The Margraviate of Baden-Durlach was an early modern territory of the Holy Roman Empire, in the upper Rhine valley, which existed from 1535 to 1771.

It was formed when the Margraviate of Baden was split between the sons of Margrave Christopher I and was named for its capital, Durlach.

Following the extinction of the Baden-Baden line in 1771, the Baden-Durlach inherited their territories and reunited the Margraviate of Baden.

The reunified territory was caught up in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, emerging in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Baden.

Margrave Charles II chose to support the Protestant Reformation in 1556 and transferred his residence from Pforzheim to Karlsburg Castle in Durlach in 1565.

In 1594, Baden-Durlach exercised control over Baden-Baden in what is known as the Oberbadische Okkupation (Upper Baden Occupation), after Margrave George Frederick seized the territory in light of his relatives' bankruptcy.

Having never received imperial authorisation for the seizure, George Frederick joined the Protestant Union in an effort to protect his claims.

[3] This ended in 1622 during the Thirty Years' War, after George Frederick was defeated at the Battle of Wimpfen and forced to abdicate and return Baden-Baden to his relations.

Here the coat of arms depicted on the seal of Margrave Charles II is described: The central shield contained the red Badian diagonal band on a golden background.

Alongside it is a helmet with the Sausenberg lion and one with the upper part of a man wearing the wing of the Üsenberg arms.

[6] The largest force raised in the history of Baden-Durlach was recruited by Margrave George Frederick in 1622 for the Palatinate campaign of the Thirty Years' War.

It consisted of 11,500 men, only half of which were recruited locally from the margraviate's militia, with the rest on loan from George Frederick's allies; the territory was too small and poor to pay for professional soldiers beyond the margrave's own bodyguard.