Author: Maarten Koning

Only a few cities have a double name, and certainly not when it is a repetition. The name of the German town of Baden-Baden (Baden-Württemberg) is functional to differentiate between Baden (canton Aargau) and Baden in Austria (near Vienna). Then there is Badenweiler in southern Baden-Württemberg.

Aargau was administered by Habsburg until 1415. The Confederation conquered 1415 the region (except for the Fricktal) and governed it as a subject territory (Untertanengebiet). Since 1803 (including Fricktal), Aargau has been a canton of the Confederation.

The Kurhaus and Casino in Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden, The Trinkhalle in the 19th century

Badenweiler, Grand Hotel Römerbad (1825), closed since 2016

The names of these places are also functional: they have been famous bathing and spa resorts since Roman times (around the first four centuries). They still live up to this fame today.

Roman bathing house in Badenweiler

In any case, the Romans invented the first stone bathing houses (thermae). These bathhouses were beautifully decorated and equipped buildings with baths, sophisticated systems for hot and cold water, drainage, heating, changing rooms, social rooms, gardens and other departments.

Local benefactors and the local government mostly financed them. The abundant literature on the subject provides further details about the fascinating world of Roman bathing culture. The beneficial effects of the mineral springs were also already known or at least suspected.

The women’s baths at Augst (Augusta Raurica, Canton of Basel-Landschaft). Picture. Römische Badenruine Badenweiler

This article focuses on the relationships between the towns mentioned, which maintained intensive contacts at the highest political and ecclesiastical levels right into the 19th century. Citizens, merchants, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, mercenaries and other professional groups were regular cross-border travellers.

There have always been borders between the Baden region and the canton of Aargau. However, the physical barrier of the Rhine did not form the border. For centuries, the Rhine was primarily a river for trade, communication, and transport. Language was not a barrier either. After the Romans left, Alemannic became the spoken language, and later, German.

The Roman roads and the Rhine. Picture: Römische Badenruine Badenweiler

Roman times

This region was part of Germania Superior for centuries in Roman times. At the height of Roman power (around 100 AD), the Limes Germanicus formed the border; it ran from Koblenz to the Danube and was 550 kilometres long. From the fourth century onwards, the Rhine was the Limes. The Romanisation of the local population (Swabians in Baden and Celts in Aargau) occurred in just a few generations.

Reconstruction. Picture: Römische Badenruine Badenweiler

The bathhouses in Baden-Baden (Aquae, vicus Aurelia-Aquensis) and Badenweiler (presumably Aquae Villae) fell into disrepair after the Romans left in the fourth century. It only happened in Baden (Aquae Helveticae) in the fifth century. The Roman road network also fell into disrepair but still characterises the contours of Baden and Aargau today.

Roman thermae in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Aargau and Vaud and Baden (German). Picture: Römische Badenruine Badenweiler

The Markgrave of Baden

The political history of Baden is only covered in outline. The many intrigues, uprisings and wars – including the Peasants‘ War (1525), the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), the Palatinate War of Succession (1688-1697), the Spanish War of Succession (1702-1713), the Reformation and other conflicts are omitted.

After the Romans’ (slow) withdrawal in the third and fourth centuries, the area was successively ruled by Alemanni (and their dukes), Frankish kings and emperors (Carolingians), and German kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

From the 10th century onwards, powerful monasteries (including Reichenau, St. Gallen, St. Blasien, and Säckingen) and bishoprics (Constance, Speyer, Strasbourg, Mainz, and Basel), as well as local princes, played an important role.

Duchy of Swabia.  Picture: Marco Zanoli, Wikipedia

Around the year 1000, the mighty Duchy of Swabia (also known as the Duchy of Alemannia until the 11th century) was established. It was a large territory that extended as far as Graubünden.

This duchy then fell into decline, and new dynasties came into being. For Baden (and parts of Switzerland), the Zähringer and Habsburg dynasties were of particular importance (alongside the counts of the Palatinate (Pfalz), the dukes of Bavaria and Lorraine and the French kings, to name but a few).

From 1060 onwards, Baden was primarily ruled by margraves. These were related to the Dukes of Zähringen (1061-1218), who ruled large areas in Baden and Switzerland. The margraves founded many towns, including Bern, Fribourg, and Rheinfelden in Switzerland, Fribourg in Breisgau, and Neuchâtel on the Rhine in Baden. They developed Breisgau into a fortress and built St Peter’s Cathedral.

Breisgau and the Münster St. Peter

In 1515, the Margraviate of Baden-Baden and the Margraviate of Baden-Durlach were created, and they reunited to form the Margraviate of Baden in 1771. However, Baden-Baden remained Catholic during the Reformation, while Baden-Durlach became Protestant.

Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach were plundered and destroyed several times during this period. In its various political constellations, Baden was always part of the Holy Roman Empire and its Habsburg emperors.

