The area was probably first settled in the 12th millennium BC. The Romans left some traces here in AD 85, when they built a Limes frontier wall at the Neckar. T�bingen itself dates from the 6th or 7th century, when the region was populated by the Alamanni. Some even argue that the Battle of Solicinium was fought at Spitzberg, a mountain in T�bingen, back in AD 367, though there is no evidence for this.
In 1007, Hugo I, Count of T�bingen, was invested with the royal estates of Holzgerlingen and the Imperial forest at Sch�nbuch. The city first appears in official records in 1191, and the local castle, Hohent�bingen, has records going back to 1078 when it was besieged by Henry IV, King of Germany. From 1146, Count Hugo V (1125�52) was promoted to count palatine, as Hugo I. The concept of a county palatine was no longer connected to the traditional task of supervising a royal palace, but became a kind of supervisory role, representing the king within the tribal duchies, being second only to the duke within the duchy of Swabia. This was accompanied by rights of justice, hunting, customs and mints, as can be seen from coins minted in T�bingen since 1185.
Hugo II (1153�82) gained Bregenz and other property in Raetia, Tettnang and Sigmaringen by marriage and, in 1171, founded Marchtal Abbey; his second son founded the Montford dynasty, as Hugo I, Count of Montford (d. 1230). In 1183, his first son, Rudolf I founded Bebenhausen Abbey. In 1264, Gie�en, acquired with the county of Gleiberg by Rudolph I's marriage, was sold to the landgrave of Hesse.
By 1231, the city was a civitas indicating recognition of civil liberties and a court system. Its name ends with the familiar suffix -ingen, indicating it was originally settled by the Alemanic tribes. In 1262, an Augustinian monastery was established by Pope Alexander IV in T�bingen, in 1272, a Franciscan monastery followed. The latter existed until Ulrich, Duke of W�rttemberg disestablished it in 1535 in
