Bible Encyclopedias
Wurttemberg

Population

The population of the four departments (Kreise) into which the kingdom is divided is shown below: - The population is particularly dense in the Neckar valley from Esslingen northward. The mean annual increase from 'goo to 1905 amounted to 1.22%. 8.5% of the births are illegitimate. Classified according to religion, about 69% are Protestants, 30% Roman Catholics, and Jews amount to about z %. Protestants largely preponderate in the Neckar district, Roman Catholics in that of the Danube. The people of the north-west belong to the Alamannic stock, those of the north-east to the Franconian, and those of the centre and south to the Swabian. According to the latest occupation census, nearly half of the entire population is supported by agriculture, and a third by industrial pursuits, mining and commerce. In 1910, 506,061 persons were engaged in agriculture and kindred occupations, 432,114 in industrial occupations, and 100,109 in trade and commerce.

The largest towns in the kingdom are Stuttgart (with Cann stadt), Ulm, Heilbronn, Esslingen, Reutlingen, Ludwigsburg,. Gdppingen, Gmund, Tubingen, Tuttlingen and Ravensburg.

Agriculture

Wurttemberg is essentially an agricultural state,. and of its 4,821,760 acres, 44.9% are agricultural land and gardens, 1.1% vineyards, 17.9% meadows and pastures, and 30.8% forest. It possesses rich meadowlands, cornfields, orchards, gardens, and hills covered with vines. The chief agricultural products are oats, spelt, rye, wheat, barley, hops. To these must be added wine (mostly of excellent quality) of an annual value of about one million sterling, peas and beans, maize, fruit, chiefly cherries and apples, beets and tobacco, and garden and dairy produce. Of live stock, cattle, sheep and pigs are reared in considerable numbers, and great attention is paid to the breeding of horses.

Mining

Salt and iron are the only minerals of great industrial importance found in Wurttemberg. The salt industry only began to be of importance at the beginning of the 19th century. The iron industry, on the other hand, is of great antiquity, but it is hampered by the entire absence of coal mines in the country. Other minerals: produced are granite, limestone, ironstone and fireclay.

Manufactures

The old-established manufactures embrace linen, woollen and cotton fabrics, particularly at Esslingen and Goppingen, and paper-making, especially at Ravensburg, Heilbronn and other places in Lower Swabia. The manufacturing industries assisted by the government developed rapidly during the later years of the 19th century, notably metal-working, especially such branches of it as require exact and delicate workmanship. Of particular importance are iron and steel goods, locomotives (for which Esslingen enjoys a great reputation), machinery, motor-cars, bicycles, small arms (in the Mauser factory at Oberndorf), all kinds of scientific and artistic appliances, pianos (at Stuttgart), organs and other musical instruments, photographic apparatus, clocks (in the Black Forest),. electrical apparatus, and gold and silver goods. There are also extensive chemical works, potteries, cabinet-making workshops, sugar factories, breweries and distilleries. Water-power and petrol largely compensate for the lack of coal. Among other interesting developments is the manufacture of liquid carbonic acid gas procured from natural gas springs beside the Eyach, a tributary of the Neckar.

Commerce

The principal exports are cattle, cereals, wood, pianos,.

salt, oil, leather, cotton and linen fabrics, beer, wine and spirits. The chief commercial cities are Stuttgart, Ulm, Heilbronn and Friedrichshafen. The book trade of Stuttgart, called the Leipzig of South Germany, is very extensive.

Communications

In 1907 there were 1219 m. of railways, of which all except 159 m. belonged to the state. The Neckar, the Schussen and the lake of Constance are all navigable for boats; the Danube begins to be navigable at Ulm. The roads of Wurttemberg are fairly good; the oldest of them are Roman. Wurttemberg, like Bavaria, retained the control of its own postal and telegraph service on the foundation of the new German empire.

