List of rulers of Baden

Baden was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and later one of the German states along the frontier with France primarily consisting of territory along the right bank of the Rhine opposite Alsace and the Palatinate.

The territory evolved out of the Breisgau, an early medieval county in the Duchy of Swabia. A continuous sequence of counts is known since 962; the counts belong to the House of Zähringen. In 1061, the counts first acquired the additional title of margraves of Verona. Even though they lost the March of Verona soon thereafter, they kept the title of margrave. In 1112, the title of Margrave of Baden was first used.

For most of the early modern period, the Margraviate of Baden was divided into two parts, one ruled by the Catholic Margraves of Baden-Baden, and the other by the Protestant Margraves of Baden-Durlach. In 1771, the main Baden-Baden line became extinct, and all of the Baden lands came under the rule of Baden-Durlach. The reunited margraviate existed until 1803.

During the Napoleonic era, in the imperial reorganisation of 1803, Baden gained a great deal of additional territory, and its rulers were made one of the few prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. However, this pre-eminent dignity lasted only for three years, until the end of the Empire in August 1806, eight months after the crushing Battle of Austerlitz, when the Electorate of Baden ceased to exist. Consequently, in that year, the Margraves took on the title of Grand Duke of Baden, and gained additional territory. The Grand Duchy of Baden, within approximately the borders of 1806, continued to exist until the fall of the German monarchies in 1918, when it became a republic.

Counts in Breisgau

Margraves of Verona and Counts in the Breisgau

Margraves of Baden

Baden divided, 1190–1771

Margraves of Baden-Baden, 1190–1348

Margraves of Baden-Hachberg, 1190–1418

Margraves of Baden-Sausenberg, 1290–1503

Margraves of Baden-Eberstein, 1291–1353

Margraves of Baden-Pforzheim, 1291–1361

Margraves of Baden-Baden, 1348–1588

Margraves of Baden-Durlach, 1515–1771

Margrave of Baden-Sponheim, 1515–1533

Margraves of Baden-Rodemachern, 1536–1666

Margraves of Baden-Hachberg, 1577–1591

Margrave of Baden-Sausenberg, 1577–1604

Margraves of Baden-Baden, 1588–1771

Margrave of Baden, 1771–1803

Elector of Baden, 1803–1806

Grand Dukes of Baden, 1806–1918

Heads of the Grand Ducal House of Baden since 1918

State Presidents of the Republic of Baden, 1918–1945

  1. Anton Geiß (SPD) 1918–1920
  2. Gustav Trunk (Zentrum) 1920–1921
  3. Hermann Hummel (DDP) 1921–1922
  4. Adam Remmele (SPD) 1922–1923
  5. Heinrich Köhler (Zentrum), 1923–1924
  6. Willy Hellpach (DDP) 1924–1925
  7. Gustav Trunk (Zentrum) 1925–1926
  8. Heinrich Köhler (Zentrum) 1926–1927
  9. Gustav Trunk (Zentrum) 1927
  10. Adam Remmele (SPD) 1927–1928
  11. Josef Schmitt (Zentrum) 1928–1930
  12. Josef Wittemann (Zentrum) 1930–1931
  13. Josef Schmitt (Zentrum) 1931–1933
  14. Robert Wagner (NSDAP) 1933
  15. Walter Köhler (NSDAP) 1933–1945

State President of Baden (South Baden), 1945–1952

  1. Various presidents in rotation 1945–1946
  2. Leo Wohleb (BCSV, then CDU) 1946–1952