Dynasty of Swabian nobility
The
House of Zahringen
(
German
:
Zahringer
) was a dynasty of
Swabian
nobility. The family's name derived from
Zahringen Castle
near
Freiburg im Breisgau
. The Zahringer in the 12th century used the title of Duke of Zahringen, in compensation for having conceded the title of
Duke of Swabia
to the
Staufer
in 1098. The Zahringer were granted the special title of Rector of
Burgundy
in 1127, and they continued to use both titles until the extinction of the ducal line in 1218.
The territories and fiefs held by the Zahringer were known as the Duchy of Zahringen (German:
Herzogtum
Zahringen
), but it was not seen as a
duchy
in equal standing with the old
stem duchies
. The Zahringer attempted to expand their territories in Swabia and Burgundy into a fully recognized duchy, but their expansion was halted in the 1130s due to their feud with the
Welfs
. Pursuing their territorial ambitions, the Zahringer founded numerous cities and monasteries on either side of the
Black Forest
, as well as in the western
Swiss Plateau
. After the extinction of the ducal line in 1218, parts of the family's territories reverted to the crown (attained
imperial immediacy
), while other parts were divided between the houses of
Kyburg
,
Urach
and
Furstenberg
.
History
[
edit
]
The earliest-known ancestor of the family was one Berthold, Count in the
Breisgau
(d. 982), who was first mentioned in 962. In view of his name, he may have been related to the Alemannic
Ahalolfing dynasty
.
Count Berthold's great-grandson, the later
Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia
(posthumously known as Berthold I of Zahringen, c. 1000?1078), held several lordships (
Herrschaften
) in the Breisgau, in
Thurgau
,
Ortenau
and
Baar
. By his mother, he was related to the rising
Hohenstaufen
family. Emperor
Henry III
had promised his vassal Berthold the
Duchy of Swabia
, but this was not fulfilled, as upon Henry's death, his widow
Agnes of Poitou
appointed Count
Rudolf of Rheinfelden
to the position of
Duke of Swabia
in 1057. In compensation, Berthold was made
Duke of Carinthia
and
Margrave of Verona
in 1061. However, this dignity was only a titular one, and Berthold subsequently lost it when, in the course of the
Investiture Controversy
, he joined the rising of his former rival Rudolf of Rheinfelden against German king
Henry IV
in 1073.
Berthold's son
Berthold II
(c. 1050?1111), who like his father fought against Henry IV, inherited a lot of the lands of Rudolf's son Count
Berthold of Rheinfelden
in 1090 (though not his comital title, which stayed with the family von Wetter-Rheinfelden). Berthold II is so named both as Duke of Swabia (following Berthold of Rheinfelden, the first duke of Swabia of this name) and as head of the House of Zahringen (following his father, who is counted as Berthold I of Zahringen in spite of not historically having used the name Zahringen). Berthold II did use the name Zahringen, although he moved his main residence from
Zahringen Castle
to the newly built
Freiburg Castle
in 1091.
In 1092, Berthold II was elected Duke of Swabia against
Frederick I of Hohenstaufen
. In 1098, he reconciled with Frederick, renounced all claims to Swabia and instead concentrated on his possessions in the Breisgau region, assuming the title of Duke of Zahringen. He was succeeded in turn by his sons,
Berthold III
(d. 1122) and
Conrad
(d. 1152).
In 1127, upon the assassination of his nephew Count
William III
, Conrad claimed the inheritance of the
County of Burgundy
against Count
Renaud III of Macon
. Renaud prevailed, although he had to cede large parts of the eastern
Transjuranian
lands to Conrad, who thereupon was appointed by Emperor
Lothair III
as a 'rector' of the Imperial
Kingdom of Burgundy-Arles
. This office was confirmed in 1152 and held by the Zahringer dukes until 1218. As a result, they are sometimes referred to as 'Dukes of Burgundy', although the existing
Duchy of Burgundy
was not an Imperial fief but a
French
one. Duke
Berthold IV
(d. 1186), who followed his father Conrad and founded the Swiss city of Fryburg (today's Fribourg-Freiburg) in 1157, spent much of his time in Italy in the train of Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa
.