The French Revolution (1789), various wars and the political role of the First Consul (Napoleon (1769-1821) led successively to the Electorate of Baden (1803-1806) and, after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (1806), to the Grand Duchy of Baden (1806-1918) in the Confederation of the Rhine (1806-1813).

After Napoleon’s fall in 1815, the German Confederation (1815-1866) was formed with an increasingly dominant Prussia. In 1849, a revolution in Rastatt led to a short-lived republic.

Due to Johann Gottfried Tulla’s Rhine corrections (1770-1828), the German customs union, the (diverse) industrialisation (including tobacco, glass, textiles, mining, machinery, railways (e.g., the Baden railway station (Badische Bahnhof) in Basel), the cuckoo clock), and the emergence of tourism in the Grand Duchy, bathing and spa resorts experienced their greatest heyday until 1914.

Karlsruhe, Archduke Karl Friedrich (1728-1811) of Baden and his palace 

Swiss (textile) entrepreneurs, tourists, scientists, writers, and artists were always prominent. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s (1746-1827) influence reached as far as Baden, and Johann Peter Hebel’s (1770-1826) is just one of many other examples.

The Strassburger Denkmal (1895) in Basel

The German Empire (1871-1918) was formed in 1870/71 after the Franco-Prussian War. During this war, Baden troops laid siege to Strasbourg; a monument in Basel commemorates Basel’s support for the citizens of Strasbourg. The Grand Duchy of Baden lost part of its sovereignty and fell with the Second German Empire in 1918.

The last Zähringer Friedrich II (1857-1928) abdicated his throne as Grand Duke of Baden in 1918, a Zähringer dynasty of almost 1,000 years! Not even the Habsburgs could compete with that. Baden then became a republic as part of the Weimar Republic.

From 1933 to 1945, Baden was ruled by a Gauleiter. After the German capitulation, Baden was divided into a French zone (with the almost intact Baden-Baden as its capital) and an American zone. Baden-Württemberg was created in 1947.

This eventful history of Switzerland’s immediate neighbour influenced mutual and direct contacts, especially in and from the 19th century. However, the modernised and contemporary spa culture in Baden-Baden, Baden and Badenweiler has remained intact, and the Roman buildings can still be visited.

Regional initiatives like the Regio Basiliensis also show that cross-border cooperation and projects are still part of the Alemannic DNA. Today, the towns of Rheinfelden and Laufenburg once again symbolise the Rhine’s unifying function.

What do Utrecht, Rastatt (Baden-Württemberg) and Baden (Canton Aargau) have in common? These cities not only played a role in the constitutional history of the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland, respectively.

The most relevant (bilateral) treaties to end the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713) took place in these cities in 1713 and 1714. Other treaties were afterwards concluded in The Hague, Madrid, and Antwerp.

The War of the Spanish Succession was about the Spanish crown (and rule over the southern Netherlands, the northern Italian territories, Sicily, Naples and the colonies).

Europe around 1700. Picture: Wikipedia

Charles II (1661-1700), King of Spain and his (colonial and European) empire, was the last Spanish Habsburg. In his will, he had named Philip of Anjou (1683-1746), a grandson of Louis XIV (1638-1715), as his successor.

Philip was sworn in as King Philip V of Spain on 1 November 1700. In addition to the Spanish crown, the complex field of forces of the many sovereign states of the Holy Roman Empire, the many scattered Habsburg possessions and, above all, the overseas colonies also played a role.

However, Leopold I (1640-1705), Joseph I (1678-1711) and his successor Charles VI (1685-1740), the Habsburg emperors of the Holy Roman Empire during this period, also laid claim to the throne, and other countries, above all England and the Republic (united in personal union under King William (William) and Stadtholder William (Willem) III (1650-1702)), did not accept it either.

Godfrey Keller (1646-1723), King William of England and Stadtholder William III of the Republic. Collection National Galleries Scotland. Photo: Wikipedia

They feared Spanish-French domination. Experience with the Sun King’s aggressive expansionist policy gave them every reason to do so.

The War of the Spanish Succession, also known as the First World War, was fought on other continents, particularly in Canada and South America, due to the colonies.

The rise of a family that saved Europe and civilisation during the Second World War (1939-1945) is worth mentioning. John Churchill (1650-1722), the Duke of Marlborough, was one of the successful commanders of the anti-French coalition. He was honoured with Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Spencer Churchill (1874-1965).

However, Leopold I (1640-1705), Joseph I (1678-1711) and his successor Charles VI (1685-1740), the Habsburg emperors of the Holy Roman Empire during this period, also laid claim to the throne, and other countries, above all England and the Republic (united in personal union under King William (William) and Stadtholder William (Willem) III (1650-1702)), did not accept it either.

Pieter Schenk (1693-1775), John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, c. 1700, after a painting by Godfrey Keller. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam Collection (RP-P-1905-254). Image: Wikipedia

After years of war with changing prospects of war and several failed peace conferences, the parties were ready to make peace in 1713. Such meetings were held in locations that were politically, logistically and in terms of status, comfort and accommodation suitable and safe for hundreds of diplomats.

