The Lordship of Eglofs was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

, in the Württemberg Allgäu

Allgäu

The Allgäu is a southern German region in Swabia. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia and southeastern Baden-Württemberg. The region stretches from the prealpine lands up to the Alps...

, located around the village of Eglofs, now in Argenbühl

Argenbühl

Argenbühl is a municipality in the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It includes the village of Eglofs, which until 1806 was a reichsfrei territory, as the Lordship of Eglofs....

 in the rural district of Ravensburg

Ravensburg (district)

Ravensburg is a district in the south-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bodensee, Sigmaringen and Biberach, the Bavarian urban district Memmingen and the districts Unterallgäu, Oberallgäu and Lindau.-History:The district dates back to the Oberamt Ravensburg, which was...

 in southern Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. From 1668 it was an Imperial Estate in the Holy Roman Empire with a seat on the Bench of Counts of Swabia. It was owned by Abensberg-Traun

Abensberg-Traun

The County of Abensberg-Traun was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, formed in 1653. Geographically, the state included modern-day Abensberg, Bavaria and Traun, Austria....

 until 1804, when they sold it to Windisch-Grätz. Two years later, Eglofs was mediatised

German Mediatisation

The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....

 to the Kingdom of Württemberg

Württemberg

Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

.

Eglofs originates from the early 9th century. After the defeat and conquest of the Alemanni in 496 by the Franks

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

, Christian Frankish settlers colonised former Alemanni lands in the Allgäu

Allgäu

The Allgäu is a southern German region in Swabia. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia and southeastern Baden-Württemberg. The region stretches from the prealpine lands up to the Alps...

. Over time, the pagan Alemanni returned to the Allgau and established themselves as farmers. One Alemanni lord, Egilolf, built a castle in modern Eglofs, which over time took his name. The first mention of Eglofs was in 817 in an account of Saint Martin

Martin of Tours

Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...

, although the people of Eglofs were still at the time pagan. Owing to its isolation and its proximity to important mountain passes through Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Eglofs received many rights denied to other settlements; Eglofs had its own courts, it paid fewer taxes, all inhabitants were free citizens (a right denied even to the Swiss cantons) from 1282, and it had the right to elect local leaders. In 1300, King Albert I

Albert I of Germany

Albert I of Habsburg was King of the Romans and Duke of Austria, the eldest son of German King Rudolph I of Habsburg and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenburg.-Life:...

 mentioned Eglofs as a free village.

In 1243, the Emperor promised that the immediate rights of Eglofs would never be sold, but in later centuries the Emperors had need of money and they broke their promise, pawning the village to several different lords. The rights of the citizenry were slowly diminished, which invoked the farmers to ask for aid from the Free Cities of Wangen

Wangen im Allgäu

Wangen im Allgäu is a historic city in southeast Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies north-east of Lake Constance in the Westallgäu. It is the second-largest city in the Ravensburg district and is a nexus for the surrounding communities...

 and Leutkirch

Leutkirch im Allgäu

Leutkirch im Allgäu is a city in south-eastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Ravensburg, in the western, Württembergish part of the Allgäu region. It belongs to the administrative region of Tübingen....

. During the German Peasants' War

German Peasants' War

The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...

 (1524―25) the farmers and soldiers of Wangen burnt down the castle of the local lord and conquered the surrounding land, but with the ultimate victory of the gentry the farmers were brutally punished and the lordship restored. In 1668, the Counts of Abensberg-Traun were granted Eglofs with a seat on the Bench of Counts of Swabia in the Imperial Diet

Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)

The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...

. They held the seat until 1804 when they sold it to the line of Windisch-Grätz-Eglofs. Two years later, it was mediatised to Württemberg.