Constitution

Wurttemberg is a constitutional monarchy and a member of the German empire, with four votes in the federal council (Bundesrat), and seventeen in the imperial diet. The constitution rests on a law of 1819, amended in 1868, in 1874, and again in 1906. The crown is hereditary, and conveys the simple title of king of Wurttemberg. The king receives a civil list of 103,227. The legislature is bi-cameral. The upper chamber (Standesherren) is composed of adult princes of the blood, heads of noble families from the rank of count (Graf) upwards, representatives of territories (Standesherrschaften), which possessed votes in the old German imperial diet or in the local diet; it has also members (not more than 6) nominated by the king, 8 members of knightly rank, 6 ecclesiastical dignitaries, a representative of the university of Tubingen, and of the technical high school of Stuttgart, 2 representatives of commerce and industry, 2 of agriculture, and i of handicrafts. The lower house (Abgeordnetenhaus) has 92 members, viz. a representative from each of the administrative divisions (Oberamtsbezirke), 63 in all without Stuttgart, which has 6 representatives; also 1 from each of the six chief provincial towns, and 17 members elected by the two electoral divisions (Landeswahlkreise) into which the kingdom is divided. The latter class of members as well as those for Stuttgart are elected on the principle of proportional representation. The king appoints the president of the upper chamber; since 1874 the lower chamber has elected its own chairman. Members of both houses must be over twenty-five years of age, and parliaments are elected for six years; the suffrage is enjoyed by all male citizens over twentyfive years of age, and voting is by ballot.

The highest executive is in the hands of a ministry of state (Staatsministerium), consisting of six ministers respectively of justice, foreign affairs (with the royal household, railways, posts and telegraphs), the interior, public worship and education, war and finance. There is also a privy council, consisting of the ministers and some nominated councillors (wirkliche Staatsrl te), who advise the sovereign at his command. The judges of a special supreme court of justice, called the Staatsgerichtshof (which is the guardian of the constitution), are partly elected by the chambers and partly appointed by the king. Each of the chambers has the right to impeach the ministers. The country is divided into four governmental departments (Kreise) and subdivided into sixty-four divisions (Oberamtsbezirke), each of which is under a headman (Oberamtrnann) assisted by a local council (Amtsversasnmlung). At the head of each of the four departments is a government (Regierung). Religion. - The right of direction over the churches resides in the king, who has also, so long as he belongs to the Protestant Church, the guardianship of the spiritual rights of that Church. The Protestant Church is controlled (under the minister of religion and education) by a consistory and a synod - the former consisting of a president, 9 councillors and 6 general superintendents or " prelates " from six principal towns, and the latter of a representative council, including both lay and clerical members. The Roman Catholic Church is subject to the bishop of Rottenburg, in the archdiocese of Freiburg. Politically it is under a Roman Catholic council, appointed by government. The Jews also, since 1828, have been subject to a state-appointed council (Oberkirchenbehorde). Education. - According to official returns there is not an individual in the kingdom above the age of ten years who cannot both read and write. The higher branches of learning are provided in the university of Tubingen, in the technical high school (with academic rank) of Stuttgart, the veterinary high school at Stuttgart, the commercial college at Stuttgart, and the agricultural college of Hohenheim. There are gymnasia and other schools in all the larger towns, while every commune has a school. There are numerous schools and colleges for women. There is also a school of viticulture .at Weinsberg.

A rmy. - By terms of the convention of 1871 the troops of Wurttemberg form the XIII. army corps of the imperial German army.

Finances

The state revenue for1909-1910was estimated at £4,840,520, which is nearly balanced by the expenditure. About one-third of the revenue is derived from railways, forests and mines; about £1,400,000 from direct taxation; and the remainder from indirect taxes, the post-office and sundry items. In 1909 the public debt amounted to £29,285,335, of which more than £27,000,000 was incurred for railway construction. Of the expenditure over £900,000 is spent upon public worship and education, and over £1,200,000 goes in interest and repayment of the national debt. To the treasury of the German empire the kingdom contributed £660,000.

