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2 The Duchy of Württemberg (1495 - 1805) 3 The Kingdom of Württemberg (1806 - 1918) 4 Post-Royal Württemberg 5 External Link |
Origins
The origin of the name Württemberg remains obscure: scholars having universally rejected the once popular derivation from "Wirth am Berg". Some authorities derive it from a proper name: Wiruto or Wirtino; others from a Celtic place-name, Virolunum or Verdunum. At all events, from serving as the name of a castle near the village of Rothenberg, not far from Stuttgart, it extended over the surrounding country, and as the lords of this district increased their possessions so the name covered an ever-widening area, until it reached its present denotation. Early forms of it include Wirtenberg, Wirtembenc and Wirtenberc. Wirtemberg was long current, and in the latter part of the 16th century Würtemberg and Wurttemberg appeared. In 1806 Württemberg became the official spelling, though Wurtemberg also appears frequently and occurs sometimes in official documents and even on coins issued after that date.
Württemberg's first known inhabitants, the Celts, preceded the arrival of the Suebi. In the 1st century A.D. the Romans conquered the land and defended their position there by constructing a rampart (limes). Early in the 3rd century the Alemanni drove the Romans beyond the Rhine and the Danube, but in their turn they succumbed to the Franks under Clovis, the decisive battle taking place in 496.
For about four hundred years the district formed part of the Frankish empire, being administered by counts, but in the 9th century the German duchy of Swabia subsumed it. The Hohenstaufen family controlled the duchy of Swabia until the death of Conradin in 1268, when a considerable part of its lands fell to the count of Württemberg, the representative of a family first mentioned about 1080, a certain Conrad von Beutelsbach, having called himself after his ancestral castle of Württemberg.
The earliest historical details on a Count of Württemberg relate to one Ulrich, who ruled from 1241 to 1265. He served as marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, and had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems. Under his sons, Ulrich II and Eberhard I, and their successors, the power of the family grew steadily. Eberhard I (died 1325) opposed, and not always unsuccessfully, three German kings; he doubled the area of his county and transferred his residence from Württemberg to Stuttgart. His successors seem not perhaps equally important, but all added something to the area of Württemberg. The family shared out their lands amongst collateral branches several times, but in 1482 declared the territory indivisible and united it under Count Eberhard V, called im Bart. This arrangement received the sanction of the German king, Maximilian I, and of the imperial diet, in 1495.
The Duchy of Württemberg (1495 - 1805)
Eberhard proved one of the most energetic rulers that Württemberg ever had, and in 1495 his county became a duchy. At his death in 1496 his cousin, Duke Eberhard II succeeded for a short reign of two years, terminated by a deposition.
The long reign (1498-1550) of Duke Ulrich I, who succeeded to the duchy while still a child, proved a most eventful period for the country, and many traditions cluster round the name of this gifted, unscrupulous and ambitious man. The extortions by which he sought to raise money for his extravagant pleasures excited a rising known as that of the arme Konrad (poor Conrad), not unlike the rebellion in England led by Wat Tyler. The authorities soon restored order, and in 1514 by the Treaty of Tübingen the people undertook to pay the duke's debts in return for various political privileges, which in effect laid the foundation of the constitutional liberties of the country. A few years later Ulrich quarrelled with the Swabian League, and its forces (helped by William IV, duke of Bavaria, angered by the treatment meted out by Ulrich to his wife Sabina, a Bavarian princess), invaded Württemberg, expelled the duke and sold his duchy to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor for 220,000 gulden. Charles handed over Württemberg to his brother, the German king, Ferdinand I, who served as nominal ruler for a few years. Soon, however, the discontent caused by the oppressive Austrian rule, the disturbances in Germany leading to the Peasants' War and the commotions aroused by the Reformation gave Ulrich an opportunity to recover his duchy. Aided by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, he fought a victorious battle against Ferdinand's troops at Lauffen in May 1534, and then by the treaty of Cadan he again became duke, but perforce duke of the duchy as an Austrian fief. He subsequently introduced the reformed religious doctrines and proceeded to endow Protestant churches and schools throughout his land. Ulrich's connection with the League of Schmalkalden led to another expulsion, but in 1547 Charles V re-instated him, although on somewhat onerous terms.
Ulrich's son and succeesor, Christopher (1515-1568), completed the work of converting his subjects to the reformed faith. He introduced a system of church government, the Grosse Kirchenordnung, which endured in part into the 20th century. In this reign a standing commission started to superintend the finances, and the members of this body, all of whom belonged to the upper classes, gained considerable power in the state, mainly at the expense of the towns.
