The use of the name of Swabia in connexion with the soutli-west part of Germany, previously called Alemannia (see Alemanni), begins with the 5th century of our era, when the Suevi poured into the country and amalgamated with the Alemanni. It was not, however, till the 8th century, when the dukedom of Alemannia was abolished and Rhaetia and Alsace separated from it, that Swabia became the recognized name of the district, henceforth administered by nuncii camerae, as representatives of the Frankish emperors. One of these nuncii, who usurped the ancient title of duke of Alemannia, was executed in 917, but two years later Henry I. yielded to the popular will in allowing Count Burkhard I. to style himself duke of Swabia. The dukedom thus founded, which lasted for more than three centuries, repeatedly changed hands, and was generally conferred by the emperors and kings of the Saxon and Franconian lines on members of their own families. In 1079 it passed into the hands of Frederick I. of Hohenstaufen, the progenitor of a line of German monarchs, and under his successors Swabia had the reputation of being the most civilized and prosperous part of Germany. As, however, the Hohenstaufen line gradually lost strength in its hopeless struggle with the papacy, the Swabian nobles increased in power at the expense of the dukes, and several of them became “immediate.” No duke of Swabia was appointed after the death of Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen, in 1268, and his place was henceforth filled in some degree by the count of Würtemberg as primus inter pares. For the next 250 years or so the history of Swabia consists of an endless series of feuds between the different members of the duchy, mingled with more or less abortive attempts of the German emperors and others to restore peace. The lesser nobles fought with the greater nobles, the towns banded themselves together against both, and alliances and counter-alliances were formed and dissolved with bewildering rapidity. The “Schleglerkrieg” is the name given to a bloody contest between the counts of Würtemberg and the lesser noblesse in 1367. The most important of the various leagues formed by the towns was the "Schwäbischer Städtebund” of 1376, the point of which was directed against Würtemberg. In 1488 the Swabian estates,—nobles, prelates, and towns,—weary of constant dissension, joined in the Great Swabian Confederation, the object of which was to maintain peace throughout the country. This league possessed a carefully drawn up constitution and exercised executive and judicial functions throughout the whole of Swabia, maintaining a standing army to give force to its decrees. Though not successful in completely abolishing war within Swabia, the confederation was by no means a failure. It was, for instance, the general of the confederation that put an end to the calamitous Peasants’ War of 1525. The Reformation found ready acceptance in Swabia. Würtemberg, Ulm, and some of the other estates even joined in the Schmalkald League; but for this they afterwards had to pay large fines to the emperor, while the towns lost their democratic constitution, and with it most of their political importance. The outstanding feature of Swabian history for some time afterwards may be said to be the struggle for supremacy between the Protestant Würtemberg and the Roman Catholic Austria. In 1512, when all Germany was divided into ten circles, one of them was named the Schwäbischer Kreis, or Swabian Circle (see above). The circle received its complete organization in 1563, and retained it practically unchanged till the dissolution of the empire in 1806. Swabia suffered severely in the Thirty Years War, and it was also one of the scenes of the struggles consequent on the French Revolution. But its modern history must be sought for under such headings as Würtemberg and Baden.