Authorities

- See Wiirttembergische Jahrbiicher fiir Statistik and Landeskunde; Das Konigreich Wurttemberg, eine Beschreibung nach Kreisen, Oberdmtern and Gemeinden (Stuttgart, 1904); Statistisches Handbuch fur das Konigreich Wurttemberg (Stuttgart, 1885 fol.); Das Konigreich Wurttemberg, eine Beschreibung von Land, Volk and Staat (1893); the Jahresberichte der Handelsand Gewerbekammern in Wurttemberg; Lang, Die Entwickelung der Bevolkerung Wurttembergs im Laufe des .r9ten Jahrhunderts (Tubingen, 1903); Engel and Schulze, Geognosticher Wegweiser durch Wurttemberg (Stuttgart, 1908); Goz, Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Wurttemberg (Tubingen, 1908); and F. Bitzer, Regierung and Steinde in Wurttemberg (Stuttgart, 1882).

History

The origin of the name Wurttemberg is uncertain, but the once popular derivation from Wirth am Berg is now universally rejected. Some authorities derive it from a proper name, Wiruto or Wirtino; others from a Celtic place-name, Virolunum or Verdunum. At all events from being the name of a castle near the village of Rothenberg, not far from Stuttgart, it was extended over the surrounding country, and as the lords of this district increased their possessions so the name covered an ever-widening area, until it reached its present denotation. Early forms of it are Wirtenberg, Wirtembenc and Wirtenberc. Wirtemberg was long current, and in the latter part of the 16th century Wurtemberg and Wurttemberg appeared. In 1806 Wurttemberg was adopted as the official spelling, though Wurtemberg is also common and occurs sometimes in official documents and even on coins issued after that date.

As far as we know, the first inhabitants of the country were the Celts, and then the Suebi. In the 1st century A.D. the Romans conquered the land and defended their position there by a rampart (limes). Early in the 3rd century the Alamanni drove the Romans beyond the Rhine and the Danube, but in their turn they were conquered by the Franks under Clovis, the decisive battle being fought in 496. For about four hundred years the district was part of the Frankish empire, being administered by counts, but in the 9th century it was incorporated with the German duchy of Swabia. The duchy of Swabia was ruled by the Hohenstaufen family until the death of Conradin in 1268, when a considerable part of it fell to the count of Wurttemberg, the representative of a family first mentioned about 1080, a certain Conrad von Beutelsbach, having called himself after his ancestral castle of Wurttemberg. The earliest count about whom anything is known is one Ulrich, who ruled from 1241 to 1265. He was marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, and had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems. Under his sons, Ulrich II. and Eberhard I., and their successors the power of the family grew steadily. Eberhard (d. 1325) was the opponent, and not always the unsuccessful one, of three German kings; he doubled the area of his county and transferred his residence from Wiirttemberg to Stuttgart. His successors were not perhaps equally important, but all added something to the area of Wurttemberg. The lands of the family were several times divided, but in 1482 they were declared indivisible and were united under Count Eberhard V., called im Bart. This arrangement was confirmed by the German king, Maximilian I., and the imperial diet in 1495.

