New_System_of_Geogra.. - Medievalcoinage.com

Swabla.] GERMANY. i^^
tains. Many parts of it afford a fine fpring-water, wliiill: others have only
rain ; and the principal part of its woods are beech, with little or no rir. It
feeds alfo
very large flocks of flieep.
§.4. The county of .Stc'^/'/ö, in Lntin ^'//riv'i/, derives its name from the
Suevi, who were lb called from their long hair, which they braided and
tied like a Sclnoeif, or train. This Tacitus mentions as a peculiarity belonging
to them by which a Sii'abidii was known. The Sucvi at firft dwelt
betwixt the IVeßr and Oder, but afterwards crolTed the Elbe to the
Mayn and Dainibe ; and, in the time of Jtdiin Cajar, to the Neckar and
Rhine. They inhabited fo large a part of Germany, that feveral nations
were included among them ; as the Sc7iones, Hermiinduri, ^adi, Marcovuiniii
and others, fome of whom palled through Gaid into Spain. In the
fifth century, the country of the Swabians received its name from the Allemamii;
but on the defeat of the latter by the Franks, in the year 496, near
Zuibich, in Latin Tolbiaciim, a town in the Eledtorate oi Cologne ; and Alkmajinia
thus falling under the dominion of the Franks, the name of Sivabia
again came into ufe, and the Kings of the Franks placed dukes over
the country. Charles the Great aboliflied thefe dukes and appointed Cameras
Jsiintii as governors of Swabia, who continued under his fucceflbrs. Kin^
Conrad I. to pleafe the Sivabians, reftored the dukedom and nominated
Count Burchard duke of S'wabia. This dignity was at firft confined to no
particular family, but the Emperor, Henry IV. having conferred it on his
ion-in-law F/Wfr/V/(' oi Hohcnbaiifen ; who, in the year 1094, arrived to
the adtual poflbffion of it, rendered it hereditary to his defcendants. Thefe
new dukes were alfo dukes of Franconia, and enjoyed the fovereign power
both in temporal and fpiritual matters, being not only inverted at the
public Diets with hereditary pofts of the Empire, but alio with their own
offices of ftate, which were always filled with the nobleft families in Sivabia-,
as the Palfgrave of Tubingen and the lords-ftewards of /fWi^z^r^, and before
them with the counts of Maurßetten and WeiJJenhoj'n, the cup-bearers of
Winterßettcn, the chamberlains of ivc;;/;/^/, the marfhals-counts of jD////>7^ra;
and after them the counts of Wurtemberg, the great huntfmen of Aurach,
and others. But as both, from the beginning and during the continuance
of the ducal government there were in S'wabia a great number of other
powerful counts and lords, by whole advice and confent, Burchard, the
firft duke, and his fuccellors, down to Frederick of Hohenliaufen, had been
placed over the dutchy of Swabia, it is not probable that they refigned their
independency and lubmitted themfelves as vaffals to the duke : but though
they honoured thefe dukes with their attendance at his court, though the
religious foundations were under their protection, and though, befides civil
fervices, they alfo accompanied them in their wars, fighting under thcLr
banners, and even took an oath of allegiance and fidelity to them, yet
were they originally free, and continued , together with their lands and
Vol. V. X lordÜiips, .