Schellenberg

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For the prominent German politician from the Nazi era, see Walter Schellenberg.

Schellenberg is a municipality in the lowland area of Liechtenstein, on the banks of the Rhine. As of 2005 it has a population of 952 and covers an area of 3.5 km².

The area was first settled by Celts, then by Rhaetians. Rome conquered the area in 15 BC, and made it part of the Province of Rhaetia. The Province later became an earldom under Charlemagne. The earldom was continually divided up by inheritance.

The Lordship of Schellenberg was purchased by the Counts of Vaduz in 1437 and the two states have been united in fact ever since. After the Swabian War in 1499, both came under Austrian suzerainty. Different dynasties of counts bought and sold them, until their purchase in the early 18th century by the Liechtenstein dynasty, which had been granted Princely status in 1706, but which needed to acquire a territory with imperial immediacy in order to vote in the Diet of the Princes of the Empire. The Emperor formally united Vaduz and Schellenberg in 1719 as the Principality of Liechtenstein.