Christopher's son Louis, the founder of the Collegium illustre in Tübingen, died childless in 1593 and a kinsman, Frederick I (1557-1608) succeeded to the duchy. This energetic prince disregarded the limits placed to his authority by the rudimentary constitution. By paying a large sum of money he induced the emperor Rudolph II in 1599 to free the duchy from the suzerainty of Austria. Thus once again Württemberg became a direct fief of the Empire.
Unlike his predecessor, the next duke, John Frederick (1582-1628), failed to become an absolute ruler, and perforce recognised the checks on his power. During this reign, which ended in July 1628, Württemberg suffered severely from the Thirty Years' War, although the duke himself took no part in it. His son and successor Eberhard III (1614-1674), however, plunged into it as an ally of France and Sweden as soon as he came of age in 1633, but after the battle of Nordlingen in 1634 Imperial troops occupied the duchy and the duke himself went into exile for some years. The Peace of Westphalia restored him, but to a depopulated and impoverished country, and he spent his remaining years in efforts to repair the disasters of the lengthy war.
During the reign of Eberhard IV (1676-1733), who succeeded as a one-year-old when his father Duke William Louis died in 1677, Württemberg made the acquaintance of another destructive enemy. In 1688, 1703 and 1707 the French entered the duchy and inflicted brutalities and sufferings upon the inhabitants. The sparsely populated country afforded a welcome to fugitive Waldenses, who did something to restore it to prosperity, but the extravagance of the duke, anxious to provide for the expensive tastes of his mistress, Christiana Wilhelmina von Grävenitz partly neutralised this benefit.
Charles Alexander, who became duke in 1733, had become a Roman Catholic while an officer in the Austrian service. His favourite adviser was the Jew Suss Oppenheimer, and suspicions arose that master and servant were aiming at the suppression of the diet and the introduction of Roman Catholicism. However, the sudden death of Charles Alexander in March 1737 put an abrupt end to any such plans, and the regent, Charles Rudolph of Württtemberg-Neuenstadt, had Oppenheimer hanged.
Charles Eugene (1728-1793), who came of age in 1744, appeared gifted, but vicious and extravagant, and he soon fell into the hands of unworthy favourites. He spent a great deal of money in building palaces at Stuttgart and elsewhere, and took the course, unpopular with his Protestant subjects, of fighting against Prussia during the Seven Years War of 1756 - 1763. His whole reign featured dissension between ruler and ruled, the duke's irregular and arbitrary methods of raising money arousing great discontent. The intervention of the emperor and even of foreign powers ensued, and in 1770 a formal arrangement removed some of the grievances of the people. But Charles Eugene did not keep his promises, although in his old age he made a few further concessions. He died childless, and was succeeded by one brother, Louis Eugene (d. 1795), and then by another, Frederick Eugene (d. 1797). This latter prince, who had served in the army of Frederick the Great, to whom he was related by marriage, educated his children in the Protestant faith. Thus, when his son Frederick II became duke in 1797, Protestantism returned to the ducal household, and the royal house adhered to this faith thereafter. During Frederick Eugene's short reign the French invaded Württemberg, compelled the duke to withdraw his troops from the imperial army and to pay reparations.
Frederick II (1754-1816), a prince who modelled himself on Frederick the Great, took part in the war against France in defiance of the wishes of his people, and when the French again invaded and devastated the country he retired to Erlangen, where he remained until after the conclusion of the peace of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. By a private treaty with France, signed in March 1802, he ceded his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving in return nine imperial towns, among them Reutlingen and Heilbronn, and some other territories, amounting altogether to about 850 square miles and containing about 124,000 inhabitants. He also accepted from Napoleon in 1803 the title of elector. The new districts were not incorporated with the duchy, but remained separate; they were known as "New Württemberg" and were ruled without a diet.
In 1805 Württemberg took up arms on the side of France, and by the Treaty of Pressburg in December 1805 the elector received as reward various Austrian possessions in Swabia and other lands in the neighbourhood.
The Kingdom of Württemberg (1806 - 1918)
On January 1, 1806 Duke Frederick II assumed the title of king as King Frederick I, abrogated the constitution and united old and new Württemberg. Subsequently he placed the property of the church under the control of the state. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine and received further additions of territory containing 160,000 inhabitants; a little later, by the peace of Vienna in October 1809, about 110,000 more persons came under his rule. In return for these favours Frederick joined Napoleon Bonaparte in his campaigns against Prussia, Austria and Russia, and of 16,000 of his subjects who marched to Moscow only a few hundred returned. Then, after the Battle of Leipzig (October 1813), King Frederick deserted the waning fortunes of the French emperor, and by a treaty made with Metternich at Fulda in November 1813 he secured the confirmation of his royal title and of his recent acquisitions of territory, while his troops marched with those of the allies into France. In 1815 the king joined the German Confederation, but the Congress of Vienna made no change in the extent of his lands. In the same year he laid before the representatives of his people the outline of a new constitution, but they rejected this, and in the midst of the commotion Frederick died (October 30, 1816).
