The Rammachgau (also ''Rammagau'') was a Gau in southern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in present-day

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

. The Rammachgau was located in northern

Upper Swabia Upper Swabia ( or ) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.'' 19. Auflage. Band 16, 1991, p. 72. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Jura, Lake Con ...

Origin and name

After the resistance of the Alamannic nobles to Frankish rule had been overcome in 746, the Duchy of the Alamanni was administratively incorporated into the

Frankish kingdom The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle A ...

by implementing the Frankish units of administration there too. The Franks used the term ''Gau'' to denote a politico-geographical division within the Frankish kingdom. The term ''Gau'' was often suffixed to a distinctive geographical

place name Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

. One of these administrative units was the ''Rammachgau''. The name of this administrative unit derived from the name of a river, or part thereof, called ''Rammach''. The name of the river was subsequently lost. Contemporary documents refer to this administrative unit as ''Rammackeuui'' (778), ''Rammekevve'' (894), ''Rammichgowe'' (ca. 1070) and ''Rammechgowe'' (1099). It has been suggested that the Rammachgau, together with the Nibelgau and the Illergau, belonged to a larger administrative unit called '' pagus Duria'' during the period of

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

rule.M. Borgolte, ''Geschichte der Grafschaften Alemanniens in fränkischer Zeit'', p. 181f. The fall of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

dynasty and the simultaneous dissolution of central authority in the 13th century gave the local nobility the opportunity to increase its independence from central authority. Consequently, various local rulers managed to establish authority over territories within the Rammachgau, rendering the old administrative units, based on counts as being the representative of the central authority, obsolete.

Expanse

The Rammachgau stretched from the south at Altheim, Langenschemmern and Ochsenhausen to the north at Hüttisheim and Dellmensingen, from the west at Ingerkingen to the east at Burgrieden. The Rammachgau was bordered to the south by the Haistergau, to the east by the Illergau and to the west by the Ruadolteshuntare. To the north the Rammachgau bordered on the territory of the Illergau as well as the Ruadolteshuntare. The area of settlement of the Rammachgau was marked by natural borders except to the north. The populated areas were all in, or in close proximity to, the valleys of the rivers Riß, Rottum and Rot. The borders were marked by large

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s on the hills surrounding the rivers or by swampy areas unsuitable for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The administrative centre of the Rammachgau was Laupheim.

Origin and name

Expanse

See also

Notes

Further reading