The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zähringen

ZÄHRINGEN, tsā'rĭng-ĕn, the house from which the former grand-ducal family of Baden (q.v.), Germany, took its origin. The name is derived from the castle of Zähringen, now in ruins, in the village of that name, about two miles north of Freiburg in Baden. The founders of the family were from the 8th to the 10th century Counts of Breisgau, but the history of the house really began with Duke Bertold I, “the Bearded,” d. 1078, who began to rule in the first third of the 11th century. Bertold II took the title of Duke of Zähringen in 1090. The main line of the family became extinct in 1218 and their territories, which included lands in Burgundy and Switzerland as well as Baden, were divided. A portion passed through a younger branch of the house to the Counts of Kyburg and thence to the Hapsburgs, to whom they are related. The remaining lands descended to the former reigning family of Baden.