Ortenau

The Ortenau, originally called Mortenau, is a historic region in the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg.

In the south, it borders on the Breisgau region, covering approximately the same area as the Ortenaukreis, a present-day administrative district with its centre at Offenburg.

In 1007, King Henry II enfeoffed the Bishops of Bamberg with the Ortenau estates.

However, as the bishops were not able to control their remote Swabian lands themselves, they entrusted the rule to the local noble House of Zähringen.

When the Zähringen dukes became extinct in 1218, quarrels broke out over their succession between their Baden heirs, the Bishops of Straßburg, and the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II.