Linzgau is a historic region in
Southern Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in the state of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...
. It is located north of
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...
and south of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
valley.
Geography
The region is bounded by the shore of Lake Constance on the south, the
Hegau
The Hegau is an extinct volcanic landscape in southern Germany extending around the industrial city of Singen (Hohentwiel), between Lake Constance in the east, the Rhine River in the south, the Danube River in the north and the Randen—as the so ...
region on the west, the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
-Danube watershed on the north, and the
Schussen
The Schussen is a tributary of the Bodensee (Lake Constance), which drains to the Rhine, in the southern portion of Upper Swabia in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Course
From its source, not far from the Lake Feder, around 1.5 kilometers nort ...
valley on the east. It reaches west as far as
Überlingen
Überlingen is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis (district), and a cent ...
and north as far as
Pfullendorf
Pfullendorf is a small town of about 13,000 inhabitants located north of Lake Constance in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire for nearly 600 years.
The town is in the district of Sigmaringen south of ...
. The highest peak is Mt.
Höchsten with a height of .
While the lower parts on the lakeshore are part of the
Bodenseekreis
Bodenseekreis ("Lake Constance district") is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west, clockwise) Konstanz, Sigmaringen and Ravensburg, and in Bavaria, Lindau district. T ...
district, the upper lands belong to
Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.
Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...
district. Beside Pfullendorf and Überlingen, the region comprises the town of
Markdorf
Markdorf is a town in the Bodenseekreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is situated near Lake Constance, 10 km northwest of Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a c ...
,
Meersburg, the municipality of
Salem and several smaller communities.
History
The name derives from a
Celtic name ''Lentia'' for what is now known as the
Linzer Aach
The Seefelder Aach is a river in the districts of Sigmaringen and Bodenseekreis, Tübingen region, southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is approximately 55 kilometres long and flows into Lake Constance. It has a catchment area of 279 k ...
river.
Prehistoric times
The best-known remains of prehistoric human habitation in the region are the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
pile dwellings
Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. The ...
on the shores of Lake Constance, of which some examples are reconstructed at
Unteruhldingen
Unteruhldingen is a small village, part of the town of Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, on the northwestern shore of Lake Constance, Germany.
It is home to the Pfahlbauten, an open-air museum displaying reconstructions of Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellin ...
. Similar
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
structures have also been found in a peat bog near Ruhestetten in the municipality of
Wald
WALD (1080 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Johnsonville, South Carolina. The station is part of the Worship and Word Network and is owned by Glory Communications, Inc., based in St. Stephen, South Carolina. It carries an Urban Gosp ...
.
From the late
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...
on, the population can be regarded as
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
. Burial mounds have been discovered at
Hödingen,
Salem, and
Stetten.
Roman times
From the first century BC to the third century AD, the area was part of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. Roman settlements existed at
Bambergen,
Meersburg, and Mettenbuch in the municipality of
Ostrach
Ostrach is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Geography
Ostrach lies between the Danube and Lake Constance, about halfway between Sigmaringen and Ravensburg. It lies on the brook of the same name ...
.
After the Roman withdrawal beyond the Rhine,
Germanic tribe
This list of ancient Germanic peoples is an inventory of ancient Germanic cultures, tribal groupings and other alliances of Germanic tribes and civilisations in ancient times. The information comes from various ancient historical documents, beginn ...
s settled in the area. The original Celtic name of the stream gave its name to an
Alamannic
The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pre ...
tribe, the
Lentienses The Lentienses ( German ''Lentienser'') were a 4th-century Germanic tribe associated with the Alemanni, in the region between the river Danube in the North, the river Iller in the East, and Lake Constance in the South, in what is now southern Germ ...
mentioned in the fourth century AD by the Roman historian
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...
.
Middle Ages
As part of
Alemannia, Linzgau was acquired by the
Frankish Empire
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
in the 6th century, becoming part of the
Duchy of Swabia
The Duchy of Swabia (German: ''Herzogtum Schwaben'') was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German Kingdom. It arose in the 10th century in the southwestern area that had been settled by Alemanni tribes in Late Antiquity.
While the ...
in the 10th.
In 1135, the counts of
Heiligenberg
Heiligenberg is a municipality and a village in the Bodensee district in Baden-Württemberg, about seven kilometres north of Salem, in Germany.
Location and climate
Heiligenberg (literally: the Holy Mountain or the Mountain of Saints) is loca ...
received the county of Linzgau. From them, it passed to the Count of
Werdenberg in 1277, and later to the Count of
Fürstenberg Fürstenberg (also Fuerstenberg and Furstenberg) may refer to:
Historical states
* Fürstenberg-Baar, county (1441–1559)
* Fürstenberg-Blumberg, county (1559–1614)
* Fürstenberg-Donaueschingen, county (1617–1698)
* Fürstenberg-Fürsten ...
in 1535. The area was then mostly called the ''County of Heiligenberg''.
Modern times
In the early 19th century, under the rule of Napoleon, the Linzgau was assigned to the
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.
It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...
, so the name became synonymous with the district of Überlingen. Today, the area encompasses the districts of
Bodensee
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lake ...
and
Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.
Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...
.
Linzgau today
Today, the only official use for the term ''Linzgau'' is the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
. However, it is regaining popularity, as shown by the naming of the new shopping center in Pfullendorf the ''Linzgau-Center'' or the slogan of
Markdorf
Markdorf is a town in the Bodenseekreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is situated near Lake Constance, 10 km northwest of Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a c ...
: ''Heart of the Linzgau''.
The regional tourist association also calls itself Bodensee-Linzgau Tourismus e.V.
Landscape
The southern part of the Linzgau lies on the banks of Lake Constance and has a milder climate, which lends itself to fruit orchards and vineyards. The landscape is rolling, but fairly flat, with occasional
drumlins
A drumlin, from the Irish Gaelic, Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacier, glacial ice acting on und ...
caused by deposits from the retreating
Rhine Glacier
The Rhine Glacier was a glacier during the last glacial period and was responsible for the formation of the Lake Constance.
References
Glaciers of Switzerland
Rhine
{{switzerland-glacier-stub ...
in the last
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
.
The northern part (or upper Linzgau) has a more rugged climate and rises to as high as 833 m. It is characterized by glacial
moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s, with occasional
swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s and small lakes, especially in the northeast. Agriculture is largely dedicated to grain.
Most of the Linzgau is still rural, with the most heavily populated areas along the shores of Lake Constance. The largest cities are Überlingen, Pfullendorf, and Markdorf.
Transport
The national highways 31 and 33, which run from east to west along Lake Constance are the only major highways through the region.
A car ferry runs from
Meersburg across the arm of Lake Constance called the ''Überlinger See'' to connect with
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
.
References
''Based on the article in the German Wikipedia.''
External links
Web site of Bodensee-Linzgau Tourismus e.V.
{{Coord, 47, 48, N, 09, 10, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BW_source:dewiki, display=title
Regions of Baden-Württemberg