Zähringen

…the feudal dynasties of the Zähringen, Savoy, Kyburg, and Habsburg families to concentrate rudimentary administrative and judicial powers in their own hands by the beginning of the 13th century. In the High Middle Ages these families founded monasteries and new cities to provide secure stopping places for the increasing numbers…

…led Berthold V, duke of Zähringen, to found Bern in 1191 as a military post on the frontier between the German-speaking Alemanni and the French-speaking inhabitants of Burgundy. After the extinction of the Zähringen dynasty (1218), Bern became a free imperial city. Gradually it extended its power by acquiring surrounding…