Bermatingen is a commune in the district 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. __TOC__

Geography

Bermatingen is located 4 km west 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 ...

in the valley of the

Seefelder 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 ...

. It is bordered to the north by Salem, the east by

Deggenhausertal Deggenhausertal is a municipality in the district of Bodensee in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. __TOC__ Geography Deggenhausertal is located in two hilly valleys between the mountains of Gehrenberg and Höchsten. It is bordered to the west by ...

, the south by

, and the west by

Meersburg Meersburg () is a town in Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of Germany. It is on Lake Constance. It is known for its medieval city. The lower town ("Unterstadt") and upper town ("Oberstadt") are reserved for pedestrians only, and connected by t ...

. The commune comprises two municipalities: Bermatingen (with the villages of Autenweiler and Wiggenweiler), and Ahausen. The two municipalities were joined into the same commune on 1 January 1973.

History

Bermatingen

Alemanni 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 pres ...

an farmers settled in the region in the 5th-7th Centuries. The first mention of Bermatingen is in 779 as ''Permodingas'', in which Ato and his wife Herosta donated the village to St Gall's Abbey in modern

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. A family of knights of Bermatingen are mentioned beginning in 1166, and they constructed a castle at

Burg Bermatingen The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aar ...

to the northeast of the town. The last mention of the family is in 1303. The village later passed to the ministerialis family of the Schenk von Ittendorf, who sold their rights to the town to

Salem Abbey Salem Abbey (german: Kloster Salem) was a very prominent Cistercian monastery in Salem in the district of Bodensee about ten miles from Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The buildings are now owned by the State of Baden-Württemberg and a ...

in 1390. In 1525 during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

, Eitelhans Ziegelmüller, one of the peasant commanders, took Bermatingen and used it as a base to attack towns, castles and monasteries in the surrounding region as far as

Buchhorn Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''Kre ...

(modern Friedrichshafen). The peasants marched to battle at Weingarten by late April where they made peace with the forces of the Swabian League under George III Truchsess of Waldburg-Zeil, agreeing to end the insurrection and returning property to its feudal owners in exchange for improved conditions and right to arbitration in disputes. Bermatingen was devastated by a fire in 1590 and the Salem abbot Peter Müller directed the effort to reconstruct the town. In the

Reichsdeputationshauptschluss The ' (formally the ', or "Principal Conclusion of the Extraordinary Imperial Delegation"), sometimes referred to in English as the Final Recess or the Imperial Recess of 1803, was a resolution passed by the ' (Imperial Diet) of the Holy Roman Em ...

of 1803, in which the principalities of the ecclesiastic rulers were dispersed to the counts and princes of the empire, Bermatingen with the rest of the territory of Salem Abbey was disbursed to the

Electorate of Baden The Electorate of Baden was a State of the Holy Roman Empire from 1803 to 1806. In 1803, Napoleon bestowed the office of Prince-elector to Charles Frederick, but in 1806, Francis II dissolved the Empire. Baden then achieved sovereignty, and C ...

Ahausen

Ahausen was first mentioned in a donation on 10 May 752 as ''Hahahusir'' to St Galls' Abbey. The village later passed to the Schenks von Ittendorf,

Lindau Abbey Lindau Abbey (german: Reichsstift Lindau) was a house of secular canonesses in Lindau on the Bodensee in Bavaria, Germany, which stands on an island in the lake. History The community, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is traditionally held ...

, the Free City of

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 ...

in 1434,

Fahr Abbey Fahr Convent, (german: Kloster Fahr) is a Benedictine convent located in the Swiss municipality of Unterengstringen in the canton of Zürich. Located in different cantons, Einsiedeln Abbey and Fahr Convent form a double monastery, overseen by the ...

in 1651, temporarily to

Weingarten Abbey Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey (german: Reichsabtei Weingarten until 1803, then merely ) is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg (''St. Martin's Mount'') in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). First founda ...

in 1693, and finally to the

Prince-Bishopric of Constance The Prince-Bishopric of Constance, (german: Hochstift Konstanz, Fürstbistum Konstanz, Bistum Konstanz) was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the mid-12th century until its secularisation in 1802–1803. In his dua ...

later that year. The Prince-Bishopric administered Ahausen with neighbouring town Ittendorf (in

commune). Ahausen passed to the Electorate of Baden in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803. Ahausen was subject to the heavy flooding of the Seefelder Aach for much of its history. The last catastrophic flood was in 1906 before the construction of a dam and corrective works for the flow of the river.

Coat of arms

References

{{Authority control Bodenseekreis