His son and successor,
Berthold V
, showed his prowess by reducing the Burgundian nobles to order. This latter duke was the founder of the city of
Bern
in 1191, and when he died in February 1218, the ducal line of the Zahringer became extinct. Among other titles, the Zahringen family acted as
Reichsvogt
of the
Zurichgau
area.
After the extinction of the ducal line in 1218, much of its extensive territory in the Breisgau and modern-day Switzerland returned to the crown, except for the allodial titles, which were divided between the
counts of Urach
(who subsequently called themselves the counts of Freiburg) and the
counts of Kyburg
, both descended from the sisters of Berthold V. Less than fifty years later, the Kyburgs died out, and large portions of their domains were inherited by the
House of Habsburg
. Bern achieved the status of a
free imperial city
, whereas other cities (such as Fribourg-Freiburg) only obtained the same status later in history.
Possessions and territories
[
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]
Berthold I (ancestor of both the House of Zahringen and the House of Baden) held the comital titles of
Breisgau
and
Thurgau
, as well as being reeve in
Stein am Rhein
(owned by the
bishop of Bamberg
). The county of Thurgau was lost around 1077.
In 1098, Berthold II, founder of the House of Zahringen proper, received
Zahringen Castle
and the
jurisdiction
over
Zurich
(alongside the
Counts of Lenzburg
until 1173). Ownership of the county of
Rheinfelden
and of
Burgdorf
also dates to c. 1198.
The 'rectorate' of the
county of Burgundy
was granted in 1127 (inheritance of
Otto-William, Count of Burgundy
). Ownership of Burgundy was contested, and Zahringer
de facto
rule was limited to the parts of
Upper Burgundy
east of the
Jura
and north of
Lake Geneva
. The territories south of Lake Geneva were conceded to
Savoy
and
Provence
in 1156. In compensation, Berthold IV received the investiture right for the bishops of Geneva, Sion and Lausanne,
de facto
realised only in the case of Lausanne.
The extinction of the counts of Lenzburg in 1173 strengthened the Zahringer position south of the Rhine, but their territorial expansion was halted following their support of the
Welfs
in the unsuccessful feud against
Conrad III of Germany
during 1138?1152. This frustrated their ambitions to carve out a contiguous territorial duchy wedged between Swabia and
Burgundy
, in spite of late attempts on the part of Berthold V to increase his territorial sway (who as late as 1210 aimed at receiving the jurisdiction over
St. Gallen
).
Instead of territorial expansion, the dukes of Zahringen from the 1150s focused on attaining more immediate feudal control over the territories they already had. This included their policy of expanding settlements into fortified towns or cities and the construction of new castles, mostly in their territories north of the Rhine. Their encroachment on the rights of the comital nobility south of the Rhine seems to have been resisted, mostly passively, but in the case of the lords of
Glane
and
Thun
in an open revolt in 1191.
The fragmentation of the Zahringer possessions after 1218 was an important factor in the
communal movements
of the late medieval period in the region, including the
imperial immediacy
of Bern and Zurich, and the
growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy
in the early 14th century.
[1]
Cities
[
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]
Among the cities founded or expanded by the Zahringer dukes (
German
:
Zahringerstadte
) are:
Other towns owned by or under the jurisdiction (
Reichsvogtei
) of the Zahringer include:
Solothurn
(acquired 1127),
Zurich
(acquired 1173),
Schaffhausen
(acquired 1198) and
Stein am Rhein
.
[
year needed
]
The city of
Morges
on Lake Geneva is not a Zahringer foundation (having been founded in 1286 by
Louis I of Vaud
) but shared the characteristic layout of the Zahringer cities.
