Eberhard im Bart

Eberhard I of Württemberg (11 December 1445 – 24 February 1496). From 1459 until 1495 he was Count Eberhard V. From July 1495 he was the first Duke of Württemberg. He is also known as Eberhard im Bart (Eberhard the Bearded).

Born at Urach, he was the son of count Ludwig I and his wife Mechthild of the Palatinate, born as countess palatine by the Rhine. He was first buried in the collegiate church Saint Peter auf dem Einsiedel, later in the collegiate church of Tübingen.

Count Eberhard V officially took charge of government of Württemberg-Urach when he was still underage. Württemberg was divided since 1442. At first he had a legal guardian, a respected nobleman who had mentored his father as a youth, Rudolph von Ehingen of Kilchberg.

A fencing manual was created for Eberhard in 1467 by Hans Talhoffer. The manuscript, Cod.icon. 394 a, is currently held by the Bavarian State Library.

The following year, in 1468, he travelled to Jerusalem and became a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. To commemorate this he chose the palm as his symbol.

In Urach on 12 April (or 4 July) 1474 he married a prestigious bride, Barbara, daughter of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. The only daughter out of this marriage, Barbara, was born in Urach on 2 August 1475 and died on 15 October of that year.

In 1477 Eberhard, whose motto was attempto ("I dare"), founded the University of Tübingen. He ordered the expulsion of all Jews living in Württemberg. He invited the Brethren of the Common Life and the community of devotio moderna to his country and founded collegiate churches in Urach, Dettingen an der Erms, Herrenberg, Einsiedel near Tübingen and Tachenhausen.

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