The County Palatine of Tübingen was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the medieval period. The dynasty, originally based in Nagold, managed to acquire extensive holdings over the course of their time in power, distinguishing themselves by founding a large number monasteries in their territories. By the time of the High Middle Ages, several factors contributed to their economic decline, including the expenses of keeping court and extravagant donations to the monasteries they founded. The line itself experienced fragmentation into numerous cadet branches, the longest-lasting of which were the Counts of Tübingen-Lichteck (until 1664) and the Counts of Montfort (1787).
History
The oldest documented count of Nagold is Anselm of Nagoldgau the Elder, who is as recorded as possessing Kuppingen (modern Herrenberg-Kuppingen) in the year 966. He is followed by Anselm of Nagoldgau the Younger, who is mentioned in records from 1027 and 1048.
Between these two (the only two counts designated "of Nagoldgau") a certain Count Hugo I of Nagold, presumably from the same family, appears in 1007, when he was invested with the royal estates of Holzgerlingen and the Imperial forest at Schönbuch.
The city of Tübingen first appears in official records in 1191, and the local castle, Hohentübingen, has records going back to 1078 (as "castrum Twingia") when it was besieged by Henry IV, King of Germany in the context of the Investiture Controversy. Hugo III (who also founded Blaubeuren Abbey in 1066) would nevertheless submit to the king the following year.
From 1146, Hugo V (1125-1152) would bear the title of count palatine (Pfalzgraf), as Hugo I of Tübingen. This promotion is presumably due to services rendered to Conrad III, the first Hohenstaufen king of Germany, elected in 1138. By that point, the office of count palatine was no longer tied to its original task of maintaining a royal palace (whence the term “palatine”), but instead indicated that the holder exercised a certain degree of power and authority as the king's official representative within a stem duchy, making Hugo second only to the Duke of Swabia. As count palatine, he was also granted the right to exercise judicial powers in the king's stead, in addition to hunting rights, the right to collect customs, and the right to mint coins – as demonstrated by the Tübingen pfennig, which appears starting in 1185.
Hugo II (1153–82) gained Bregenz and other property in Raetia Curiensis, Tettnang and Sigmaringen by marriage to Elizabeth of Bregenz. In 1171, Hugo II founded Marchtal Abbey, and his first son Rudolph I would go on to found Bebenhausen Abbey in 1183. Rudolph also acquired Gießen via marriage to Matilda, countess of Gleiburg, which would later be sold to the landgraves of Hesse in 1264. Hugo's second son founded the Montfort dynasty, as Hugo I, Count of Montfort (d. 1230).
Upon the death of Rudolph I, his and Matilda's eldest son Rudolph II (1224-1247) became ruler of Horb, Herrenberg, and Tübingen. Their second son William would go on to found the Asberg-Gießen-Böblingen line. Rudolph II's son, originally Rudolph III of Tübingen, started what would be known as the Herrenberg Line, as Rudolph I of Scheer (d. 1277).
Decline
By the early 1300s, Count Palatine Gottfried I ("Götz") was deeply in debt to Bebenhausen Abbey. He signed over extensive rights to the abbey, even transferring control of Böblingen and Calw. In 1311, Henry VII placed the imperial ban on Count Eberhard I of Württemberg, and Gottfried was appointed Feldhauptmann in the imperial army, defeating Eberhard in May of that year. In a show of gratitude, the city of Esslingen assumed Gottfried's debts to the abbey, and he was able to recover the two towns.
Before long, however, his sons and his grandson Gottfried III would find themselves so deep in debt that they would enter into another debt-relief agreement, this time with the city of Tübingen, with Ulrich III, Count of Württemberg (Eberhard's son) acting as guarantor. For a nine-year period, the city would enjoy a wide range of privileges, including the right to elect their own Amtmänner (bailiffs) and to determine how their tax revenues were to be distributed. But in 1342, Gottfried found himself in conflict with Ulrich. Ordered by Emperor Louis the Bavarian to make full restitution, he was forced to sell Tübingen to Ulrich for 20,000 gold hellers.