KEMPTEN, a town in the government district of Swabia and Neuburg, Bavaria, is situated on the Iller, about 65 miles south-west of Munich. It is the seat of numerous local and special tribunals, and contains a castle, a gymnasium and a grammar school, two hospitals, and other educational and benevolent institutions. There is a handsome town-house, and the aqueduct is noteworthy. The industries include wool spinning and weaving on a large scale, and the manufacture of paper, beer, machines, hosiery, matches, and wooden wares. As a commercial centre of the Algau, Kempten carries on active trade in linen, timber, and dairy produce. In 1875 the population, including the garrison, was 12,681.

Kempten, identified with the Roman Campodunum, consisted in early times of two towns, the old and the new. The continual hostility that existed between these was intensified by the welcome given by the old town to the Reformed doctrines, - the new town, built round the Benedictine abbey erected in the 8th century, keeping the old faith. The abbot in 1360 had been promoted to the dignity of a prince of the empire by the emperor Charles IV., and the princely abbacy only passed to Bavaria in 1803.