Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire. Like Anglo-Saxon England and medieval France, it began as a conglomerate, East Francia was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911, after which the kingship was elective. The initial electors were the rulers of the duchies, who generally chose one of their own. After 962, when Otto I was crowned emperor, the formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. The term rex teutonicorum first came into use in the chancery of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy, in the twelfth century, in order to stress the imperial and transnational character of their office, the emperors began to employ the title rex Romanorum on their election. Distinct titulature for Germany and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts, there are nevertheless relatively few references to a German realm and an instability in the terms use. The eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun was called the regnum Francorum Orientalium or Francia Orientalis and it was the eastern half of the old Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum.
The east Franks themselves were the people of Franconia, which had settled by Franks. Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the regnum Alemanniae, the term regnum Germaniae begins to appear even in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Therefore, throughout the Middle Ages, the convention was that the king of Germany was Emperor of the Romans and his title was royal from his election to his coronation in Rome by the Pope, thereafter, he was emperor. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the trend toward a clearly conceived German kingdom found no real consolidation. The title of king of the Romans became less and less reserved for the emperor-elect but uncrowned in Rome, the reign was dated to begin either on the day of election or the day of the coronation. The election day became the starting date permanently with Sigismund, Maximilian I changed the style of the emperor in 1508, with papal approval, after his German coronation, his style was Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus.
That is, he was emperor elect, a term that did not imply that he was emperor-in-waiting or not yet fully emperor, at the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperors lifetime resumed. For this reason, the king of the Romans came to mean heir-apparent. The Archbishop of Mainz was ex officio arch-chancellor of Germany, as his colleagues the Archbishop of Cologne and Archbishop of Trier were, arch-chancellors of Italy and these titles continued in use until the end of the empire, but only the German chancery actually existed. The tripartite division of the Carolingian Empire effected by the Treaty of Verdun was challenged early on with the death of the Emperor Lothair I in 855. He had divided his kingdom of Middle Francia between his three sons and immediately the northernmost of the three divisions, was disputed between the kings of East and West Francia, the war over Lotharingia lasted until 925
Charles Martel
Charles Martel was a Frankish statesman and military leader who as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. After work to establish a unity in Gaul, Charles attention was called to foreign conflicts, apart from the military endeavours, Charles is considered to be a founding figure of the European Middle Ages. Moreover, Charles—a great patron of Saint Boniface—made the first attempt at reconciliation between the Franks and the Papacy. Pope Gregory III, whose realm was being menaced by the Lombards, wished Charles to become the defender of the Holy See and offered him the Roman consulship and he divided Francia between his sons Carloman and Pepin. The latter became the first of the Carolingians, Charles grandson, extended the Frankish realms to include much of the West, and became the first Emperor in the West since the fall of Rome. Charles The Hammer Martel was the son of Pepin of Herstal and he had a brother named Childebrand, who became the Frankish dux of Burgundy.
In older historiography, it was common to describe Charles as illegitimate and this is still widely repeated in popular culture today. But, polygamy was a legitimate Frankish practice at the time and it is likely that the interpretation of illegitimacy is an idea derived of Pepins first wifes desire to see her progeny as heirs to Pepins power. After the reign of Dagobert I the Merovingians effectively ceded power to the Pippinids and they controlled the royal treasury, dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in the name of the figurehead king. Charles father, was the member of the family to rule the Franks. Pepin was able to all the Frankish realms by conquering Neustria. He was the first to call himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, in December 714, Pepin of Herstal died. Prior to his death, he had, at his wife Plectrudes urging, designated Theudoald, his grandson by their late son Grimoald and this was immediately opposed by the nobles because Theudoald was a child of only eight years of age.
To prevent Charles using this unrest to his own advantage, Plectrude had him imprisoned in Cologne and this prevented an uprising on his behalf in Austrasia, but not in Neustria. The Austrasians were not to be supporting a woman and a young child. Before the end of the year, Charles Martel had escaped from prison and that year, Dagobert III, a Merovingian and the Neustrians proclaimed Chilperic II, the cloistered son of Childeric II, as king. In 716, Chilperic and Ragenfrid together led an army into Austrasia, the Neustrians allied with another invading force under Radbod, King of the Frisians and met Charles in battle near Cologne, which was still held by Plectrude. Charles had little time to gather men, or prepare, the king and his mayor besieged Plectrude at Cologne, where she bought them off with a substantial portion of Pepins treasure
East Francia
East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a successor state of Charlemagnes empire and precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. Until 911 it was ruled by Carolingian dynasty and it was created after the 840-43 civil war between Charlemagnes grandchildren which ended with the Treaty of Verdun which divided the former empire into three kingdoms. In August 843, after three years of war following the death of emperor Louis the Pious on 20 June 840. The division of lands was based on the Meuse, Scheldt. The contemporary East Frankish Annales Fuldenses describes the kingdom being divided in three and Louis acceding to the eastern part, while West and Middle Francia contained the traditional Frankish heartlands, the East consisted mostly of lands only annexed to the Frankish empire in the eighth century. These included the duchies of Alemannia, Bavaria and Thuringia, as well as the northern and eastern marches with the Danes, in 869 Lotharingia was divided between West and East Francia under the Treaty of Meersen.
The short lived Middle Francia turned out to be the theatre of Franco-German wars up until the 20th century, all the Frankish lands were briefly reunited by Charles the Fat, but in 888 he was deposed by nobles and in East Francia Arnulf of Carinthia was elected king. The increasing weakness of royal power in East Francia meant that dukes of Bavaria, Franconia, Kings increasingly had to deal with regional rebellions. Because Conrad I was one of the dukes, he found it hard to establish his authority over them. Duke Henry of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and struggle against Arnulf, on his deathbed Conrad I chose Henry of Saxony as the most capable successor. This kingship changed from Franks to Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne, by his death in July 936 Henry had prevented collapse of royal power as was happening in West Francia and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. After Otto I was crowned as the Emperor in Rome in 962 the era of the Holy Roman Empire began, the term orientalis Francia originally referred to Franconia and orientales Franci to its inhabitants, the ethnic Franks living east of the Rhine.
The use of the term in a sense, to refer to the eastern kingdom, was an innovation of Louis the Germans court. Since eastern Francia could be identified with old Austrasia, the Frankish heartland, under his grandson, the terminology was largely dropped and the kingdom, when it was referred to by name, was simply Francia. When it was necessary, as in the Treaty of Bonn with the West Franks, Henry I refers to himself as rex Francorum orientalium, king of the East Franks, in the treaty. By the 12th century, the historian Otto of Freising, in using the Carolingian terminology had to explain that the kingdom of the Franks was now called the kingdom of the Germans. The regalia of the Carolingian empire had divided by Louis the Pious on his deathbed between his two faithful sons, Charles the Bald and Lothair. Louis the German, in rebellion, received nothing of the jewels or liturgical books associated with Carolingian kingship
Rudolf I of Germany
Rudolf I, known as Rudolf of Habsburg,1 May 1218 –15 July 1291, was Count of Habsburg from about 1240 and the elected King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. Rudolfs election marked the end of the Great Interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire after the death of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II in 1250, the territories remained under Habsburg rule for more than 600 years, forming the core of the Habsburg Monarchy and the present-day country of Austria. Rudolf was the first king of the Romans of the Habsburg dynasty, Rudolf was born on 1 May 1218 at Limburgh Castle near Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl in the Breisgau region of present-day southwestern Germany. He was the son of Count Albert IV of Habsburg and of Hedwig, around 1232, he was given as a squire to his uncle, Rudolf I, Count of Laufenburg, to train in knightly pursuits. At his fathers death in 1239, he inherited estates from him around the ancestral seat of Habsburg Castle in the Aargau region of present-day Switzerland as well as in Alsace.
