Alamannia In 496 the
Alamanni tribes were defeated by King
Clovis I, incorporated into
Francia, and governed by several
duces who were dependent on the Frankish kings. In the 7th century the people
converted to Christianity, bishoprics were founded at
Augsburg and
Constance, and in the 8th century notable abbeys at
Reichenau Island and
Saint Gall. Duke Burchard's rule subsequently was acknowledged as such by the newly elected king
Henry the Fowler.
Younger stem duchy : Swabia in light orange Burchard's position was virtually independent, and when he died in 926 he was succeeded by
Hermann, a Franconian noble, who married his widow. When Hermann died in 948
Otto the Great gave the duchy to his own son
Liudolf, who had married Hermann's daughter Ida; but he reduced the ducal privileges and appointed counts palatine to watch the royal interests. Liudolf revolted, and was deposed, and other dukes followed in quick succession.
Burchard III, son of Burchard II, ruled from 954 to 973, when he was succeeded by Liudolf's son,
Otto, afterwards duke of Bavaria, to 982, and
Conrad I, a relative of Duke Hermann I, until 997.
Hermann II, possibly a son of Conrad, succeeded, and, dying in 1003, was followed by his son
Hermann III. During these years the Swabians were loyal to the kings of the Saxon house, probably owing to the influence of the bishops. Hermann III had no children, and the succession passed to
Ernest II, son of his eldest sister
Gisela and
Ernest I, Margrave of Austria. Ernest I held the duchy for his son until his own death in 1015, when Gisela undertook the government, and was married a second time, to Conrad, duke of Franconia, who was afterwards the German king
Conrad II. When Ernest came of age he quarrelled with his step-father, who deposed him and, in 1030, gave the duchy to Gisela's second son,
Hermann IV and then, on the death of Hermann IV in 1038, to
Henry, his own son by Gisela. In 1045 Henry, who had become German king as Henry III, granted Alamannia to
Otto, grandson of the emperor Otto II and
count palatine of the Rhine, and, in 1048, to
Otto III, count of .
Rudolph, count of , was the next duke, and in 1077 he was chosen German king in opposition to the emperor Henry IV, but found little support in Swabia, which was given by Henry to his faithful adherent,
Frederick I, count of Hohenstaufen.
Staufer period Frederick had to fight for his position with Bertold, son of Duke Rudolph, and the duke's son-in-law, Bertold II, duke of Zahringen, to whom he ceded the Breisgau in 1096.
Frederick II succeeded his father in 1105, and was followed by
Frederick III, afterwards the emperor Frederick I. The earlier Hohenstaufen increased the imperial domain in Swabia, where they received steady support, although ecclesiastical influences were very strong. In 1152 Frederick I gave the duchy to his kinsman,
Frederick, count of
Rothenburg and duke of
Franconia, after whose death in 1167 it was held successively by three sons of the emperor, the youngest of whom,
Philip, was chosen German king in 1198. During his struggle for the throne Philip purchased support by large cessions of Swabian lands, and the duchy remained in the royal hands during the reign of
Otto IV, and came to
Frederick II in 1214. Frederick granted Swabia to his son
Henry, and, after his rebellion in 1235, to his son
Conrad, whose son
Conradin, setting out in 1266 to take possession of Sicily, pledged his Swabian inheritance to
Ulrich II, count of
Württemberg. The duchy fell into abeyance after Conradin's death in 1268.
Post-ducal Swabia In 1500 emperor
Maximilian I divided the
Holy Roman Empire into
Imperial Circles. The
Swabian Circle was largely coterminous with the stem duchy; however, it excluded
Alsace (which was part of the
Upper Rhenish Circle), those areas controlled by the
Old Swiss Confederacy and
Three Leagues (which were unencircled) and the
Habsburgs'
Further Austrian possessions (originally unencircled; part of the
Austrian Circle from 1512). It also included some territory, mostly held by
Baden and
Württemberg, which had been part of the
Franconian stem duchy. During the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire the southeastern territories of the Swabian Circle fell to the
Kingdom of Bavaria (
Bavarian Swabia), while the rest were mostly divided between the
Kingdom of Württemberg and the
Grand Duchy of Baden, with only the Hohenzollern principalities (
Sigmaringen and
Hechingen) remaining separate. Since shortly after the end of World War 2, Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern have been united as the state of
Baden-Württemberg. Although the name Swabia is occasionally used in a general way to denote the district formerly occupied by the duchy, the exact use of the name is now confined to the Bavarian Swabia , with its capital at
Augsburg. ==See also==