Further Austria
Further Austria (in
German:
Vorderösterreich or
die Vorlande) was the collective name for the old possessions of the
Habsburgs in south-western Germany (
Swabia),
Alsace, and in
Vorarlberg after the focus of the Habsburgs had moved to
Austria. Sometimes the
Tyrol was also included in definitions of Further Austria.
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Border stone of 1768 with coat of arms of "Vorderösterreich" (VO) at Salhöhe/Switzerland |
Further Austria was comprised of the
Sundgau (southern
Alsace) and the
Breisgau east of the
Rhine (including
Freiburg im Breisgau after 1386) and included some scattered territories throughout Swabia, the largest being the
margravate Burgau in the area of
Augsburg and
Ulm. Some territories in
Vorarlberg that belonged to the Habsburgs were also considered part of Further Austria. The original homelands of the Habsburgs, the
Aargau and much of the other original Habsburg possessions south of the Rhine and
Lake Constance were lost in the
14th century to the expanding
Old Swiss Confederacy after the battles of
Morgarten (
1315) and
Sempach (
1386) and were never considered part of Further Austria, except the
Fricktal, which remained a Habsburg property until
1797.
At the
Treaty of Westphalia in
1648, the Sundgau became part of
France, and in the
18th century, the Habsburgs acquired a few minor new territories in southern Germany such as
Tettnang. In the
Peace of Pressburg of 1805, Further Austria was dissolved and the formerly Habsburg territories were assigned to
Bavaria,
Baden, and
Württemberg. The
Fricktal had become a part of
Switzerland in
1802.
Politically, Further Austria was ruled by the
Duke of Austria until
1379. After that, the regent of Further Austria was the Duke of
Tyrol.
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Map of South-Western Germany in 1789
