Everything about Swabia totally explained
» This article is about the region of Germany; for the Soda Fountain & Hollywood pharmacy see Schwab's Drug Store.
Swabia,
Suabia, or
Svebia (
German:
Schwaben or
Schwabenland) is both a historic and
linguistic (see
Swabian German) region in
Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of
Baden-Württemberg (specifically, historical
Württemberg and the
Hohenzollerische Lande), as well as the
Bavarian
administrative region of Swabia. In the
Middle Ages,
Baden,
Vorarlberg, the modern principality of
Liechtenstein, modern German-speaking
Switzerland, and
Alsace (now belonging to
France) were also considered to be a part of Swabia.
History
Suebi
2000 years ago, the
Suebi or Suevi were an
Elbe Germanic people whose origin was near the
Baltic Sea, which was thus known to the Romans as the
Mare Suebicum (today, the term "Swabian Sea" is applied to
Lake Constance). They migrated to the southwest, becoming part of the
Alamannic confederacy. The Alamanni were ruled by independent kings throughout the
4th and
5th centuries. Also, a number of Suevi (20.000-50.000) reached the
Iberian Peninsula under king
Hermeric and established an independent kingdom in
410 what is now northern
Portugal,
Galicia, and western regions of
Asturias and most of
León (in northwest Spain). It endured until
585. Its political center was Braccara Augusta (present-day
Braga, Portugal).
Duchy of Swabia
Swabia became a duchy under the
Frankish Empire in
496, following the
Battle of Tolbiac. Swabia was one of the original
stem duchies of
East Francia, the later
Holy Roman Empire, as it developed in the
9th and
10th centuries. The
Hohenstaufen dynasty (the dynasty of
Frederick Barbarossa), which ruled the
Holy Roman Empire in the
12th and
13th centuries, arose out of Swabia, but following the execution of
Conradin, the last Hohenstaufen, on
October 29,
1268, the original duchy gradually broke up into many smaller units.
Holy Roman Empire
The major dynasty which arose out of the region were the
Habsburgs, but also the
Hohenzollerns, who rose to prominence in Northern Germany, stem from Swabia, as well as the dynasties of the Dukes of
Württemberg and the
Margraves of
Baden. Smaller feudal dynasties eventually disappeared; however, for example, branches of the
Montforts and
Hohenems lived until modern age and the
Fürstenberg survive still. The region proved to be one of the most divided in the Empire, containing, in addition to these principalities, numerous
free cities, ecclesiastical territories, and fiefdoms of lesser
counts and
knights.
The
Old Swiss Confederacy was
de facto independent from Swabia from
1499 as a result of the
Swabian War.
Fearing the power of the greater princes, the cities and smaller secular rulers of Swabia joined to form the
Swabian League in the
15th century. The League was quite successful, notably expelling the
Duke of Württemberg in
1519 and putting in his place a Habsburg governor, but the league broke up a few years later over religious differences inspired by the
Reformation, and the Duke of Württemberg was soon restored. The region was quite divided by the Reformation. While secular princes like the Duke of Württemberg and the Margrave of
Baden-Durlach, as well as most of the Free Cities, became
Protestant, the ecclesiastical territories (including the
bishoprics of
Augsburg,
Konstanz and others) remained
Catholic, as did the territories belonging to the Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the Margrave of
Baden-Baden.
Modern history
In the wake of the territorial reorganization of the Empire of
1803 by the
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, 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, were
mediatized, leaving only Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern as sovereign states. Much of Eastern Swabia became part of
Bavaria, forming what is now the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia.
From
1939 to
1945,
Nazi Germany claimed sovereignty over an area of
Antarctica, which was named
Neu-Schwabenland in honour of Swabia.
Swabian settlements abroad
Outside of Germany, many Swabians settled in
Hungary and
Romania (the
Danube Swabians and
Swabian Turkey), as well as in
Russia,
Bessarabia,
Serbia, and
Kazakhstan. Outside of Europe, Swabian settlements can also be found in
Brazil,
Canada, and the
United States. The town of
Swaffham,
Norfolk means "homestead of the Swabians", some of whom must presumably have settled in
England alongside the
Angles and
Saxons.
Popular culture
» For information on the distinct Swabian dialect see Swabian German.
Swabians have in former times been the target of many jokes and stories where they're depicted as excessively stingy, overly serious, prudish, or as simpletons, for instance in "The Seven Swabians" (
Die sieben Schwaben) published in
Kinder- und Hausmärchen by the
Brothers Grimm. Similar jokes are often made by the
French toward
Belgians, the
Russians towards
Georgians, the
Australians toward
New Zealanders, or
Canadians toward
Newfoundlanders. However, this has ceased to a large extent, while Swabians are nowadays said to be frugal, clever, entrepreneurial and hard-working. In a widely respected publicity campaign on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
Baden-Württemberg, the economically most successful state in modern Germany, the Swabians famously replied to the former jokes with: ""We can do everything except speak
High German" (
Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch);
see image.
