The old, mysterious name Baar refers to a region between the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura, which crossed two of the most important Roman trade routes in Southwest Germany. The infrastructure and settlement patterns reveal distinctive characteristics from late antiquity, and archaeology has made sensational discoveries regarding the period of Alamannic rule in the early Middle Ages. The region around the sources of the Danube and Neckar also gained significance in the 9th century when the last ruler to govern the entire empire of Charlemagne exercised countship rights here: Charles III, who died in Neudingen in 888. The end of this emperor initiated a process that can be described as the emergence of Germany. What historical forces shaped the Baar, and which secular and spiritual powers struggled here?.