History Files
 

Supporting the History Files

Contributed: £229

Target: £400

2023
Totals slider
2023

The History Files still needs your help. As a non-profit site, it is only able to support such a vast and ever-growing collection of information with your help, and this year your help is needed more than ever. Please make a donation so that we can continue to provide highly detailed historical research on a fully secure site. Your help really is appreciated.

European Kingdoms

Central Europe

 

Baden

Baden was a minor margraviate which emerged in lower western Germany during the general political collapse which began in the eleventh century. Much of its territory had previously been within Swabia, and before that it had been occupied by Celtic and Germanic tribes such as the Latobrigi and Tulingi.

Margraves of Baden
AD 1064 - 1536

The margraviate of Baden was formed in eastern central Swabia during the general political collapse in Germany which dominated the eleventh century and became far more serious during the twelfth century. The rebellion by Rudolf of Rheinfelden became known as the Great Saxon Revolt, with him being succeeded in his opposition against Emperor Henry IV by Berthold I of Rheinfelden (rival duke of Swabia), Hermann of Luxemburg, and Conrad of Franconia.

1064 - 1073

Herman I

Son of Berthold I of Zähringen. d.1074.

1073 - 1130

Herman II

Son. Created Margrave in 1112.

1130 - 1160

Herman III

1151

Despite being a firm supporter of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III, Duke Henry V of Carinthia loses the margraviate of Verona to his own uncle, Herman III of Baden. Perhaps this is fortunate as, in 1164, the most important of the Veronese cities band together into the Veronese League to counteract the Italian policies of the emperor's nephew, Duke Frederick Barbarossa of Swabia.

1160 - 1190

Herman IV

1190 - 1243

Herman V

1243 - 1250

Herman VI

Became Herman, Duke of Austria (1248-1250).

1250 - 1268

Frederick I

Executed.

1268

Conradin of Swabia assembles a multinational army in Italy, determined to secure his own claim to Sicily in opposition to Charles I of Anjou. He is ably assisted by Frederick I of Baden, but the pair are defeated at Tagliacozzo, and both are soon arrested.

Conradin of Swabia and Friedrich of Baden awaiting sentence
This oil on canvas depicts Conradin awaiting sentence along with his ally, Frederick of Baden, as depicted by Johann Heinrich Tischbein, 1785

1243 - 1288

Rudolf I

1288 - 1295

Rudolf II

1288 - 1297

Hesso

1297 - 1335

Rudolf Hesso

1313

With the death of John Parricide, any claim to the former Swabian duchy dies with him. Large areas of its territory have already gone to the established county of Württemberg and the margraviate of Baden. Territory formerly belonging to the Alemanni people also later forms parts of Austria (Vorarlberg), France (Alsace) and Switzerland, as well as the Bavarian Swabia region of Bavaria.

1288 - 1332

Rudolf III

1288 - 1291

Herman VII

1291 - 1333

Frederick II

1333 - 1353

Herman VIII

1291 - 1348

Rudolf IV

1348 - 1361

Rudolf V

1348 - 1353

Frederick III

1353 - 1372

Rudolf VI

1372 - 1391

Rudolf VII

1372 - 1431

Bernard I

1431 - 1453

James I

1437

The titular seat of the county of Spanheim, which is located in Rhenish Franconia, now falls vacant following the death of the last male member of the family. With that, the title passes through the female line to become part of the duchy of Baden. (A senior branch of the family had also supplied several dukes to Carinthia until 1279.)

1453 - 1454

George

1453 - 1458

Bernard II

1453 - 1475

Charles I

1475 - 1515

Christopher I

Died 1527.

1515 - 1533

Philip I

1515 - 1535

Bernard III

Became margrave of Baden-Baden.

1515 - 1535

Ernest

Became margrave of Baden-Durlach.

1536

The margraviate is divided, forming Baden-Durlach and Baden-Baden.

Margraves of Baden-Baden
AD 1535 - 1771

1535 - 1536

Bernard III

Former margrave of Baden.

1536 - 1556

Christopher II

Died 1575.

1536 - 1569

Philibert

1569 - 1588

Philip II

1588 - 1594

Edward Fortunatus

Died 1600.

1594 - 1622

Interregnum. The margraviate is probably ruled by Baden-Durlach.

Map of German states AD 1560
Introduced in 1560, the system of imperial states replaced the now-outdated feudal system, with an imperial circle ('reichskreis') being a regional grouping of the imperial states (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1622 - 1677

William

1677 - 1707

Louis William

1686

Louis William's forces form part of the Imperial Army which defeats the Ottomans in Hungary.

1707 - 1761

Louis George

1761 - 1771

Augustus George

1771

Augustus has no heir, so the title of Baden-Baden falls to the margraves of Baden-Durlach, and the divided territory is reunited.

Margraves of Baden-Durlach
AD 1535 - 1806

1535 - 1552

Ernest

Former margrave of Baden.

1552 - 1553

Bernard IV

1552 - 1577

Charles II

1577 - 1590

Ernest-Frederick

1577 - 1590

James III

1590 - 1591

Ernest James

1577 - 1622

George Frederick

Died 1638.

1622 - 1659

Frederick V

1659 - 1677

Frederick VI

1677 - 1709

Frederick VII

1709 - 1738

Charles III William

1738 - 1806

Karl Friedrich

Elector (1803).

1751

Frederick king of Sweden dies without having produced an heir. In his landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel he is succeeded by his brother, William VIII. Sweden elects Adolphus Frederick, son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp and Margravine Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach (daughter of Frederick VII). Despite the instigation of the Russo-Swedish War by parliament and the country's humiliating defeat, the Swedish monarchy still has little real power, with the result that Adolphus Frederick is a weak ruler.

1771

Augustus of Baden-Baden has no heir, so the title falls to the margraves of Baden-Durlach.

1806

Baden-Durlach is raised to a Grand Duchy by Napoleon I of France.

Grand Dukes of Baden
AD 1806 - 1918

(Additional information from The First World War, John Keegan (Vintage Books, 2000).)

1806 - 1811

Karl Friedrich

Formerly margrave.

1811 - 1819

Karl Ludwig

1818 - 1830

Ludwig I

1830 - 1852

Leopold

1852 - 1856

Ludwig II

1856 - 1907

Friedrich I

1871

Baden becomes a part of the Prussian German empire.

Map of Confederation of German States AD 1815
Following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte 1814, the Congress of Vienna took on board much of his vital restructuring of the German principalities, with the result that a map of the new Confederation of German States in 1815-1817 looked very different to maps of the previous century (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1907 - 1918

Friedrich II

Died 1928.

1918

All German monarchies are abolished upon the defeat of the German empire in the First World War. Baden is recreated as a constituent part of the new federal Germany and its future fortunes would be tied to this new political creation.

 
Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original king list page for the History Files.