Many Swabian surnames end with the suffixes
-le,
-el,
-ehl, and
-lin. Examples would be:
Schäuble,
Egeler and
Gmelin. The popular surname
Schwab is derived from this area, meaning literally "Swabian".
In
Switzerland, "Sauschwab" is a derogatory term for Germans, derived from the
Swabian War of 1499. In
Serbian,
Polish, and
Bulgarian, "Shvab" or "Szwab" may be a semi-abusive term for any German, not just one from Swabia. In parts of the former Yugoslavia (for example
Slovenia,
Slavonija in
Croatia, and
Vojvodina in
Serbia), the term
Swab (locally
Švab, from Шваб) is somewhat applied to all German peoples who lived in those regions until shortly after World War II, and many of their descendants; it's even occasionally used as a slang term to refer to all Germans as well as Austrians and Swiss German speaking people.
Related Alemannic Dialects
Swabian (Schwäbisch) is one of the
Alemannic German dialects of High German, spoken in the region of Swabia, present in the North-Eastern area of the Alemannic
Sprachraum. A separate version of Wikipedia is maintained as
D’alemannisch Wikipedia
, which the main page called .
Famous Swabians
- Leopold Mozart, Father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the family originally came from Swabia
- Maria-Luise Woehrle (arctic weather expert and region skiing champion)
- Andreas Stihl ("Founder of Stihl Maschinenfabrik")
- Götz von Berlichingen ("the knight with the iron fist")
- Johann Georg Faust (protagonist of tales and dramas)
- Johannes Kepler (astronomer and mathematician)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (philosopher)
- Friedrich Schiller (historian and writer, "Wilhelm Tell", "Die Räuber", "Maria Stuart", "Ode an die Freude")
- Lorenz Oken (biologist, anatomist, naturphilosoph)
- Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer (biologist)
- Konrad von Jungingen (Grand Master of the Teutonic Order)
- Ulrich von Jungingen (Grand Master of the Teutonic Order)
- Friedrich Hölderlin (poet)
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (philosopher)
- Gerdoner (LFS skinner)
- Ottmar Mergenthaler (inventor of the linotype)
- Hans Schober (structural engineer)
- Justinus Kerner (poet)
- Ludwig Uhland (poet)
- Eduard Mörike (poet)
- Wilhelm Hauff (poet)
- Gottlieb Daimler (developer of the first modern car, founder of Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, today: Daimler)
- Rudolf Diesel (inventor of the Diesel engine)
- Robert Bosch (inventor, industrialist and philanthropist)
- Margarete Steiff (toy maker)
- Carl Laemmle (founder of Hollywood)
- Karl Friedrich Benz (inventor of the first gas (petrol)-powered automobile)
- Nikolaus August Otto (inventor of the internal-combustion engine)
- Felix Heinrich Wankel (inventor of the Wankel engine )
- Johannes Nauclerus (historian, university rector/chancellor)
- Theodor Heuss (former President of the Federal Republic of Germany)
- Richard von Weizsäcker (former President of the Federal Republic of Germany)
- Kurt Georg Kiesinger (former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany)
- Sophie Scholl (member of the White Rose resistance against the Nazis)
- Hans Scholl (founder of the White Rose resistance against the Nazis)
- Georg Elser (member of the resistance against the Nazis)
- Claus von Stauffenberg (leader of the July 20 Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler)
- Erwin Rommel (World War II general)
- Martin Heidegger (philosopher)
- Roland Emmerich (Hollywood director)
- Harald Schmidt (late-night talk show host)
- Jürgen Klinsmann (football (soccer) player and former coach of the German national team)
- Albert Einstein (physicist, Nobel Laureate)
- Hermann Hesse (poet, writer, 1946 Nobel Laureate for Literature)
- Roland Asch (race driver)
- Joachim Löw (football (soccer) player and current coach of the German national team)
- Gudrun Ensslin (a founder of the German terrorist group Red Army Faction or RAF, a.k.a. the Baader-Meinhof Gang)
- Gustav Schwab (writer, most popular by "die schönsten Sagen des klassischen Altertums")
- Dieter Baumann (olympic gold medalist and anti doping activist)
- Wilhelm Groener (railroad chief in the German General Staff, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Defense, and acting Minister of the Interior in the Weimar Republic)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Swabia'.
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