Swabia

For other uses, seeSwabia (disambiguation).

"Schwaben" redirects here. For the naval ship, seeSMSSchwaben.

"Suevia" redirects here. For other uses, seeSuevia (disambiguation).

Swabiais a cultural,historicand linguistic region in southwesternGermany. The name is ultimately derived from the medievalDuchy of Swabia,one of the Germanstem duchies,representing the historic settlement area of theGermanictribe alliances namedAlemanniandSuebi.

Today's Swabia within Germany. TheSchwarzwald-Baar-Kreis(yellow) is at the transitional area of the Swabian, Upper Rhenish and Lake Constance dialects of Alemannic. The westernBodenseekreisdistrict is not considered a part of modern Swabia. The dividing line is betweenBaden-Württemberg(west) andBavaria(east).

Thecoat of arms of Baden-Württemberg:Or, three lions passant sable,the arms of theDuchy of Swabia,in origin the arms of theHouse of Hohenstaufen.Also used for Swabia (andWürttemberg-Baden,1945–1952) are the three antlers of thecoat of arms of Württemberg.

This territory would include all of theAlemannic Germanarea, but the modern concept of Swabia is more restricted, due to the collapse of the duchy of Swabia in the thirteenth century. Swabia as understood in modern ethnography roughly coincides with theSwabian Circleof theHoly Roman Empireas it stood during theearly modern period,now divided between the states ofBavariaandBaden-Württemberg.

Swabians(Schwaben,singularSchwabe) are the natives of Swabia and speakers ofSwabian German.Their number was estimated at close to 0.8 million bySIL Ethnologueas of 2006, compared to a total population of 7.5 million in the regions ofTübingen,StuttgartandBavarian Swabia.

Geography

Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined. However, today it is normally thought of as comprising the formerSwabian Circle,or equivalently the former state ofWürttemberg(with the PrussianHohenzollern Province), or the modern districts ofTübingen(excluding the former Baden regions of theBodenseekreisdistrict),Stuttgart,and the administrative region ofBavarian Swabia.

In theMiddle Ages,the term Swabia indicated a larger area, covering all the lands associated with theFrankishstem duchy ofAlamanniastretching from theVosges Mountainsin the west to the broadLechriver in the east:

History

Duchy of Swabiaaround AD 1000 shown in gold yellow including (present-day)Alsace,the southern part ofBaden-Württemberg,Bavarian Swabia,Vorarlbergin Austria,Liechtenstein,eastern Switzerland and small parts of northern Italy. In green: Upper Burgundy.

Early history

Further information:Alamannia,Raetia,andGermania Superior

Like all ofSouthern Germany,what is now Swabia was part of theLa Tène culture,and as such has aCeltic (Gaulish)substrate. In the Roman era, it was part of theRaetiaprovince.

The nameSuebiais derived from that of theSuebi. It is used already byTacitusin the 1st century, albeit in a different geographical sense: He calls theBaltic SeatheMare Suevicum( "Suebian Sea" ) after theSuiones,and ends his description of the Suiones andSitoneswith "Here Suebia ends" (Hic Suebiae finis). By the mid-3rd century, groups of the Suebi form the core element of the new tribal alliance known as theAlamanni,who expanded towards theRoman Limeseast of the Rhine and south of the Main. The Alamanni were sometimes referred to as Suebi even at this time, and their new area of settlement came to be known as Suebia. In themigration period,the Suebi (Alamanni)crossed the Rhinein 406 and some of them established theKingdom of the Suebiin Galicia. Another group settled in parts ofPannonia,after theHunswere defeated in 454 in theBattle of Nedao.

The Alemanni were ruled by independent kings throughout the 4th to 5th centuries but fell underFrankishdomination in the 6th (Battle of Tolbiac496). By the late 5th century, the area settled by the Alemanni extended toAlsaceand theSwiss Plateau,bordering on theBavariito the east, theFranksto the north, the remnants ofRoman Gaulto the west, and theLombardsandGoths,united in theKingdom of Odoacer,to the south.

The nameAlamanniawas used by the 8th century, and from the 9th century,Suebiawas occasionally used forAlamannia,whileAlamanniawas increasingly used to refer toAlsacespecifically. By the 12th century,Suebiarather thanAlamanniawas used consistently for the territory of theDuchy of Swabia.

Duchy of Swabia

Main articles:Duchy of SwabiaandDukes of Swabia

Swabia was one of the originalstem duchiesofEast Francia,the laterHoly Roman Empire,as it developed in the 9th and 10th centuries. Due to the foundation of the important abbeys ofSt. GallenandReichenau,Swabia became an important center ofOld High Germanliterary culture during this period.

In the laterCarolingian period,Swabia became once again de facto independent, by the early 10th century mostly ruled by two dynasties, theHunfridingcounts inRaetia Curiensisand theAhalolfingsruling theBaarestates around the upperNeckarand Danube rivers. The conflict between the two dynasties was decided in favour of HunfridingBurchard IIat theBattle of Winterthur(919).Burchard's rule as duke was acknowledged as such by the newly elected kingHenry the Fowler,and in the 960s the duchy underBurchard IIIwas incorporated in theHoly Roman EmpireunderOtto I.

TheHohenstaufendynasty, which ruled theHoly Roman Empirein the 12th and 13th centuries, arose out of Swabia, but following the execution ofConradin,the last Hohenstaufen, on 29 October 1268, the duchy was not reappointed during theGreat Interregnum.In the following years, the original duchy gradually broke up into many smaller units.

Rudolf I of Habsburg,elected in 1273 as emperor, tried to restore the duchy, but met the opposition of the higher nobility who aimed to limit the power of the emperor. Instead, he confiscated the former estates of the Hohenstaufen as imperial property of the Holy Roman Empire, and declared most of the cities formerly belonging to Hohenstaufen to beFree Imperial Cities,and the more powerful abbeys within the former duchy to be Imperial Abbeys.

The rural regions were merged into theImperial Shrievalty(Reichslandvogtei) of Swabia, which was given as Imperial Pawn to DukeLeopold III of Austriain 1379 and again toSigismund, Archduke of Austriain 1473/1486. He took the title of a "Prince of Swabia" and integrated the Shrievalty of Swabia in the realm ofFurther Austria.

Later medieval period

Further information:Interregnum (HRE)

TheSwabian League of Citieswas first formed on 20 November 1331, when twenty-twoimperial citiesof the former Duchy of Swabia banded together in support of theEmperor Louis IV,who in return promised not to mortgage any of them to any imperialvassal.Among the founding cities wereAugsburg,Heilbronn,Reutlingen,andUlm.The counts ofWürttemberg,Oettingen,andHohenbergwere induced to join in 1340.

The defeat of the city league by CountEberhard II of Württembergin 1372 led to the formation of a new league of fourteen Swabian cities on 4 July 1376. The emperor refused to recognise the newly revitalised Swabian League, seeing it as a rebellion, and this led to an "imperial war"against the league. The renewed league defeated an imperial army at the Battle ofReutlingenon 14 May 1377. BurgraveFrederick V of Hohenzollernfinally defeated the league in 1388 atDöffingen.The next year the city league disbanded according to the resolutions of theReichstagatEger.

The major dynasties that arose out of medieval Swabia were theHabsburgsand theHohenzollerns,who rose to prominence in Northern Germany. Also stemming from Swabia are the local dynasties of the dukes ofWürttembergand themargravesofBaden.TheWelffamily went on to rule inBavariaandHanover,and are ancestral to theBritish Royal Familythat has ruled since 1714. Smaller feudal dynasties eventually disappeared, however; for example, branches of theMontfortsandHohenemslived until modern times, and theFürstenbergsurvive still. The region proved to be one of the most divided in the empire, containing, in addition to these principalities, numerousfree cities,ecclesiastical territories, and fiefdoms of lessercountsandknights.

Early modern history

Map of the Swabian Circle (1756)

A newSwabian League(Schwäbischer Bund) was formed in 1488, opposing the expansionistBavariandukes from theHouse of Wittelsbachand the revolutionary threat from the south in the form of theSwiss. In 1519, the League conquered Württemberg and sold it toCharles Vafter its dukeUlrichseized the Free Imperial City of Reutlingen during the interregnum that followed the death of Maximilian I. It helped to suppress thePeasants' Revoltin 1524–26 and defeat an alliance ofrobber baronsin theFranconian War.TheReformationcaused the league to be disbanded in 1534.