Eberhard was one of the most energetic rulers that Wurttemberg ever had, and in 1495 his county was raised to the rank of duchy. Dying in 1496, he was succeeded by his cousin, Duke Eberhard II., who, however, was deposed after a short reign of two years. The long reign (1498-1550) of Ulrich I., who succeeded to the duchy while still a child, was a most eventful period for the country, and many traditions cluster round the name of this gifted, unscrupulous and ambitious man. The extortions by which he sought to raise money for his extravagant pleasures excited a rising known as that of the arme Konrad (poor Conrad), not unlike the rebellion in England led by Wat Tyler; order was soon restored, and in 1514 by the treaty of Tubingen the people undertook to pay the duke's debts in return for various political privileges, which in effect laid the foundation of the constitutional liberties of the country. A few years later Ulrich quarrelled with the Swabian League, and its forces, helped by William IV., duke of Bavaria, who was angered by the treatment meted out by Ulrich to his wife Sabina, a Bavarian princess, invaded Wurttemberg, expelled the duke and sold his duchy to the emperor Charles V. for 220,000 gulden. Charles handed over Wurttemberg to his brother, the German king, Ferdinand I., who was its nominal ruler for a few years. Soon, however, the discontent caused by the oppressive Austrian rule, the disturbances in Germany leading to the Peasants' War and the commotions aroused by the Reformation gave Ulrich an opportunity to recover it. Aided by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and other Protestant princes, he fought a victorious battle against Ferdinand's troops at Lauffen in May 1534, and then by the treaty of Cadan he was again recognized as duke, but was forced to accept his duchy as an Austrian fief. He now introduced the reformed doctrines and proceeded to endow Protestant churches and schools throughout his land. Ulrich's connexion with the league of Schmalkalden led to another expulsion, but in 1547 he was reinstated by Charles V., although on somewhat onerous terms.

Ulrich's son and successor, Christopher (1515-1568), completed the work of converting his subjects to the reformed faith. He introduced a system of church government, the Grosse Kirchenordnung, which has endured in part to the present day. In this reign a standing commission was established to superintend the finances, and the members of this body, all of whom belonged to the upper classes, gained considerable power in the state, mainly at the expense of the towns. Christopher's son Louis, the founder of the Collegium illustre, died childless in 1593 and was succeeded by a kinsman, Frederick I. (1557-1608). This energetic prince, who disregarded the limits placed to his authority by the rudimentary constitution, by paying a large sum of money, induced the emperor Rudolph II. in 1599 to free the duchy from the suzerainty of Austria. Thus once again Wurttemberg became a direct fief of the Empire. Unlike his predecessor, the next duke, John Frederick (1582-1628), was not allowed to become an absolute ruler, but was forced to recognize the checks on his power. During this reign, which ended in July 1628, Wurttemberg suffered severely from the Thirty Years' War, although the duke himself took no part in it. His son and successor Eberhard III. (1614-1674), however, plunged into it as an ally of France and Sweden as soon as he came of age in 1633, but after the battle of NOrdlingen in 1634 the duchy was occupied by the imperialists and he himself was for some years an exile. He was restored by the peace of Westphalia, but it was to a depopulated and impoverished country, and he spent his remaining years in efforts to repair the disasters of the great war. During the reign of Eberhard IV. (1676-1733), who was only one year old when his father Duke William Louis died in 1677, Wurttemberg made the acquaintance of another destructive enemy. In 1688, 1703 and 1707 the French entered the duchy and inflicted brutalities and sufferings upon the inhabitants. The sparsely populated country afforded a welcome to the fugitive Waldenses, who did something to restore it to prosperity, but this benefit was partly neutralized by the extravagance of the duke, anxious to provide for the expensive tastes of his mistress, Christiana Wilhelmina von Gravenitz. Charles Alexander, who became duke in 1733, had embraced the Roman Catholic faith while an officer in the Austrian service. His favourite adviser was the Jew Suss Oppenheimer, and it was thought that master and servant were aiming at the suppression of the diet and the introduction of the Roman Catholic religion. However, the sudden death of Charles Alexander in March 1737 put an abrupt end to these plans, and the regent, Charles Rudolph of Wurttemberg-Neuenstadt, had Oppenheimer hanged.