In 1242, Hugh of Tuffenstein provoked Count Rudolf through contumelious expressions, in turn, the Count of Habsburg had invaded his domains, yet failed to take his seat of power. As the day passed on, Count Rudolf bribed the sentinels of the city and gained entry, in 1244, to help control Lake Lucerne and restrict the neighboring forest communities of Uri and Unterwalden, Rudolf built near its shores Neuhabsburg Castle. In 1245 Rudolf married Gertrude, daughter of Count Burkhard III of Hohenberg and he received as her dowry the castles of Oettingen, the valley of Weile, and other places in Alsace, and he became an important vassal in Swabia, the former Alemannic German stem duchy. That same year, Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV at the Council of Lyon, Rudolf sided against the Emperor, while the forest communities sided with Frederick. This gave them a pretext to attack and damage Neuhabsburg, Rudolf successfully defended it and drove them off. As a result, Rudolf, by siding with the Pope, gained more power, in 1254, he engaged with other nobles of the Staufen party against Bertold II, Bishop of Basle.
When night fell, he penetrated the suburbs of Basle and burnt down the local nunnery, Pope Innocent IV excommunicated him and all parties involved. As penance, he took up the cross and joined Ottokar II, whilst there, he oversaw the founding of the city of Königsberg, which was named in memory of King Ottokar. The disorder in Germany during the interregnum after the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty afforded an opportunity for Count Rudolf to increase his possessions. His wife was a Hohenberg heiress, and on the death of his childless maternal uncle Count Hartmann IV of Kyburg in 1264, he seized his valuable estates. Successful feuds with the Bishops of Strasbourg and Basel further augmented his wealth and reputation, including rights over various tracts of land that he purchased from abbots and these various sources of wealth and influence rendered Rudolf the most powerful prince and noble in southwestern Germany. In the autumn of 1273, the prince-electors met to choose a king after Richard of Cornwall had died in England in April 1272.
Rudolfs election in Frankfurt on 1 October 1273, when he was 55 years old, was due to the efforts of his brother-in-law
Suebi
The Suebi was a large group of related Germanic peoples who lived in Germania in the time of the Roman Empire. They were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with his battles against Ariovistus in Gaul and they actually occupy more than half of Germania, and are divided into a number of distinct tribes under distinct names, though all generally are called Suebi. At one time, classical ethnography had applied the name Suevi to so many Germanic tribes that it appeared as if, in the first centuries AD, classical authors noted that the Suevic tribes, compared to other Germanic tribes, were very mobile and not reliant on agriculture. Various Suevic groups moved from the direction of the Baltic Sea, towards the end of the empire, the Alemanni, referred to as Suebi, first settled in the Agri Decumates and crossed the Rhine and occupied Alsace. An area in southwest Germany is still called Swabia, which derives from the Suebi. Other Suebi entered Gaul and some moved as far as Gallaecia, where they established the Kingdom of the Suebi, which lasted for 170 years until its integration into the Visigothic Kingdom.
Notably, the Semnones, known to classical authors as one of the largest Suebian groups, seem to have a name with this same meaning, alternatively, it may be borrowed from a Celtic word for vagabond. Caesar placed the Suebi east of the Ubii apparently near modern Hesse, in the position where writers mention the Chatti, some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were the Chatti or possibly the Hermunduri, or Semnones. Later authors use the term Suebi more broadly, to cover a number of tribes in central Germany. Whether or not the Chatti were ever considered Suevi, both Tacitus and Strabo distinguish the two partly because the Chatti were more settled in one territory, whereas Suevi remained less settled. The definitions of the greater ethnic groupings within Germania were apparently not always consistent and clear, whereas Tacitus reported three main kinds of German peoples, Irminones and Ingaevones, Pliny specifically adds two more genera or kinds, the Bastarnae and the Vandili. The Vandals were tribes east of the Elbe, including the well-known Silingi and Burgundians, the modern term Elbe Germanic similarly covers a large grouping of Germanic peoples that at least overlaps with the classical terms Suevi and Irminones.