Genealogy
[
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]
House of Zahringen
[
edit
]
Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia
, Margrave of
Verona
(c. 1000?1078, r. 1061?1077), is also known as "Berthold I of Zahringen". Therefore, the succession of dukes of Zahringen begins with his son as Berthold II:
Dukes of Zahringen:
- Berthold II
(c. 1050?1111),
Duke of Swabia
from 1092 to 1098 (against
Frederick I of Hohenstaufen
), then Duke of Zahringen from about 1100. The numeral II carried by Berthold refers to both the House of Zahringen (succeeding his father Berthold I) and the Duchy of Swabia (succeeding
Berthold I, Duke of Swabia
of the House of
Rheinfelden
).
- Berthold III
(c. 1085?1122), son, Duke of Zahringen from 1111
- Conrad I
(c. 1090?1152), brother, Duke of Zahringen from 1122, rector of
Burgundy
from 1127
- Berthold IV
(c. 1125?1186), son, Duke of Zahringen from 1152, rector of Burgundy
- Berthold V
(1160?1218), son, Duke of Zahringen from 1186, rector of Burgundy
Other notable Zahringer:
House of Baden
[
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]
The
Veronese
margravial title was used by
Herman I of Baden
, the eldest son of
Berthold I of Zahringen
. Herman's son,
Herman II
, was the first to use the title of
Margrave of Baden
in 1112.
Now more commonly known as the
House of Baden
, Herman's descendants ruled successively as
margraves
until the
Final Recess
of 1803, as
electors
of the
Electorate of Baden
until 1806, then as
Grand Dukes of Baden
until the end of the German monarchy in 1918. For the Heads of the House of Baden until 1918, see
List of rulers of Baden
.
Heads of the House of Baden since 1918:
- Leopold I, Grand Duke (1790?1852)
- Friedrich I, Grand Duke (1826?1907)
- Prince William of Baden (1829?1897)
- Maximilian
, Prince and Margrave, 1928?1929 (1867?1929)
- Berthold
, 1929?1963 (1906?1963)
- Maximilian
, 1963?2022 (1933?2022)
- Bernhard
, 2022?present (born 1970)
- Leopold, (born 2002)
- Friedrich (born 2004)
- Karl-Wilhelm (born 2006)
- Leopold (born 1971)
- Michael (born 1976)
- Ludwig (born 1937)
Dukes of Teck
[
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]
Adalbert I
(d. 1196) was a son of Duke Conrad I of Zahringen. Upon the death of his brother Berthold IV in 1186, he inherited the family estates around
Teck Castle
and, from 1187, adopted the title of Duke of Teck. His descendant
Conrad II of Teck
(1235?1292) allegedly was designated
King of the Romans
shortly before his assassination. The line became extinct in 1439 with the death of
Louis of Teck
,
Patriarch of Aquileia
.
In 1871, a
ducal title
with the same name was granted by King
Charles I of Wurttemberg
to
Prince Francis of Teck
(1837?1900), a
morganatic
son of
Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg
. Francis' daughter
Mary of Teck
(1867?1953), as the wife of King
George V
, became Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India.
Francis's surviving children ceased using their German titles during
World War I
and (aside from Queen Mary) took the name Cambridge, with his eldest son (
Adolphus
) being made
Marquess of Cambridge
and his youngest son (
Alexander
) being made
Earl of Athlone
. This branch of the family died out in the male line in 1981 and in its entirety in 1994 with the death of Francis's granddaughter,
Lady Mary Abel Smith
.
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Erwin Eugster:
House of Zahringen
in
German
,
French
and
Italian
in the online
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
, 2015.
- ^
August Freiherr von Berstett,
Munzgeschichte des Zahringen-Badischen Furstenhauses
(1846),
p. 3
.
- ^
The shield with heraldic eagle visible in this seal (from a document at
Fraumunster
, Zurich, dated 1187) is the only contemporary attestation of a Zahringer coat of arms. Franz Zell,
Geschichte und Beschreibung des Badischen Wappens von seiner Entstehung bis auf seine heutige Form
(1858), p. 7 and plate I.
References
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External links
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