Kingdom of Alamannia: Map & History
Alamannia, or Alemania, was the kingdom established and inhabited by the Alemanni, a Germanic tribal confederation that had broken through the Roman limes in 213.
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Alamannia, or Alemania, was the kingdom established and inhabited by the Alemanni, a Germanic tribal confederation that had broken through the Roman limes in 213.
Modern Countries Once Part of Kingdom of Alamannia
At its mapped extent, Kingdom of Alamannia covered territory in 4 present-day countries. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
- Liechtenstein724–731 CE · nearly all
- Switzerland462–731 CE · a large part
- Germany462–731 CE · a small part
- France462–499 CE · a small part
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Kingdom of Alamannia's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Kingdom of Alamannia in Depth
History
Originally a loose confederation of unrelated tribes, the Alemanni underwent coalescence or ethnogenesis during the 3rd century, and were ruled by kings throughout the 4th and 5th centuries until 496, when they were defeated by Clovis I of the Franks at the Battle of Tolbiac.
The Alemanni during the Roman Empire period were divided into a number of cantons or goviae, each presided by a tribal king. But there appears to have been the custom of the individual kings uniting under the leadership of a single king in military expeditions.
Some kings of the Alemanni of the 4th and 5th centuries are known by name, the first being Chrocus (died 306), a military leader who organized raids across the limes during the 3rd century.
Legacy
Alemannic German persists as a separate family of dialects within High German.
The distribution of the Low Alemannic and High Alemannic subgroups largely correspond to the extent of historical Alemannia, while the Highest Alemannic dialects spread beyond its limits during the High Middle Ages. The Brünig-Napf-Reuss line is a cultural boundary within High Alemannic which marks the division of Alemannia proper and the Argovia marches between Alemannia and Burgundy.
The names for Germany in modern Arabic (ألمانيا), Catalan (Alemanya), Welsh (Yr Almaen), Cornish (Almayn), French (Allemagne), Persian (ألمان), Galician-Portuguese (Alemanha), Spanish (Alemania), and Turkish (Almanya) all derive from Alamannia.
Geography
The Alamanni were pushed south from their original area of settlement in the Main basin and in the 5th and 6th century settled new territory on either side of the Rhine.
Alemannia, under Frankish rule (later the Duchy of Swabia) within the Holy Roman Empire, covered a territory that was more or less undisputed during the 7th to 13th centuries, organised into counties or pagi.
Hegowe (Hegau), between Lake Constance, the upper Danube and the Swabian Jura. Perahtoltaspara (Berchtoldsbaar) in the upper Neckar basin, left of the upper Danube as far as Ulm, including the source of the Danube. Nekargowe (named for the Neckar, capital Canstatt).
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Alamannia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kingdom of Alamannia: Key Facts
| Founded | 3rd century |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 10th century |
Preceded by
- Western Roman Empire
- Alamanni
- Germania Superior
- Maxima Sequanorum
- Agri Decumates
- Raetia
Succeeded by
- Duchy of Swabia
- Duchy of Alsace
Facts from Wikidata Q2208978 (CC0).
Kingdom of Alamannia Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 111,562 km² in 482 CE.
Kingdom of Alamannia: Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Kingdom of Alamannia exist?
The Kingdom of Alamannia is dated to 462 CE – 731 CE, in the Classical Antiquity era.
How large was the Kingdom of Alamannia at its peak?
At its peak in 482 AD the Kingdom of Alamannia covered about 111,562 km².