In the time of Caesar, southern Germany was Celtic, in addition, near the Hercynian forest Caesar believed that the Celtic Tectosages had once lived. All of these peoples had for the most part moved by the time of Tacitus, Cassius Dio wrote that the Suebi, who dwelt across the Rhine, were called Celts, which could mean that some Celtic groups were absorbed by larger Germanic tribal confederations. Strabo, in Book IV of his Geography associates the Suebi with the Hercynian Forest and the south of Germania north of the Danube. He describes a chain of mountains north of the Danube that is like an extension of the Alps, possibly the Swabian Alps. In Book VII Strabo specifically mentions as Suevic peoples the Marcomanni, some of these tribes were inside the forest and some outside of it. Tacitus confirms the name Boiemum, saying it was a survival marking the old population of the place
Conrad I of Germany
Conrad I, called the Younger, was the first non-Carolingian king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first elected king of East Francia and the first one to be anointed and he was chosen as the king by the rulers of the East Frankish stem duchies after the death of young king Louis the Child. Prior to this election he had ruled the Duchy of Franconia from 906, Conrad was the son of duke Conrad of Thuringia and his wife Glismut, probably related to Ota, wife of the Carolingian emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and mother of Louis the Child. The Conradines, counts in the Franconian Lahngau region, had been supporters of the Carolingians. At the same time, they competed vigorously for predominance in Franconia with the sons of the Babenbergian duke Henry of Franconia at Bamberg Castle, in 906 the two parties battled each other near Fritzlar. Conrad the Elder was killed, as were two of the three Babenberg brothers, Conrad became the undisputed duke of all Franconia. Nevertheless, he failed in his attempts to extend the rule of Conradines over the western Lotharingia after the death of his uncle, duke Gebhard.
After the death of Louis the Child, Conrad was elected king of the East Francia on November 10,911 at Forchheim by the rulers of Saxony, the dukes prevented the succession to throne of Louis Carolingian relative Charles the Simple, king of West Francia. They chose the Conradine scion, who was related to the late king. Only Conrads rival, duke of Lotharingia refused to him his allegiance. Exactly because Conrad I was one of the dukes, he found it hard to establish his authority over them. Duke Henry of Saxony was in rebellion against Conrad I until 915 and struggle against Arnulf, Burchard II, Duke of Swabia demanded and received more autonomy. Arnulf of Bavaria called on Magyars for assistance in his uprising, for this he was condemned to death as a traitor, but the powerful duke managed to avoid execution. In 913 Conrad I married the sister of the Swabian count Erchanger, widow of Liutpold and mother of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria, gave him two children and Herman, both born in 913. In 913 Erchanger revolted against Conrad I, in 914 He captured Solomon III, Bishop of Constance, who was Conrad’s chief counselor.
Erchanger was exiled but still managed to defeat royal army in a battle near the lake Constance and he was finally arrested for treason in assembly of nobles at Hohenaltheim in Swabia and on January 21,917 he was executed together with his brother Berthold. Conrads reign was a continuous and generally unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of king against the power of the local dukes. His military campaigns against Charles the Simple to regain Lotharingia and the Imperial city of Aachen were failures, Archbishop Ratbod of Trier even became West Frankish chancellor in 913
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages or High Medieval Period was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, by 1250 the robust population increase greatly benefited the European economy, reaching levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. This trend was checked in the Late Middle Ages by a series of calamities, notably the Black Death but including numerous wars, from about the year 780 onwards, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance led to scientific and philosophical revival of Europe, the first universities were established in Bologna, Paris and Modena. The Vikings had settled in the British Isles and elsewhere, the Magyars had ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary was recognized in Central Europe, forming alliances with regional powers.
With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, in the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began to settle new lands, some of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Roman Empire. In what is known as the clearances, vast forests. At the same time settlements moved beyond the boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers in Europe, beyond the Elbe River. The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle led Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of the period to develop Scholasticism, a combination of Catholicism and ancient philosophy. For much of the time period Constantinople remained Europes most populous city, in architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed during this era. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, beginning at the start of the 14th century, in England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland by force in 1169 and soon established throughout most of the country.
Likewise and Wales were subdued to vassalage at about the same time, the Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I, and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy, King John signed the Magna Carta into law, from the mid-tenth to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway, after Cnuts death in 1035, England and Norway were lost, and with the defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man, while Sweden, under Birger Jarl, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240, by the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries.
Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, which reached its mark of unity
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the German king following his election by the princes from the time of Emperor Henry II onward. The title was predominantly a claim to become Holy Roman Emperor and was dependent upon coronation by the Pope, the title originally referred to any elected king who had not yet been granted the Imperial Regalia and title of Emperor at the hands of the Pope. Later it came to be used solely for the apparent to the Imperial throne between his election and his succession upon the death of the Emperor. The territory of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century, during this time, the kings claim to coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy. Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the derogatory term Teutonicorum Rex in order to imply that Henrys authority was merely local, Henry continued to regularly use the title Romanorum Rex until he finally was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084.
Henrys successors imitated this practice, and were called Romanorum Rex before, candidates for the kingship were at first the heads of the Germanic stem duchies. As these units broke up, rulers of principalities and even non-Germanic rulers were considered for the position. The only requirements generally observed were that the candidate be a male, a Catholic Christian. The kings were elected by several Imperial Estates, often in the city of Frankfurt after 1147. They were the Prince-Archbishops of Mainz and Cologne as well as the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Saxon duke, after the Investiture Controversy, Charles intended to strengthen the legal status of the Rex Romanorum beyond Papal approbation. Consequently, among his successors only Sigismund and Frederick III were still crowned Emperors in Rome, the Golden Bull remained effective as constitutional law until the Empires dissolution in 1806. After his election, the new king would be crowned as King of the Romans, though the ceremony was no more than a symbolic validation of the election result, it was solemnly celebrated.
The details of Ottos coronation in 936 are described by the medieval chronicler Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae, the kings received the Imperial Crown from at least 1024, at the coronation of Conrad II. In 1198 the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia was crowned Rex Romanorum at Mainz Cathedral, at some time after the ceremony, the king would, if possible, cross the Alps, to receive coronation in Pavia or Milan with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy. Finally, he would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope, in such cases, the king might retain the title King of the Romans for his entire reign. At this time Maximilian took the new title King of the Germans or King in Germany, the following were ruling Kings of the Romans, i. e. men who ruled the Kingdom without subordination to another King but who had not yet been crowned Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy, no person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Emperor.
However, the Emperor could, and often did, have an elected to succeed him after his death
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a dynasty of former princes, electors and emperors of Hohenzollern, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century, the first ancestor of the Hohenzollerns was mentioned in 1061. They may have derived from the Burchardinger dynasty, the Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. The Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia, germanys defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution. The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German monarchy, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia is the current head of the royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the head of the princely Swabian line.
Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire and its ruling dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps, the Hohenzollern Castle still belongs to the family today. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, Burkhard I, Count of Zollern was born before 1025, the Zollerns received the comital title from Emperor Henry V in 1111. As loyal vassals of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to enlarge their territory. In 1218 the burgraviate passed to Fredericks younger son Conrad I, he became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch. 1150-1155 and 1160, Gotfried of Zimmern, 4th oldest son of Frederick I before 1171 – c,1200, Frederick III/I Count Frederick III of Zollern was a loyal retainer of the Holy Roman Emperors Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI. In about 1185 he married Sophia of Raabs, the daughter of Conrad II, after the death of Conrad II who left no male heirs, Frederick III was granted Nuremberg in 1192 as Burgrave Frederick I of Nuremberg-Zollern.
Since the name has been Hohenzollern. The younger brother, Conrad III, received the burgraviate of Nuremberg from his older brother Frederick IV in 1218, members of the Franconian line eventually became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Franconian line converted to Protestantism, the cadet Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage, the family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. He ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398, from 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
Lech (river)
The Lech is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a tributary of the Danube 264 kilometres in length with a drainage basin of 6,600 square kilometres. Its source is located in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, where the river rises from lake Formarinsee in the Alps at an altitude of 1,870 metres. It flows in a direction and crosses the German border, forming the Lechfall. Leaving the Alps, it enters the plains of the Allgäu at Füssen at an elevation of 790 metres in the German state of Bavaria, the river runs through the city of Füssen and through the Forggensee, a man-made lake which is drained in winter. Here, it forms rapids and a waterfall and it is not navigable, owing to its torrential character and the gravel beds which choke its channel. There is a magnificent view of the Lech valley from Neuschwanstein Castle. On more than one occasion, historic events have been decided on the banks of this river, in 278 Roman emperor Probus vanquished a larger invasion force of Burgundians and Vandals, which had been raiding the Roman province of Rhaetia.
