History of Baden-Württemberg

The deepest incision into the history of the German southwest were the years between 1802 and 1815. Many independent governing rulers lost their power and had to be content with a different position. Private holdings remained to the nobles. Monks and nuns were put into retirement with a pension. The world changed even for the subjects. Many received new rulers. Even if they had been subjects of Baden or Württemberg, they lived in a different country after 1803, in any case at least a larger country than before.

The Imperial City of Schwäbisch Gmünd. Even the old imperial city, founded in the 12th century by the Staufens, later a free imperial city, was not spared from the breakup. Mediatization and secularization reached deeply into the life of the city. Both measures were, after a lengthy preparation, to be approved and proclaimed in February and April 1803, and then carried out. Besides Gmünd, the imperial cities of Aalen, Esslingen, Giengen, Hall, Heilbronn, Reutlingen, Rottweil and Weil der Stadt were intended for the Duke of Württemberg. The new ruler did not want to wait so long for his booty. As early as 6 September 1802 a functionary of Württemberg appeared and began the provisional military occupation. It was not really necessary to send the troop of 260 men on 9 September. There was no resistance. The soldiers were simply dismissed.

The actual occupation began on 27 November. "We, Frederick the Second, by the Grace of God Duke of Württemberg and Teck..., present to the mayors and magistrates, the clerical and worldly officials and servants as well as the entire people, residents and subjects of the Imperial City of Gmünd and the region belonging to it our ducal grace and best wishes...," begins the "Occupational Establishment Patent." Duke Friedrich continues obsequiously and promises, "sovereignly to promote and increase the welfare and happiness of OUR new subjects with all means." After a brief hesitation, the members of the council and the city officials obeyed. There had never been any lack of obedience. On 6 November "was observed here in a festive manner the high birthday celebration of His Ducal Highness." (Geschichte der Stadt Schwäbisch Gmünd [History of the City of Schwäbisch Gmünd], produced by the City Archive of Schwäbisch Gmünd, pages 297 and 308)

As an external sign of the occupation, the insignia of the Imperial City of Gmünd - the imperial eagle and unicorn - was torn off of public buildings and the Württemberg coat of arms put in its place. "Not even in the churches will the old coat of arms be tolerated."

The city could call itself just Gmünd instead of Schwäbisch Gmünd, since it was no longer a rightful member of the Swabian district, but a provincial city of Württemberg like many others. Thereafter Gmünd became the seat of one of the 64 district offices, or Oberämter. A chronicler of Gmünd writes of these events: "From 18 November until now we have lost all of our liberties, what we had before, what we have to expect, what we are, subjects, slaves. Our civic liberties from so many emperors, kings, no longer exist or are in force." (ibid., p. 306) These lost liberties were only for the benefit of a small circle of the wealthy and citizens represented on the council, not for the majority of citizens and certainly not for the rural subjects in the villages of Gmünd. These could expect to gain somewhat greater rights under Württemberg rule. The previously privileged citizens thus liked not at all that they were pressed into service for errands and hunting service.

Schwäbisch Gmünd had been a respected commercial and artisans' city. Prince Elector Friedrich could expect "a rich booty." However, it soon became apparent that the previous city rulers no longer took their duties very seriously. The audit of finances revealed that the city was more than a million guilders in debt, and that the banks had not been examined for years.

The six monasteries in Gmünd were not comparable to the great abbeys in Upper Swabia and the Black Forest. They did not have noteworthy sovereign areas of their own at their disposal. They were also not so autonomous, rather they were under the protection of the imperial city. They were tied to the life of the city.

Within the city walls lived the Augustinian Hermits, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Capuchins and the Franciscan nuns. Outside the city lay the Gotteszell Dominican monastery. Right at the time of the occupation of the city, the closure and expropriation of the monasteries was announced.

What did secularization mean in particular? Four monasteries had to be cleared out by February 1803 at the latest. Everywhere, monastic life in its then present form stopped. Only the Franciscans and Capuchins were at least allowed to remain in their houses. All nuns and monks received modest pensions. If they no longer wanted to be active as priests or teachers or live in a community, they could also be personally secularized, thereafter living as normal citizens. The Gmünd historical writer Michael Grimm tells of the Dominicans: "The fathers wept bitterly at their expulsion, the entire citizenry wept with them over their sad departure. Their customary 9:30 Mass could previously still be read; it was a sad service." (Michael Grimm, Geschichte der ehemaligen Reichsstadt Gmünd, 1866, p. 265)

For the most part the new authorities had left valuable objects alone. Books and old manuscripts went to the ducal library in Stuttgart. Church items of precious metal were to be given up, were brought to Ludwigsburg and there melted down. The indignation over this barbarity continued for a long time thereafter.

The buildings also underwent a "practical" transformation. The Franciscan monastery was used as a school until 1965. It is to be said about the Dominican monastery: "The monastery itself was turned into a caserne, and the marvelous monastery church was used as a woodshed and later as a stable." (Ibid., p. 266) Today in the "Preacher" (a historic building) there is an exemplary city museum. In the Dominican convent in Gotteszell, there has been a state prison since 1808. The surrounding valley is called the "Shooting Valley" after the training ground for the Württemberg artillery.

Württemberg functionaries and soldiers were the first Protestants in the formerly purely Catholic city. For church services, the church of the Augustinians was made available to them. In the year 1900, one could count 5889 Evangelicals as opposed to 12712 Catholics. The new rulers had no desire to fight with the Catholic faith. The dissolution of the monasteries had been considered for a long time, and, even in the Austrian lands that had remained Catholic, had already been partially carried out 20 years before. Even the chronicler of Gmünd wrote about secularization: "...who knows what would have happened to the monasteries in time; I'll wager that there was more benefit from that for the entire citizenry than damage, and they will say, oh, if the monasteries had been gotten rid of some 100 years ago, what a city Gmünd would have been!" (Geschichte der Stadt Schwäbisch Gmünd, p. 316)

The Principality of Leiningen. A large part of the secularization of the clerical rulers and the mediatized temporal rulers fell in 1802-03 directly on the "great" neighbors Baden and Württemberg. Another part was promised to princes who up to then had occupied no sovereignties in the southwest.
Thus for the Princes of Leiningen, who had lost their properties left of the Rhine in the Palatinate, a new sovereignty was put together. Their portions had previously belonged to the following rulers: The Amorbach monastery, the jurisdictions of (Tauber) Bischofsheim and Miltenberg belonged to the Archbishop of Mainz; the jurisdictions of Grünsfeld, Hardheim, Lauda, Rippenberg and Gerlachsheim belonged to the Bishop of Würzburg; and the jurisdictions of Boxberg and Mosbach belonged to the Prince Elector of the Palatinate.

The princes of Leiningen constructed a new administration and governed their imperial principality from the Amorbach Residence. Their autonomy would not of course last for long. In 1806, supreme power transferred for the most part to the Grand Duke of Baden, the rest to Hessen and Bavaria. From then on the princes might hold on to their own district offices and courts as so-called peers (until the revolution of 1848-49). After the loss of the right to govern, there remained to them some considerable properties as private holdings that today mainly consist of forest. The northeast tip of the Grand Duchy of Baden was assembled entirely from former peerages.
A comparable example from the Württemberg part of Upper Swabia are the Princes of Thurn und Taxis, to whom the Marchtal monastery as well as the city and foundation of Buchau were allotted. The only difference lay in that even before 1802 the Thurn und Taxis had acquired in the same area the small sovereignty of Bussen - albeit under Austrian rule.