RAVENSBURG an industrial town of Wiirtemberg, is pleasantly situated amid vine-clad hills on the small river Scliussen, 12 miles to the north of Friedrichshafen on the Lake of Constance. Its aspect is quaint and mediaeval, and above its houses rise nine picturesque towers, the most prominent of ־which, dating from the 15th century, is known as the “Mehlsack” or sack oi flour. The town-house is also a 15th-century building. The industrial products of Ravensburg are varied, including linen, cotton, embroidered muslins, pottery, glass, and ]*laying-cards. The fruit market is of considerable importance, and trade is also carried on in cattle, grain, and wood. The population in 1880 was 10,550, of whom 2620 were Protestants.

Ravensburg was founded in the 11th century by the Guelfs, one of whose ancestral castles lay on the Veitsberg, to the south of the town. In 1180 the town passed into the hands of the Hohenstaufens, and a century later it became a free town of the empire. Annexed to Bavaria from 1803 to 1810, it was ceded to IViirtemberg in the latter year.