Illerkirchberg is a town in the district of Alb-Donau in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Unterkirchberg (Lower Kirchberg) had a Roman

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

built around 40 AD as part of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes to secure the street along the south shore of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , ...

. Oberkirchberg (Upper Kirchberg) was mentioned in 1087 as seat of the counts of Kirchberg who extinguished in 1519. By then, the county had already been sold to Bavaria and then to Austria. It was finally sold by Emperor Maximilian I. to

Jakob Fugger Jakob Fugger ''of the Lily'' (german: Jakob Fugger von der Lilie; 6 March 1459 – 30 December 1525), also known as Jakob Fugger ''the Rich'' or sometimes Jakob II, was a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. He was a descendan ...

in 1507, together with the adjacent lordships Weißenhorn, Wullenstetten and Pfaffenhofen (Roth), for 50.000 guilders. Schmiechen followed in 1508 and the lordship Biberbach in 1514. The emperor granted him the title of

Imperial Count Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

in 1514 so the former burgher could operate his business without interference from local nobility.Häberlein 2006, p. 188Pölnitz 1999, p. 112 In the course of his life Jakob Fugger also became lord of more than 50 smaller villages. A new castle was built by the Fugger family in 1767; its architect was

Franz Anton Bagnato Franz (Ignaz) Anton Bagnato, (15 June 173118 June 1810), also known as ''Francesco Antonio Bagnato,'' was the son of architect Johann Caspar Bagnato. Franz Anton Bagnato was born in Altshausen. Like his father he was an architect active during t ...

. The castle remained the seat of the Kirchberg branch of the family. Today it is owned by countess Maria-Elisabeth von

Thun und Hohenstein The House of Thun und Hohenstein, also known as Thun-Hohenstein, belonged to the historical Austrian and Bohemian nobility. There is one princely and several comital branches of the family. The princely branch of the family lived at Děčín (T ...

, née countess Fugger zu Kirchberg und Weißenhorn. The county became again part of Bavaria between 1805 and 1810 when it was sold to the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

. Today it is part of

, located on the Bavarian border. File:Kirchberg Cgm896.jpg, Kirchberg on the Iller in 1555 File:Schloss Oberkirchberg Illerkirchberg 101.jpg, Upper Kirchberg Castle

References

Alb-Donau-Kreis Württemberg Populated places established in the 1st century {{AlbDonau-geo-stub