Rammachgau

The Rammachgau (also "Rammagau") was a Gau in southern Germany in present-day Baden-Württemberg. The Rammachgau was located in northern Upper Swabia.

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 by implementing the Frankish units of administration there too. The Franks used the term "Gau" to denote a politico-geographical division within Frankish kingdom. The term "Gau" was often suffixed to a distinctive geographical place name. One of these administrative units was the "Rammachgau". The name was derived from the name of a river, or part thereof, called "Rammach". This name was later lost. [Diemer, 1979, p. 66] Contemporary documents refer to this administrative unit as "Rammackeuui" (778), "Rammekeue" (894), "Ramichgowe" (ca. 1070) and "Rammechgowe" (1099).

The fall of the Hohenstaufen 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 established territories in the Rammachgau over which they had authority, 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 administrative centre of the Rammachgau was Laupheim. The Rammachgau was bordered to the south by the Haistergäu, to the east by the Illergäu and to the west by the Ruadolteshuntare. To the north the Rammachgau bordered on the territory of the Illergäu 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 forests on the hills surrounding the rivers or by swampy areas hostile to agriculture.

ee also

* Gau
* Alamannia
* Upper Swabia

Notes

Further reading

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