The territory of Swabia as understood today emerges in the early modern period. It corresponds to theSwabian Circleestablished in 1512. TheOld Swiss Confederacywasde factoindependent from Swabia from 1499 as a result of theSwabian War,while theMargraviate of Badenhad been detached from Swabia since the twelfth century.

Fearing the power of the greater princes, the cities and smaller secular rulers of Swabia joined to form theSwabian Leaguein the fifteenth century. The League was quite successful, notably expelling theDuke of Württembergin 1519 and putting in his place a Habsburg governor, but the league broke up a few years later over religious differences inspired by theReformation,and the Duke of Württemberg was soon restored.

The region was quite divided by the Reformation. While secular princes such as the Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave ofBaden-Durlach,as well as most of the Free Cities, becameProtestant,the ecclesiastical territories (including thebishopricsofAugsburg,Konstanzand the numerousImperial abbeys) remainedCatholic,as did the territories belonging to the Habsburgs (Further Austria), theSigmaringenbranch of theHouse of Hohenzollern,and the Margrave ofBaden-Baden.

Modern history

In the wake of the territorial reorganization of the empire of 1803 by theReichsdeputationshauptschluss,the shape of Swabia was entirely changed. All the ecclesiastical estates were secularized, and most of the smaller secular states, and almost all of the free cities, weremediatized,leaving only theKingdom of Württemberg,theGrand Duchy of Baden,and the Principality ofHohenzollern-Sigmaringenas sovereign states. Much of Eastern Swabia became part ofBavaria,forming what is now theSwabian administrative regionof Bavaria. TheKings of Bavariaassumed the titleDuke in Swabia,with theinindicating that only parts of the Swabian territory was ruled by them, unlike their other titleDuke of Franconiawhich made clear that the whole of Franconia had become part of their kingdom.

In contemporary usage,Schwabenis sometimes taken to refer to Bavarian Swabia exclusively, correctly however it includes the larger Württemberg part of Swabia. Its inhabitants attach great importance to calling themselves Swabians. Baden, historically part of the duchy of Swabia and also of the Swabian Circle, is no longer commonly included in the term. Baden's residents mostly refer to themselves as Alemanni(versus theSwabians).

Swabian people

Main article:Swabians

Language

Main article:Swabian German

The traditional distribution area of Western Upper German ( = Alemannic) dialect features in the nineteenth and twentieth century

SIL Ethnologuecites an estimate of 819,000 Swabian speakers as of 2006. This corresponds to roughly 10% of the total population of the Swabian region, or roughly 1% of the total population of Germany.

As an ethno-linguistic group, Swabians are closely related to other speakers ofAlemannic German,i.e.Badeners,Alsatians,andGerman-speaking Swiss.

Swabian German is traditionally spoken in the upperNeckarbasin (upstream ofHeilbronn), along the upperDanubebetweenTuttlingenandDonauwörth,inUpper Swabia,and on the left bank of theLech,in an area centered on theSwabian Alpsroughly stretching fromStuttgarttoAugsburg.

Many Swabian surnames end with the suffixes-le,-(l)er,-el,-ehl,and-lin,typically from theMiddle High Germandiminutivesuffix-elîn(Modern Standard German-lein). Examples would be:Schäuble,Egeler,Rommel,andGmelin.The popular German surnameSchwabas well asSvevoin Italy are derived from this area, both meaning literally "Swabian".

See also

• Danube Swabians(Donauschwaben):
  • Banat Swabians
  • Germans of Hungary
  • Germans of Romania
  • Germans of Serbia
  • Satu Mare Swabians
  • Swabian Turkey
• Duke of Swabia
• Swabian children
• New Swabia
• Swabian cuisine
• Swabian League
• Schwaben Redoubt(World War I)
• Schwabenhass( "Suabophobia" )

Sources

• Laffan, R.G.D. (1975). "The Empire under Maximilian I".The New Cambridge Modern History.Vol. I.
• Minahan, James (2000).One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups.Greenwood Publishing Group, Ltd.ISBN978-0313309847.

External links

• D'alemannisch Wikipedia
• "Danube Swabian Resources".
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Swabia".The New Student's Reference Work.1914.
  • "Swabia".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). 1911.
  • "Swabia".New International Encyclopedia.1905.