At Lechfeld, a plain between the Lech and the Wertach near Augsburg, Otto I defeated the Magyars in August 955. In the Battle of Rain in April 1632, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden defeated and mortally wounded Johan Tzerclaes, Verlag – J. Eberl KG, Immenstadt 2001. Dr. Bernhard Raster, Nutzung und anthropogene Veränderung des Lechs in historischer Zeit, bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Altbayerische Flusslandschaften an Donau, Isar und Inn. = Ausstellungskatalog, Anton H. Konrad, Verlag Weißenhorn 1998, holdenrieds Druck- und Verlags GmbH, o. J. Norbert Müller, Augsburger Ökologische Schriften, Heft 2, stadt Augsburg 1991, ISSN 0941-2123 Lech, Fluss. The Lech in Füssen Hochwassernachrichtendienst Bayern Alle möglichen Daten über die bayerischen Flüsse, aktuelle Pegelstände, langjährige Abflussdaten, life-Naturschutzprojekt Tiroler Lech Lebensraum Lechtal Bericht über eine Kajaktour
Margraviate of Baden
The Margraviate of Baden was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1803, in 1806, the Electorate of Baden, receiving territorial additions, became the Grand Duchy of Baden. The rulers of Baden belonged to the Swabian House of Zähringen, emperor Henry III had promised the ducal throne to the Zähringen scion Berthold, upon Henrys death in 1056 his widow Agnes of Poitou appointed Rudolf of Rheinfelden Duke of Swabia. Berthold renounced his rights and was compensated with the Duchy of Carinthia, not able to establish himself, he finally lost both territories, when he was deposed by King Henry IV of Germany during the Investiture Controversy in 1077. Berthold retired to his Swabian home territory, where he died the next year, like his father, Herman II insisted on his margravial title. He chose to establish his residence in Germany, as he had been born and his lordship of choice was Baden, where his father had gained the right to rule by marrying the heiress, Judit von Backnang-Sulichgau, Countess of Eberstein-Calw.
In Baden, Herman II had Hohenbaden Castle built, construction began about 1100, and when completed in 1112, he marked the occasion by adopting the title of a Margrave of Baden. Because Baden was the capital, the new Margraviate was known as Baden, Herman II would continue to be Margrave until his death in 1130. His son and grandson, Hermann III and Herman IV, added to their territories, around 1200, these lands were divided for the first time. Two lines, Baden-Baden and Baden-Hochberg, were founded, the latter was divided about a hundred years to create the third line – Baden-Sausenberg. In the 12th and 13th centuries Baden was a loyal and steadfast supporter of the House of Hohenstaufen, even against its own relatives from Zähringen-Swabia, in 1219 he moved his seat of power to Pforzheim. He had to abandon his claims to Zähringen and Braunschweig, but he gained the title of Graf von Ortenau and Breisgau and his son and grandson, Herman VI, Margrave of Baden and Frederick I, Margrave of Baden, claimed the titles of Dukes of Austria and Styria.
The Austrians rejected them as they did not want to be ruled by outsiders, Margrave Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden united all of the acquisitions in 1391. A soldier of renown, Bernard continued the mission of his predecessors. Since 1291, Baden-Pforzheim had its own Margraviate, but in 1361 it ran out of heirs, founded in 1190, it lasted until 1418, when it too died with no male heirs. Bernard, being the closest heir, claimed Baden-Hochberg, Baden-Sausenberg, continued its own Margraviate until 1503, when the lack of its own heirs sent it back to the House of Baden-Baden. The consolidation of the Margraviate came in 1442, in that year, one-half of the dominions of Lahr and Mahlberg was brought into the fold, creating the link between the two main areas, the Breisgau in the south and Baden-Baden in the north. In 1462 the dispute over the election of the new Archbishop of Mainz sent Charles I to fight the war against Frederick I, the Count Palatine of the Rhine
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 176.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 