History of Baden - 12th - 14th Centuries

14th Centuries

During the Middle Ages, various counts ruled the country that now forms Baden. The counts and duchy of Zähringen figure prominently among these. In 1112 Hermann, son of Hermann, Margrave of Verona (d. 1074) and grandson of Berthold, duke of Carinthia and count of Zähringen, having inherited some of the German estates of his family, called himself Margrave of Baden, and from this time the separate history of Baden dates. Hermann appears to have called himself margrave rather than count, because of the family connection to the margrave of Verona. His son and grandson, both called Hermann, added to their territories, which were then divided, and the lines of Baden-Baden and Baden-Hochberg were founded, the latter of which divided about a century later into Baden-Hochberg and Baden-Sausenberg. The family of Baden-Baden was very successful in increasing the area of its holdings, which after several divisions were united by the margrave Bernard I in 1391. Bernard, a soldier of some renown, continued the work of his predecessors, and obtained other districts, including Baden-Hochberg, the ruling family of which died out in 1418.