Swabian Circle

Swabian Circle
Schwäbischer Reichskreis
1500–1808
of Schwäbischer Reichskreis
Coat of arms

The Swabian Circle as at the beginning of the 16th century within the Holy Roman Empire
CapitalUlm
Area 
• 1801
34,314 km2 (13,249 sq mi)
Government
Circle Colonel 
• 1531-1537
Wolfgang von Montfort
• 1556-1562
Wilhelm von Eberstein
• 1563, 1564-1568
Christoph
• 1569-1591
Louis III
• 1622-1628
John Frederick
LegislatureCircle Diet
Historical eraEarly modern period
• Established
1500
• Peace of Westphalia
1648
1806
• Disestablished
1808
Today part ofAustria
Germany
Liechtenstein
Switzerland

The Circle of Swabia or Swabian Circle (German: Schwäbischer Reichskreis or Schwäbischer Kreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former German stem-duchy of Swabia. However, it did not include the Habsburg home territories of Swabian Austria, the member states of the Swiss Confederacy nor the lands of the Alsace region west of the Rhine, which belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle. The Swabian League of 1488, a predecessor organization, disbanded in the course of the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years War later in the 16th century.