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Swabians (German: Schwaben or Schwabenland) is both a historically grown and linguistic (see Swabian German) group in Germany. Swabians live in most of present-day state of Baden-Württemberg (specifically, historical Württemberg and the Hohenzollerische Lande), as well as the Bavarian administrative district of Swabia. In the Middle Ages, Baden, Vorarlberg, the modern principality of Liechtenstein, modern German-speaking Switzerland, and Alsace (nowadays belonging to France) were also considered to be a part of Swabia.

Germany. Light blue region is state of Baden-Württemberg. To east of B-W is state of Bavaria, with Swabia administrative region in pink. Swabia is a region, rather than a political entity, so well-defined borders do not exist.

Swabians have in former times been the target of many jokes and stories where they are depicted as excessively frugal, 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, Australians toward New Zealanders, or Canadians towards Newfoundlanders. However, this has ceased to a large extent, while Swabians are nowadays said to be stingy, clever, entrepreneurial and hard-working. In a widely respected publictity campaign on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Baden-Württemberg, the economically most successful region in modern Germany, the Swabians famously replied to the former jokes with: "We are capable of doing anything except for speaking 'high German'" (Wir können alles - außer Hochdeutsch).

The surname "Schwab" is derived from this area, meaning literally, "One who hails from Swabia."

History

Swabia (the name derives from the Suebi, a Germanic tribe that inhabited the region) was one of the original stem duchies of the German Kingdom, 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. Two major dynasties which arose out of the region were the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns, as well as the Dukes of Württemberg and the Margraves of Baden. 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.

Fearing the power of the greater princes, the cities and smaller secular rulers of Swabia joined together 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.

In the wake of the territorial reorganization of the Empire of 1803, the shape of Swabia was entirely changed. All the ecclesiatical estates were secularized, and most of the smaller secular states, and 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, Germany claimed sovereignty over an area of Antarctica, which was named New Swabia in honour of Swabia.

Swabian settlements abroad

There are many Swabian settlements outside of the European continent, found in Brazil, Canada, and the United States. Strong Swabian settlements also exist in Hungary, Romania, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Famous Swabians

Historical

Modern era

Literature

Surnames

Many Swabian surnames end with the suffixes -le, -ler and -lin. Examples would be: Schäuble, Egeler and Gmelin

Trivia

In parts of the former Yugoslavia (ie.Slavonija in Croatia, and Vojvodina in Serbia), the term Swab (locally Švab) is somewhat applied to all German peoples who dwelled in those regions until shortly after World War II, and many of their descendants; it is even occasionally used as a slang term to refer to all Germans as well as Austrians and Swiss German speaking people.

See also

External links