County of Württemberg
| County of Württemberg | ||||||||||
| Grafschaft Württemberg | ||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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.png) Division of Württemberg by the Treaty of Nürtingen
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| Capital | Stuttgart | |||||||||
| Languages | Swabian German | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||||||
| Count of Württemberg | ||||||||||
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ca 1089–1122 (first count) |
Conrad I |
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| • | 1457–96 (last count) |
Eberhard V |
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| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
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County founded by Conrad I |
before 1081 |
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Treaty of Nürtingen divides county |
1442 |
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Treaty of Münsingen reunites county |
1482 |
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| • | Raised to duchy | 1495 | ||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Germany
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The County of Württemberg was a historical territory with origins in the realm of the House of Württemberg, the heart of the old Duchy of Swabia. Its capital was Stuttgart. From the 12th century until 1495, it was a county within the Holy Roman Empire. It later became a duchy and, after the breakup of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom.
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, Conrad von Beutelsbach. He took this name from his ancestral castle of Württemberg: records of this family are found from approximately 1080 onwards. The earliest historical details of a Count of Württemberg relate to Ulrich I, who ruled from 1241 to 1265. He served as marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems, and acquired Urach in 1260. Under his sons, Ulrich II and Eberhard I, as well as their successors, the power of the family grew steadily. Eberhard I (died 1325) fought against three different German kings, and was often successful. He doubled the area of his county and transferred his residence from Württemberg Castle to the "Old Castle", in the centre of modern Stuttgart.
Though less prominent, his successors increased the size of the Württemberg lands. In 1381, the Duchy of Teck was bought, and marriage to an heiress led to the acquisition of Montbéliard in 1397. Several times, the family divided up its lands among different inheritors; in 1482, though, the Treaty of Münsingen reunited the territory, declared it indivisible, and handed control over it to Count Eberhard V, who is described as im Bart (the Bearded). This arrangement received the sanction of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, as well as that of the Imperial Diet in 1495. Unusually for Germany, Württemberg had a bicameral parliament from 1457 onwards, the Landtag, known otherwise as the "diet" or "Estates" of Württemberg: all new taxation had to receive the approval of this parliament. In 1477, Count Eberhard founded the University of Tübingen and expelled the Jews.
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