Palatine Counts and Dukes
The Palatine Counts of Tübingen
The name Tübingen indicates, like all other localities with "-ingen" that the settlement had been founded about one and a half thousand years ago by Alemanic tribes. But Tübingen was mentioned for the first time only in 1078, during the investiture dispute when King Heinrich IV besieged the Tübingen castle, the "castrum Alemannorum, quod Twingia vocatur", after his procession to Canossa.
The builders of this castle – the Counts of Nagoldgau – named themselves "Counts of Tübingen" who achieved the laureateship of Palatine Counts in the middle of the 12th century, representatives of the Duke of Swabia. Under their governance Tübingen flourished for the first time. The village became a town: In 1191, besides the priest, merchants were mentioned; around 1204 the town had gallows – a criteria of the high jurisdiction; finally around 1231 Tübingen was called "civitas" which indicates a location with municipal law and civil liberty. A few years later the city wall was documented. The "Tübinger Pfennig" (Tübingen's Penny), a coin molded in the town, measurements and weights from Tübingen were brought into wide circulation.
The Dukes of Württemberg
The downfall of the House of Staufen meant a loss of political power for the Palatine Counts of Tübingen, and marked the start of a steep recession so that the Palatine counts were forced to sell their town of Tübingen to the Count of Württemberg in 1342. From that date on Tübingen's history is embedded in the history of Württemberg.
For centuries Tübingen was the county's second largest town after Stuttgart, measured by its population and economical power and became the second residence town and capital due to the formation of the Duchy of Württemberg in 1495. In connection with the so-called "Remstalaufstand" (Uprising of the people in the Rems Valley) Tübingen's political role was clear when its "respectability" reclaimed important basic and human rights from Duke Ulrich von Württemberg through the so-called "Tübinger Vertrag" (Treaty of Tübingen) in 1514. For centuries Tübingen was the county's second largest town after Stuttgart, measured by its population and economical power and became the second residence town and capital due to the formation of the Duchy of Württemberg in 1495. In connection with the so-called "Remstalaufstand" (Uprising of the people in the Rems Valley) Tübingen's political role was clear when its "respectability" reclaimed important basic and human rights from Duke Ulrich von Württemberg through the so-called "Tübinger Vertrag" (Treaty of Tübingen) in 1514. With this "Magna Carta of Württemberg" the local politicians were able to enforce a right of co-determination to a large extent, to constrain the power of Duke Ulrich von Württemberg and to ensure important privileges for themselves. This treaty affected the development of Württemberg's constitution for centuries. It still applied during the 19th century according to Tübingen's poet Ludwig Uhland for whom it was the "good, old law".