Rottweil

Rottweil, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, lying on a hill on the left bank of the Neckar, 46 m. S.W. of Tubingen by rail. Pop. (1905) 9008. It is partly surrounded by walls, and contains two fine churches, the Gothic HeiligeKreuz-kirche, built in the 14th century and restored in 1840, and the Capellen-kirche with a Gothic spire 230 ft. high. It has a medieval town hall, several schools and a museum of antiquities. Especially noteworthy is the collection of sculptures and pictures of old German art in the chapel of St Lawrence, where there is also a Roman mosaic, found in the vicinity, portraying Orpheus in the centre and, at the sides, Roman chariot-races and gladiators. The industries of the place embrace the manufacture of powder, locomotives, machinery, cotton, leather and beer. There is also a considerable trade in live stock, agricultural produce and wine.

Rottweil-Altstadt, which lies about 4 m. to the south, was a Roman colony. It has an old church and a Cistercian nunnery founded in 1221 and dissolved in 1838. Near the town is Wilhelmshall, with saline springs. In the 13th century Rottweil became a free imperial city and was subsequently the seat of an imperial court of law, the jurisdiction of which extended over Swabia, the Rhineland and Alsace. The functions of this tribunal came to an end in 1784. In 1803 Rottweil passed into the possession of Wurttemberg.

See Ruckgaber, Geschichte der Stadt Rottweil (3 vols., Rottweil, 1835); and Greiner, Das iiltere Recht der Reichsstadt Rottweil  (Stuttgart, 1900).