Charles Eugene (1728-1793), who came of age in 1744, was. gifted, but vicious and extravagant, and he soon fell into the hands of unworthy favourites. He spent a great deal of money in building palaces at Stuttgart and elsewhere, and took the course, unpopular to his Protestant subjects, of fighting against Prussia during the Seven Years' War. His whole reign was disturbed by dissensions between the ruler and the ruled, the' duke's irregular and arbitrary methods of raising money arousing great discontent. The intervention of the emperor and even of foreign powers was invoked, and in 1770 a formal arrangement removed some of the grievances of the people. But Charles Eugene did not keep his promises, although in his old age he made a few further concessions. He died childless, and was. succeeded by one brother, Louis Eugene (d. 1795), and then by another, Frederick Eugene (d. 1797). This latter prince, who had served in the army of Frederick the Great, to whom he was related by marriage, educated his children in the Protestant faith. Thus, when his son Frederick II. became duke in 1797, the ruler of Wurttemberg was again a Protestant, and the royal house has adhered to this faith since that date. During Frederick Eugene's short reign the French invaded Wurttemberg, compelled the duke to withdraw his troops from the imperial army and to pay a sum of money.

Frederick II. (1754-1816), a prince whose model was Frederick the Great, took part in the war against France in defiance of the wishes of his people, and when the French again invaded and devastated the country he retired to Erlangen, where he remained until after the conclusion of the peace of Luneville in 1801. By a private treaty with France, signed in March 1802, he ceded his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, receiving in return nine imperial towns, among them Reutlingen and Heilbronn, and some other territories, amounting altogether to about 850 sq. m. and containing about 124,000 inhabitants. He also accepted from Napoleon the title of elector. These new districts were not incorporated with the duchy, but remained separate; they were known as New Wurttemberg and were ruled without a diet. In 1805 Wurttemberg took up arms on the side of France, and by the peace of Pressburg in December 1805 the elector was rewarded with various Austrian possessions in Swabia and with other lands in the neighbourhood. On the 1st of January 1806 Frederick assumed the title of king, abrogated the constitution and united old and new Wurttemberg. Subsequently he placed the property of the church under the control of the state. In 1806 he joined the Confederation of the Rhine and received further additions of territory containing 160,000 inhabitants; a little later, by the peace of Vienna in October 1809, about 11o,000 more persons were placed under his rule. In return for these favours Frederick joined Napoleon in his campaigns against Prussia, Austria and Russia, and of 16,000 of his subjects who marched to Moscow only a few hundreds returned. Then after the battle of Leipzig he deserted the waning fortunes of the French emperor, and by a treaty made with Metternich at Fulda in November 1813 he secured the confirmation of his royal title and of his recent acquisitions of territory,. while his troops marched with those of the allies into France. In 1815 the king joined the Germanic Confederation, but the congress of Vienna made no change in the extent of his lands. In the same year he laid before the representatives of his people the sketch of a new constitution, but this was rejected, and in the midst of the commotion Frederick died on the 30th of October 1816.

At once the new king, William I., took up the consideration of this question and after much discussion a new constitution was granted in September 1819: This is the constitution which, with subsequent modifications, is still in force, and it is described in an earlier section of this article. A period of quietness now set in, and the condition of the kingdom, its education, its agriculture and its trade and manufactures, began to receive earnest attention, while by frugality, both in public and in private matters, King William helped to repair the shattered finances of the country. But the desire for greater political freedom had not been entirely satisfied by the constitution of 1819, and after 1830 there was a certain amount of unrest. This, however, soon passed away, while trade was fostered by the inclusion of Wurttemberg in the German Zollverein and by the construction of railways. The revolutionary movement of 1848 did not leave Wurttemberg untouched, although no actual violence took place within the kingdom. The king was compelled to dismiss Johannes Schlayer (1792-1860) and his other ministers, and to call to power men with more liberal ideas, the exponents of the idea of a united Germany. A democratic constitution was proclaimed, but as soon as the movement had spent its force the liberal ministers were dismissed, and in October 1849 Schlayer and his associates were again in power. By interfering with popular electoral rights the king and his ministers succeeded in assembling a servile diet in 1851, and this surrendered all the privileges gained since 1848. In this way the constitution of 1819 was restored, and power passed into the hands of a bureaucracy. Almost the last act of William's long reign was to conclude a concordat with the Papacy, but this was repudiated by the diet, which preferred to regulate the relations between church and state in its own way.

