668. The courts' job was to determine what dependencies, if any, had belonged to the areas incorporated into France by these treaties. In doing so, places such asSaarbrücken,Luxembourg,Zweibrücken andStrasbourg were annexed to France.
Louis based his claims on ancient, often long-forgotten, rights to the dependent territories stemming from theMiddle Ages. He thus took advantage of the formal content of his alliance treaties with the German princes by claiming their land. Although there was no legal claim to it at all, Louis took Strasbourg as well asCasale. Louis also took most of what is now Luxembourg during theWar of the Reunions, which was then part of theHoly Roman Empire, while it was distracted by an ongoing war with theOttoman Empire.
The conflicts caused by the Reunion policy ultimately led to theTruce of Ratisbon in which Louis was allowed to keep most gains, partly because of the distraction of other countries and partly by bribes, including payoffs to the German princes andCharles II of England.
Louis's hostile policy antagonized much of the rest of Europe, resulting in theWar of the League of Augsburg (the Nine Years' War) in 1688. The war ended in 1697 with the signing of theTreaty of Ryswick in which Louis agreed to restore much of the territory that had been "reunited" with France as a result of the Chambers of Reunion.