Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg

Born at Urach, he was the son of count Ludwig I and his wife Mechthild of the Palatinate, born as countess palatine by the Rhine.

Count Eberhard V officially took charge of the government of Württemberg-Urach when he was still underage; Württemberg had been divided since 1442. At first he had a legal guardian, a respected nobleman who had mentored his father as a youth, Rudolph von Ehingen of Kilchberg. However, in 1459, assisted by Frederick I, Elector Palatine, he threw off this restraint, and undertook the government of the district of Urach as Count Eberhard V. He neglected his duties as a ruler and lived a reckless life until 1468. During this time, a fencing manual was created for Eberhard in 1467 by Hans Talhoffer. The manuscript is currently held by the Bavarian State Library.

In 1468, he traveled to Jerusalem and became a knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. To commemorate this he chose the palm as his symbol. He visited Italy and became acquainted with some famous scholars. Returning home, in Urach on 12 April 1474, he married a prestigious bride, Barbara, daughter of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. The only child from this marriage, Barbara, was born in Urach on 2 August 1475 and died on 15 October of that year.

In 1477, Eberhard, whose motto was attempto ("I dare"), founded the University of Tübingen. He ordered the expulsion of all Jews living in Württemberg. He invited the Brethren of the Common Life and the community of devotio moderna to his country and founded collegiate churches in Urach, Dettingen an der Erms, Herrenberg, Einsiedel near Tübingen and Tachenhausen.

He also took an interest in reforms of the church and monasteries. Despite not being able to speak Latin he held education in high esteem and had a great number of Latin texts translated into German. Parts of his large library have been preserved.

Finally on 14 December 1482 Eberhard reunified the two halves of Württemberg, Württemberg-Urach and Württemberg-Stuttgart, in the Treaty of Münsingen, with his cousin Eberhard VI of Württemberg-Stuttgart, later the second duke. He moved the capital to Stuttgart. In the same year, Pope Sixtus IV awarded him the Golden Rose. Eberhard, although a lover of peace, was one of the founders of the Swabian League in 1488, and assisted to release Maximilian I, from his imprisonment in Bruges in the same year. In 1492 he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece, by Maximilian, then King of Germany. In the same year, the treaty was finally sanctioned by the nobility.

Johannes Nauclerus, a humanist and historian, served at his court.