imperial city · Germany and Central Europe
Free Imperial City of Ravensburg
Origins
Ravensburg grew below the Veitsburg, ancestral castle of the Guelph dukes, where Henry the Lion may have been born. The town passed to the Hohenstaufen with the Guelph inheritance. After their line ended it became an imperial city, recognised by Rudolf I around 1276.
Rule and society
A council of patricians and guilds governed. From about 1380 to 1530 the Great Ravensburg Trading Company, owned by local families, traded linen, fustian and saffron across Spain, Italy and Flanders. Paper mills made the town an early centre of German papermaking. After the Reformation it became one of the few bi-confessional imperial cities, with Catholics and Lutherans sharing offices under the parity of 1648.
Decline and legacy
Ravensburg lost its freedom in 1802 to Bavaria and passed to Württemberg in 1810. It is now a town in Baden-Württemberg, known for its towers and the Ravensburger games company.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Free Imperial City of Ravensburg was part of Holy Roman Empire1276 CE – 1802 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Free Imperial City of Ravensburg. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-imperial-city-of-ravensburg
- MLA
- “Free Imperial City of Ravensburg.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-imperial-city-of-ravensburg. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Free Imperial City of Ravensburg.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-imperial-city-of-ravensburg.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Free Imperial City of Ravensburg’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/free-imperial-city-of-ravensburg (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