Editing Franconia (section)

===Name===
Franconia is named after the [[Franks]], a [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]] who conquered most of Western Europe by the middle of the 8th century. Despite its name, Franconia is not the homeland of the Franks, but rather owes its name to being partially settled by Franks from the Rhineland during the 7th century following the defeat of the [[Alamanni]] and [[Thuringians]] who had dominated the region earlier.<ref>Geschiedenis van het Nederlands by M van der Wal, 1992</ref>

At the beginning of the 10th century a ''Duchy of Franconia'' ({{langx|de|Herzogtum Franken|links=no}}) was established within [[East Francia]], which comprised modern [[Hesse]], [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]], parts of [[Baden-Württemberg]] and most of today's Franconia. After the dissolution of the so-called [[Stem duchy]] of Franconia, the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperors]] created the [[Franconian Circle]] (German ''Fränkischer Reichskreis'') in 1500 to embrace the principalities that grew out of the eastern half of the former duchy. The territory of the Franconian Circle roughly corresponds with modern Franconia. The title of ''Duke of [[Duchy of Franconia|Franconia]]'' was claimed by the [[Bishopric of Würzburg|Würzburg bishops]] until 1803 and by the kings of [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]] until 1918.<ref>Gerhard Köbler, Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder, Darmstadt 1999, pp. 173–174</ref> Examples of Franconian cities founded by Frankish noblemen are [[Würzburg]], first mentioned in the 7th century, [[Ansbach]], first mentioned in 748, and [[Weißenburg in Bayern|Weissenburg]], founded in the 7th century.<ref>Gerhard Köbler, Historisches Lexikon der deutschen Länder, Darmstadt 1999</ref>