Editing Ravensburg (section)

==History==
Ravensburg was first mentioned in writing in 1088. It was founded by the [[House of Welf|Welf]]s, a [[Franks|Frankish]] dynasty in [[Swabia]] who became later [[Duke]]s of [[Duchy of Bavaria|Bavaria]] and [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]] and who made the castle of Ravensburg their ancestral seat.

By a contract of inheritance, in 1191 the [[Hohenstaufen]] [[Frederick Barbarossa]] acquired the ownership of Ravensburg from [[Welf VI]], [[Duke of Spoleto]] and uncle of both [[Frederick Barbarossa]] and [[Henry the Lion]].

With the death of [[Conradin]] 1268 in [[Naples]] the [[Hohenstaufen]] line became extinct. Their former estates became imperial property of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Like many other cities in [[Swabia]], at the end of the 13th century Ravensburg became an [[Imperial Free City]] in 1276.
[[Image:Johann Mathias Steidlin Kloster Weißenau 1734 Detail 04.jpg|left|thumb|275 px|Ravensburg landscape showing local landmarks: 23. Weinberge with Torkeln; 24. St. Christina; 25. Veitsburg; 26. Ravensburg with Mehlsack.  Most of the hillsides are shown covered with vineyards.  From Kloster Weißenau (stylized print by Johann Mathias Steidlin, 1734).]]
The "Great Ravensburg Trading Society" (''Große Ravensburger Handelsgesellschaft'') was founded at Ravensburg and [[Konstanz]] around 1380 by the merchant families of Humpis (from Ravensburg), Mötteli (from Buchhorn, modern-day [[Friedrichshafen]]) and Muntprat (from Constance). At first, the society mostly dealt in the production of [[linen]] and [[fustian]]. With the opening of one of the first [[paper mill]]s north of the [[Alps]] in 1402 in Ravensburg, [[paper]] became another commodity. The Ravensburg stores also sold oriental spices, Mediterranean wines and Bohemian ores. After the liquidation of the Great Ravensburg Trading Society in 1530, Ravensburg stagnated economically. The [[Thirty Years' War]] caused a grave decline of the population. [[Sweden|Swedish]] troops destroyed the old castle, now named "Veitsburg" after the St. Veit chapel at the castle grounds.

Following the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] a "paritetic" government emerged, meaning an equal distribution of public offices between the Catholic and Protestant confession. The city council was one half each Protestant and Catholic. For some time there was even a Catholic and a Protestant mayor at the same time, and both confessions celebrated the village fair, the "Rutenfest", apart from each other. This system was approved at the end of the [[Thirty Years' War]] in the [[Peace of Westphalia]] (1648) which named four "Paritetic Imperial Cities" ({{langx|de|[[:de:Paritätische Reichsstadt|Paritätische Reichsstädte]]}}): [[Augsburg]], [[Biberach an der Riß|Biberach]], [[Dinkelsbühl]] and Ravensburg.

In 1803 the ''[[Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)|Immerwährende Reichstag]]'' passed the ''[[Reichsdeputationshauptschluss]]'', a bill which included the secularisation and [[German mediatisation|mediatisation]] of many German states — the first meaning the confiscation of the estates belonging to the church, the second the incorporation of the imperial estates and Imperial Free Cities into larger regional states. As a result, Ravensburg first became a [[Bavaria]]n [[exclave]] within [[Württemberg]]. After a swap of estates between Bavaria and Württemberg it was incorporated in the [[Kingdom of Württemberg]] in 1810.

Since Ravensburg was impoverished and depopulated after the [[Thirty Years' War]], only a few new buildings were raised during the 18th and the early 19th century. The benefit of this economic stagnation was the conservation of a widely intact medieval city with nearly all towers and gates of the historic fortification.

===20th century===
During [[World War II]] Ravensburg was strategically of no relevance. Ravensburg did not harbor any noteworthy arms industry (unlike nearby [[Friedrichshafen]] with its large aircraft industry), but was home to a major aid supplies center belonging to the [[Swiss Red Cross]]. The historic city centre was not damaged by air raids.

By 1945, the city came into the French occupation zone and thus came in 1947 to the newly founded state of [[Württemberg-Hohenzollern]], which in 1952 merged to the state of Baden-Württemberg.

In the 1970s, Ravensburg increased in population and territory by the incorporation of smaller communities like Eschach, Schmalegg and Taldorf. [[Ravensburg University of Cooperative Education]] was established in the city in 1978.

In the 1980s, the Old Town was renovated and all transit traffic was banned from the city centre.
[[Image:Ravensburg Blaserturm Waaghaus Rathaus.jpg|thumb|250px|Ravensburg, Blaserturm (trumpeter's tower), Waaghaus ([[weighing house]]) and city hall]]