In July 1864 Charles I. (1823-1891) succeeded his father William as king and had almost at once to face considerable difficulties. In the duel between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany, William I. had consistently taken the part of the former power, and this policy was equally acceptable to the new king and his advisers. In 1866 Wurttemberg took up arms on behalf of Austria, but three weeks after the battle of Koniggratz her troops were decisively beaten at Tauberbischofsheim, and the country was at the mercy of Prussia. The Prussians occupied the northern part of Wurttemberg and peace was made in August 1866; by this Wurttemberg paid an indemnity of 8,000,000 gulden, but at once concluded a secret offensive and defensive treaty with her conqueror.

The end of the struggle was followed by a renewal of the democratic agitation in Wurttemberg, but this had achieved no tangible results when the great war between France and Prussia broke out in 1870. Although the policy of Wurttemberg had continued antagonistic to Prussia, the country shared in the national enthusiasm which swept over Germany, and its troops took a creditable part in the battle of Worth and in other operations of the war. In 1871 Wurttemberg became a member of the new German empire, but retained control of her own post office, telegraphs and railways. She had also certain special privileges with regard to taxation and the army, and for the next ten years the policy of Wurttemberg was one of enthusiastic loyalty to the new order. Many important reforms, especially in the realm of finance, were introduced, but a proposal for a union of the railway system with that of the rest of Germany was rejected. Certain reductions in taxation having been made in 1889, the reform of the constitution became the question of the hour. The king and his ministers wished to strengthen the conservative element in the chambers, but only slight reforms were effected by the laws of 1874, 1876 and 1879, a more thorough settlement being postponed. On the 6th of October 1891 King Charles died suddenly, and was succeeded by his cousin William II. (b. 1848), who continued the policy of his predecessor. The reform of the constitution continued to be discussed, and the election of 1895 was memorable because of the return of a powerful party of democrats. King William had no sons, nor had his only Protestant kinsman, Duke Nicholas (1833-1903)1903) consequently the succession would ultimately pass to a Roman Catholic branch of the family, and this prospect raised up certain difficulties about the relations between church and state. The heir to the throne in 1910 was the Roman Catholic Duke Albert (b. 1865).1865).

Between 5900 and 1910 the political history of Wurttemberg centred round the settlement of the constitutional and the educational questions. The constitution was revised in 5906 on the lines already indicated, and a settlement of the education difficulty was brought about in 1909. In 1904 the railway system was united with that of the rest of Germany.

For the history of Wurttemberg see the Wirttembergisches Urkundenbuch (Stuttgart, 1849-1907); and the Darstellungen aus der wirttembergischen Geschichte (Stuttgart, 5904 fol.). Histories are those of P. F. Stalin, Geschichte Wurttembergs (Gotha, 1882-1887); E. Schneider, Wurttembergische Geschichte (Stuttgart, 1896); Belschner, Geschichte von Wurttemberg in Wort and Bild (Stuttgart, 1902); Weller, Wurttemberg in der deutschen Geschichte (Stuttgart, 1900); K. V. Fricker and Th. von Gessler, Geschichte der Verfassung Wiirttembergs (Stuttgart, 1869); Hieber, Die wiirttembergische Verfassungsreform von 1906 (Stuttgart, 1906); and R. Schmid, Reformationsgeschichte Wi rttembergs (Heilbronn, 1904). See also Golther, Der Staat and die katholische Kirche im Konigreich Wurttemberg (Stuttgart, 1874); B. Kaisser, Geschichte des Volksschulwesens in Wurttemberg (Stuttgart, 1895-1897); Bartens, Die wirtschaftliche Entwickelung des Keinigreichs Wurttemberg (Frankfort, 1901); W. von Heyd, Bibliographie der wurttembergischen Geschichte (1895-1896), Band iii. by Th. SchOn (1907); D. Schafer, Wurttenabergische Geschichtsquellen (Stuttgart, 1894 fol.); and A. Pfister, Keinig Friedrich von Wurttemberg and seine Zeit (Stuttgart, 1888).