Utrecht was the capital of the Province of Utrecht, one of the seven sovereign provinces of the Republic of the United Netherlands (1581) and the namesake of the Union of Utrecht (1579).

This republic was recognised as a sovereign state in 1648 (Treaty of Münster) and has been in constant war with France and occasionally with the naval power England (as an ad hoc ally of France) since then.

The choice of Utrecht as the location of the first conference was primarily determined by its location, i.e. the easy accessibility of the main protagonists, France, England and the Emperor.

Map of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Printed from Johann Baptista Homann, Atlas novus Terrarum Orbis Imperia, Regna et Status, Nuremberg, c. 1720, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam collection (RP-P-AO-1-51. B). Image: Wikipedia

In addition, the Republic’s political role on the continent was over after the Golden Age and the wars at sea and on land against England and France, or, as the French diplomat Melchior de Polignac (1661-1741) put it, ‘We negotiate about you, in your city and without you’.

Be that as it may, France and England concluded the Treaty of Utrecht on 11 April 1713. It was a series of bilateral peace treaties between France and England, France and the Republic, France and Prussia, France and Portugal and France and Savoy.

Philip V remained King of Spain, albeit not in a personal union with France. Great Britain received sovereignty over Gibraltar and some French territories in Canada; the southern Netherlands, the northern Italian territories, Sardinia (later exchanged for Sicily), and Naples remained or came to Austria. Savoy received Sicily, which was later exchanged for Sardinia. Portuguese rule over Brazil and Uruguay was recognised, and the Netherlands received mainly trade concessions and garrisons in the southern Netherlands.

However, the Emperor did not accept it and continued the war (without England, the Republic, and other allies). He lost, which was the reason for the peace conference in Rastatt between France and Austria.

Rastatt Castle. Jupiter and his lightning bolts in the direction of neighbouring France

The magnificent baroque palace in Rastatt had been the residence of the Margrave of (Catholic) Baden-Baden since 1705. This area was a buffer between France and the Habsburg possessions in Germany and the scene of many military conflicts and suffering during Louis XIV’s reign.

Traditionally, The Margrave had family connections to the highest European princes, and Rastatt was between Paris, Vienna, and other Habsburg possessions. In addition, the new Baroque residence won over the French and the Habsburg Austrians. The peace treaty between Austria and France was signed on 7 March 1714.

Reconstruction of the negotiations in Rastatt. Collection Rastatt Castle

Austria recognised Philip V as king on the same terms as in the Treaty of Utrecht. Austria retained its Italian possessions, and the amnesty for the Catalans, who had sided with the Habsburgs in the conflict, was also an issue (!). Other issues were also discussed, including reparations for allies and the return of conquered territories.

One complication, however, was the constitutional organisation of the Holy Roman Empire: the Emperor needed the approval of the Imperial Diet. It was the reason for the conference in Baden.

Baden was a Catholic town in Aargau that had been a subject territory of the Habsburg-conquered Confederation since 1415. Delegates from the Confederation’s cantons met at the Tagsatzung in Baden until 1712.

In 1712, however, Catholic Baden sided with the Catholic cantons in the second Villmerger War (the first took place in 1656). The Protestant cantons won, Aargau lost, and from 1712, the Tagsatzung was held in Frauenfeld (Canton Thurgau, also a subject territory, which was conquered in 1460).

Baden nevertheless became the choice for the final peace treaty between France and Austria. The main reason was the Confederation’s neutrality, and the Confederation was recognised as an independent state in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Baden, situated between Vienna and Paris, was also a well-known spa and health resort. For centuries (i.e., until 1712), it had been the meeting place of the Tagsatzung and its several hundred diplomats from the cantons and abroad. It was also not far from Solothurn, the residence of the French ambassador to the Confederation.

Although the most important resolutions had already been passed and the main aim was to conclude the Franco-Austrian peace treaty, around 60 delegations were still present from all parts of the Holy Roman Empire and Europe, from Savoy, Venice, Stockholm, The Hague, Madrid, Berlin, Speyer, abbots and bishops and other dignitaries, all representing their interests and claims—in short, it was a European diplomatic congress.

It ended on 7 September 1714 with the Peace of Baden. The balance of power was restored for the time being (until 1756). In any case, the era of religious and dynastic wars was (almost) over. However, other conflicts appeared at the end of the 18th century, and Switzerland was not spared this time.

(Source: R. de Bruin, M. Brinkman (Red.), Friedensstätte. Die Verträge von Utrecht, Rastatt und Baden 1713-1714, Petersberg, 2013)

Rastatt Castle

Baroque

and Rococo

   

Markgrave of Baden Ludwig Wilhelm (Turkenlouis, 1655-1707), founder of the Rastatt Castle  (1705). Collection Schloss Rastatt