At once the new king, William I (reigned 1816 - 1864) took up the constitutional question and after much discussion granted a new constitution in September 1819. This constitution, with subsequent modifications, remained in force until 1918 (see Württemberg). A period of quietness now set in, and the condition of the kingdom, its education, its agriculture and its trade and manufactures, began to receive earnest attention, while by frugality, both in public and in private matters, King William I helped to repair the shattered finances of the country. But the desire for greater political freedom did not entirely fade away under the constitution of 1819, and after 1830 a certain amount of unrest occurred. This, however, soon passed away, while the inclusion of Württemberg in the German Zollverein and the construction of railways fostered trade.
The revolutionary movement of 1848 did not leave Württemberg untouched, although no actual violence took place within the kingdom. King William had to dismiss Johannes Schlayer (1792-1860) and his other ministers, and to call to power men with more liberal ideas, the exponents of the idea of a united Germany. King William did proclaim a democratic constitution, but as soon as the movement had spent its force he dismissed the liberal ministers, and in October 1849 Schlayer and his associates returned to power. By interfering with popular electoral rights the king and his ministers succeeded in assembling a servile diet in 1851, and this surrendered all the privileges gained since 1848. In this way the authorities restored the constitution of 1819, and power passed into the hands of a bureaucracy. A concordat with the Papacy proved almost the last act of William's long reign, but the diet repudiated the agreement, preferring to regulate relations between church and state in its own way.
In July 1864 Charles I (1823-1891, reigned 1864 - 1891) succeeded his father William I as king and had almost at once to face considerable difficulties. In the duel between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany, William I had consistently taken the Austrian side, and this policy was equally acceptable to the new king and his advisers. In 1866 Württemberg took up arms on behalf of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, but three weeks after the Battle of Königgratz (3 July 1866) her troops suffered a comprehensive defeat at Tauberbischofsheim, and the country lay at the mercy of Prussia. The Prussians occupied the northern part of Württemberg and negotiated a peace in August 1866; by this Württemberg paid an indemnity of 8,000,000 gulden, but she at once concluded a secret offensive and defensive treaty with her conqueror.
The end of the struggle allowed a renewal of democratic agitation in Württemberg, but this had achieved no tangible results when the great war between France and Prussia broke out in 1870. Although the policy of Württemberg had continued antagonistic to Prussia, the kingdom shared in the national enthusiasm which swept over Germany, and its troops took a creditable part in the Battle of Worth and in other operations of the war. In 1871 Württemberg became a member of the new German Empire, but retained control of her own post office, telegraphs and railways. She had also certain special privileges with regard to taxation and the army, and for the next ten years Württemberg's policy enthusiastically supported the new order. Many important reforms, especially in the area of finance, ensued, but a proposal for a union of the railway system with that of the rest of Germany failed. After reductions in taxation in 1889, the reform of the constitution became the question of the hour. King Charles and his ministers wished to strengthen the conservative element in the chambers, but the laws of 1874, 1876 and 1879 only effected slight reforms pending a more thorough settlement. On October 6, 1891 King Charles died suddenly; his cousin William II (1848-1921, reigned 1891-1918) succeeded and continued the policy of his predecessor.
Discussions on the reform of the constitution continued, and the election of 1895 memorably returned a powerful party of democrats. King William had no sons, nor had his only Protestant kinsman, Duke Nicholas (1833-1903); consequently the succession would ultimately pass to a Roman Catholic branch of the family, and this prospect raised up certain difficulties about the relations between church and state. The heir to the throne in 1910 was the Roman Catholic Duke Albert (b. 1865).
Between 1900 and 1910 the political history of Württemberg centred round the settlement of the constitutional and the educational questions. The constitution underwent revision in 1906, and a settlement of the education difficulty occurred in 1909. In 1904 the railway system integrated with that of the rest of Germany.
Post-Royal Württemberg
In the course of the revolutionary activities at the close of World War I in November 1918, King William II abdicated and republican government ensued.
Württemberg became a Land in the new Weimar Republic. After World War II, Württemberg was joined with Baden and Hohenzollern to form the new state of Baden-Württemberg
See also
For the history of Württemberg see: