The House of Hohenzollern (, , ) is a German former royal dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which ruled the Burgraviate of Nuremberg and later became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, and also ruled Romania from 1866 to 1947.
Introduction
House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern | Introduction
The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia In the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia in the 11th century Hechingen in Swabia. Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania.
when did the first silesian war take place?
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1740
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where?
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Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia
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between whom?
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Prussia and Austria
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what was its prime cause?
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Brandenburg–Prussia's ruling House of Hohenzollern held dynastic claims to various duchies within the Habsburg province of Silesia
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when was this ruling house established?
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The family arose during the 11th century
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where did they live?
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After Frederick's death, his sons partitioned the family lands between themselves:
House of Hohenzollern | Counts of Zollern (1061–1204)
This form of the order existed until the Romanian monarchy was abolished in 1947; King Michael also awarded a slightly altered order in exile.
House Order of Hohenzollern | History
Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Later its capital was Hechingen. The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps. The Hohenzollern Castle lies on an 855 meters high mountain called Hohenzollern. It still belongs to the family today. The dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, Burkhard I, Count of Zollern ("de Zolorin") was born before 1025 and died in 1061.
House of Hohenzollern | County of Zollern
As a result of the war, the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires ceased to exist.
House of Hohenzollern | German Emperors (1871–1918)
Members of the House of Hohenzollern reigned as monarchs in Europe.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Rulers
The House Order of Hohenzollern was instituted on December 5, 1841, by joint decree of Prince Konstantin of and Prince Karl Anton of . These two principalities in southern Germany were Catholic collateral lines of the House of Hohenzollern, cousins to the Protestant ruling house of Prussia. On August 23, 1851, after the two principalities had been annexed by Prussia, the order was adopted by the Prussian branch of the house. Also, although the two principalities had become an administrative region of the Prussian kingdom, the princely lines continued to award the order as a house order. The Prussian version was then known as the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern (' or '), to distinguish it from the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern (' or ').
House Order of Hohenzollern | History
Although recognised as a branch of the dynasty since 1688, the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Schwedt remained subordinate to the electors, and was never an independent principality.
House of Hohenzollern | Margraves of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1688–1788)
The senior Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg (1186–1261). The family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage and the purchase of surrounding lands. In the first phase, the family gradually added to their lands, at first with many small acquisitions in the Franconian region of Germany:
House of Hohenzollern | Franconian branch
The House of Hohenzollern (, , ) is a German former royal dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which ruled the Burgraviate of Nuremberg and later became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, and also ruled Romania from 1866 to 1947.
House of Hohenzollern | Introduction
The Duchy of Jägerndorf (Krnov) was purchased in 1523. The duchy of Jägerndorf was confiscated by Emperor Ferdinand III in 1622.
House of Hohenzollern | Dukes of Jägerndorf (1523–1622)
The County of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was established in 1576 with allodial rights. It included the original County of Zollern, with the Hohenzollern Castle and the monastery at Stetten. In December 1849, the ruling princes of both Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen abdicated their thrones, and their principalities were incorporated as the Prussian province of Hohenzollern. The Hechingen branch became extinct in dynastic line with Konstantin's death in 1869.
House of Hohenzollern | Counts, later Princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1576–1849)
The short-lived Margraviate of Brandenburg-Küstrin was set up as a secundogeniture of the House of Hohenzollern.
House of Hohenzollern | Margraves of Brandenburg-Küstrin (1535–1571)
When awarded with swords it was worn on the ribbon of the Iron Cross.
House Order of Hohenzollern | Royal House Order
On 2 December 1791, Christian II Frederick sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia.
House of Hohenzollern | Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1398–1791)
The territories of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach remained possessions of the family, once parts of the Burgraviate of Nuremberg.
House of Hohenzollern | Burgraves of Nuremberg (1192–1427)
The cadet Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Frederick IV, Count of Zollern. The family ruled three territories with seats at, respectively, Hechingen, Sigmaringen and Haigerloch. The counts were elevated to princes in 1623. The Swabian branch of the Hohenzollerns is Roman Catholic. Affected by economic problems and internal feuds, the Hohenzollern counts from the 14th century onwards came under pressure by their neighbors, the Counts of Württemberg and the cities of the Swabian League, whose troops besieged and finally destroyed Hohenzollern Castle in 1423. Nevertheless, the Hohenzollerns retained their estates, backed by their Brandenburg cousins and the Imperial House of Habsburg.
House of Hohenzollern | Swabian branch
In mid-2019 it was revealed that Prince Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, Head of the House of Hohenzollern had filed claims for permanent right of residency for his family in Cecilienhof, or one of two other Hohenzollern palaces in Potsdam, as well as return of the family library, 266 paintings, an imperial crown and sceptre, and the letters of Empress Augusta Victoria. Central to the argument was that Monbijou Palace, which had been permanently given to the family following the fall of the Kaiser, was demolished by the East German government in 1959. Lawyers for the German state argued that the involvement of members of the family in National Socialism had voided any such rights.
House of Hohenzollern | Property Claims
In the age of absolutism, most monarchs were obsessed with the desire to emulate Louis XIV of France with his luxurious palace at Versailles. In 1772 the Duchy of Prussia was elevated to a kingdom.
House of Hohenzollern | Kings in Prussia (1701–1772)
Hohenzollern Castle (German: ) is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The first castle on the mountain was constructed in the early 11th century. Over the years the House of Hohenzollern split several times, but the castle remained in the Swabian branch, the dynastic seniors of the Franconian-Brandenburgian cadet branch that later acquired its own imperial throne. This castle was completely destroyed in 1423 after a ten-month siege by the free imperial cities of Swabia.
Hohenzollern Castle | Introduction
The House Order of Hohenzollern ( or ") was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses and medals which could be awarded to lower-ranking soldiers and civilians.
House Order of Hohenzollern | Introduction
The County of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch was established in 1576 without allodial rights. Between 1634 and 1681, the county was temporarily integrated into the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Upon the death of Francis Christopher Anton in 1767, the Haigerloch territory was incorporated into the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
House of Hohenzollern | Counts of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch (1576–1634 and 1681–1767)
Hohenzollern-Hechingen was a small principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Hohenzollern-Hechingen | Introduction
Members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. The Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia. The Kingdom of Prussia was created in 1701, eventually leading to the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871, with the Hohenzollerns as hereditary German Emperors and Kings of Prussia.
House of Hohenzollern | Introduction
In 1204, the County of Hohenzollern was established out of the fusion of the County of Zollern and the Burgraviate of Nuremberg. The Swabian branch inherited the county of Zollern and, being descended from Frederick I of Nuremberg, were all named "Friedrich" down through the 11th generation. Each one's numeral is counted from the first Friedrich to rule his branch's appanage. The most senior of these in the 12th century, Count Frederick VIII (d. 1333), had two sons, the elder of whom became Frederick IX (d. 1379), first Count of Hohenzollern, and fathered Friedrich X who left no sons when he died in 1412.
House of Hohenzollern | Counts of Hohenzollern (1204–1575)
But the younger son of Friedrich VIII, called "Friedrich of Strassburg", uniquely, took no numeral of his own, retaining the old title "Count of Zollern" and pre-deceased his brother in 1364/65. Prince Wilhelm Karl zu Isenburg's 1957 genealogical series, "Europäische Stammtafeln", says Friedrich of Strassburg shared, rather, in the rule of Zollern with his elder brother until his premature death.
House of Hohenzollern | Counts of Hohenzollern (1204–1575)
Notes: "For further detailed dynastic relationships, see also :Family tree of the German monarchs".
Hohenstaufen | Family tree of the House of Hohenstaufen
In June 1926, a referendum on expropriating the formerly ruling princes of Germany without compensation failed and as a consequence, the financial situation of the Hohenzollern family improved considerably. A settlement between the state and the family made Cecilienhof property of the state but granted a right of residence to Crown Prince Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie. The family also kept the ownership of Monbijou Palace in Berlin, Oleśnica Castle in Silesia, Rheinsberg Palace, Schwedt Palace and other property until 1945. Since the abolition of the German monarchy, no Hohenzollern claims to imperial or royal prerogatives are recognised by Germany's Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949, which guarantees a republic.
House of Hohenzollern | Brandenburg-Prussian branch since 1918 abdication
Lennart was succeeded by a nephew.
Saxe-Lauenburg | House of Hohenzollern (1865–76)
The Hohenzollerns were counts as reported throughout history. Adalbert (1125) was Count of Zollern. Since the 14th century, the House of Hohenzollern was named after the Hohenzollern mountain, which is located upstream from the Swabian Alb. In 1685, Emperor Leopold I granted the Brandenburgers the title "Count of Hohenzollern". The Prussian kings came from the Frankish line, from which the Brandenburg line developed. The Principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen were ceded by their princes to Prussia on 7 December 1849, and were accepted by Prussian law on 12 March 1850.
Titles and emblems of the German Emperor after 1873 | Count of Hohenzollern
The head of the house is the titular King of Prussia and German Emperor. He also bears a historical claim to the title of Prince of Orange. Members of this line style themselves princes of Prussia. Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, the current head of the royal Prussian House of Hohenzollern, was married to Princess Sophie of Isenburg on 27 August 2011. On 20 January 2013, she gave birth to twin sons, Carl Friedrich Franz Alexander and Louis Ferdinand Christian Albrecht, in Bremen. Carl Friedrich, the elder of the two, is the heir apparent.
House of Hohenzollern | Order of succession
The County of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was established in 1576 with allodial rights and a seat at Sigmaringen Castle. In December 1849, sovereignty over the principality was yielded to the Franconian branch of the family and incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia, which accorded status as cadets of the Prussian Royal Family to the Swabian Hohenzollerns. The last ruling Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Karl Anton, would later serve as Minister President of Prussia between 1858 and 1862.
House of Hohenzollern | Counts, later Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1576–1849)
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 following the abdication of its sovereign in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Introduction
The communist government of the Soviet occupation zone depropriated all landowners and industrialists; the House of Hohenzollern lost almost all of its fortune, retaining a few company shares and Hohenzollern Castle in West Germany. The Polish government appropriated the Silesian property and the Dutch government seized Huis Doorn, the Emperor's seat in exile.
House of Hohenzollern | Brandenburg-Prussian branch since 1918 abdication
Hechingen is the ancestral home of the Hohenzollern dynasty of princes, electors, kings, and emperors, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. In 1176 the Counts of Hohenberg separated from the Counts of Hohenzollern and seized several cities from the Hohenzollern. In 1218 the Burgraves of Nuremberg gained independence from them. The city was founded in 1255 by the Counts of Hohenzollern as their new capital city. The Hohenzollern had great land holdings near Strasbourg and in the Alb-Donau-Kreis during this time. Hechingen was located on an Imperial highway which led from the middle Neckar south by way of Rottweil to the upper Rhine and the Alpine passes.
Hechingen | Middle Ages
In 1711, Count Karl Caspar von der Leyen was created Imperial Count which guaranteed sovereignty through Imperial immediacy. Renovations to in the second half of the 18th Century saw the removal of its walls, rendering its appearance similar to a large farmhouse, but the compound retained its original footprint, and the building served as a modest court for the Counts of Leyen whenever they might journey from their residential palace at Blieskastel. However, on May 14, 1793, the French Revolutionary Army surrounded Blieskastel Palace, forcing the Leyen family to flee. Having lost all of their possessions on the left bank of the Rhine river, the nearly destitute family took up residence in the Dautenstein, where they remained until the end of their rule over Hohengeroldseck.
Hohengeroldseck | The Leyen Family
"from 1614 Margraves of Brandenburg and Kings of Prussia" "To France by the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia"
County of Ravensberg | House of Hohenzollern
The family was directly related with the Houses of Guttenberg, Sparneck and Zedtwitz. The last knight died in 1661 in a duel. The House of Hohenzollern founded the dynasty of the Freiherren of Kotzau, though not related to the knightly family. It was Georg Albrecht, son of Georg Albrecht, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach, who entered into a morganatic marriage. For his wife Regina Magdalena Lutz and his descendants the title was created and they received castle and land at Oberkotzau. The Freiherren died out in 1976.
Kotzau | Introduction
In 1412, the Strasbourg line founded by his brother inherited the county; they were later raised to Princes of Hohenzollern.
Frederick IX, Count of Hohenzollern | Life
In 1411 Frederick VI, Burgrave of Nuremberg was appointed governor of Brandenburg in order to restore order and stability. At the Council of Constance in 1415, King Sigismund elevated Frederick to the rank of Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I.
House of Hohenzollern | Margraves of Brandenburg (1415–1619)
There were no children from this marriage.
William, Prince of Hohenzollern | Family
In 1947 the King Michael abdicated and the country was proclaimed a People's Republic. Michael did not press his claim to the defunct Romanian throne, but he was welcomed back to the country after half a century in exile as a private citizen, with substantial former royal properties being placed at his disposal. However, his dynastic claim was not recognised by post-Communist Romanians. On 10 May 2011, Michael severed the dynastic ties between the House of Romania and the House of Hohenzollern. After that the branch of the Hohenzollerns was dynastically represented only by the last king Michael, and his daughters.
House of Hohenzollern | Succession since 1947
Hohenstaufen most commonly refers to the House of Hohenstaufen, a dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. Hohenstaufen may also refer to:
Hohenstaufen (disambiguation) | Introduction
In 1535, Count Charles I of Hohenzollern (1512–1576) received the counties of Sigmaringen and Veringen as Imperial fiefs. In 1576, when Charles I, Count of Hohenzollern died, his county was divided to form the three Swabian branches. Eitel Frederick IV took Hohenzollern with the title of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Karl II took Sigmaringen and Veringen, and Christopher got Haigerloch. Christopher's family died out in 1634.
House of Hohenzollern | Swabian branch
There were no hard and fast rules, so that a cavalier house could sometimes be found in the palace park. Depending on the area, size and importance of the actual "residenz" – and the status of its noble family – a cavalier house could even be a "schloss" in its own right or take on a more modest appearance sometimes resembling a burgher's house.
Cavalier house | Introduction
Frederick of Prussia may refer to the House of Hohenzollern:
Frederick of Prussia | Introduction
The northern estates around Hohensax and St. Gallen were inherited by Ulrich (first mention 1236, last mention 1257) who founded the Hohensax line.
House of Sax | Origins
The second castle, a larger and sturdier structure, was constructed from 1454 to 1461, which served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns, including during the Thirty Years' War. By the end of the 18th century it was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings.
Hohenzollern Castle | Introduction
They were granted the special title of Rector of Burgundy in 1127, and they continued to use both titles until their extinction in 1218. Pursuing their territorial ambitions, they founded numerous cities and monasteries, on either side of the Black Forest as well as in the western Swiss plateau. After their extinction, parts of their territories reverted to the crown (attained imperial immediacy), other parts were divided between the houses of Kyburg, Urach and Fürstenberg.
House of Zähringen | Introduction
Having no sons, he declared that his dynastic heir, instead of being a male member of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen princely family to which he belongs patrilineally and in accordance with the last Romanian monarchical constitution, should be his eldest daughter Margareta. The royal house is still very popular and in 2014 Prime Minister Victor Ponta promised a referendum on whether or not to reinstate the monarchy if he were re-elected.
House of Hohenzollern | Succession since 1947
The period between 1096 and 1115 is uncertain owing to a lack of sources.
Forez | House of Forez
After the Congress of Vienna (1815), the former Albertine parts around Schleusingen and Suhl fell to the Prussian province of Saxony. King Frederick William III of Prussia assumed the title of a Princely Count of Henneberg, which his successors in the House of Hohenzollern have borne ever since.
House of Henneberg | Disestablishment
The following are the topmost houses of Menzoberranzan: Unknown Ranking
Menzoberranzan | Houses of Menzoberranzan
A perron leads up to the ancestry hall, where one enters the Count's Hall (), which covers the entirety of the southern wing. The rib vaulting of the Count's Hall, adorned with grisailles by Stüler depicting the history of the House of Hohenzollern and pointed-arch windows, is supported by eight free standing red marble columns. Below the Count's Hall is the old castle kitchen, today a treasure chamber. Next to the Count's Hall is the Emperor's Tower and the Bishop's Niche, following the library decorated with murals of the Hohenzollern history by Wilhelm Peters. The Margrave's Tower contains the King's parlor, also referred to as the Margrave's room, contrary to Stüler's terminology.
Hohenzollern Castle | Interiors
The later House of Babenberg, which ruled what became the Duchy of Austria, claimed to come of the Popponid dynasty. However, the descent of the first margrave Leopold I of Austria († 994) remains uncertain.
House of Henneberg | Origins
The more famous younger Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern family became Burgraves of Nuremberg, Margraves of Brandenburg, Kings of Prussia, and finally Emperors of Germany. Unlike their northern relatives, the Swabians remained Catholic. The county of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch was created in 1576, when Karl I of Hohenzollern died and his lands were divided between his three sons: All three territories were located in south-western Germany and were fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. The area is now part of the German Land of Baden-Württemberg. Hechingen, Sigmaringen, and Haigerloch were the capitals of the three states.
Hohenzollern-Haigerloch | History
Although Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918 as German Emperor and King of Prussia, he did not relinquish his role as Head of the Royal House and as such he was still able to confer the Royal House Order. The Princely House Order continued to be awarded, unofficially, after the fall of the German Monarchy. Another development occurred in 1935. Prince Karl Anton's second son, Karl Eitel Friedrich of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, had become prince and then king of Romania as Carol I. Carol I had died childless and was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand I, also of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. During the reign of Ferdinand's son King Carol II, the Romanian government established its own version of the House Order of Hohenzollern, known in Romanian as " ("Order of 'Bene Merenti' of the Ruling House").
House Order of Hohenzollern | History
During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) it was occupied in the winter of 1744/45 by French soldiers. Returned to Habsburg control after the war, it was rarely occupied and began to fall to ruin after the last Austrian owner left the castle in 1798. By the beginning of the 19th century only the Chapel of St. Michael remained usable.
Hohenzollern Castle | First and Second castles
Hohenzollern-Haigerloch was a small county in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. It became part of the neighboring Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1767.
Hohenzollern-Haigerloch | Introduction
Meinrad I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1605 in Munich – 30 January 1681 in Sigmaringen) was Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 1638 until his death.
Meinrad I, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Introduction
After the castle was rebuilt, it was not regularly occupied, but rather used primarily as a showpiece. None of the Hohenzollern Kaisers of the German Empire lived there; only the last Prussian Crown Prince William stayed for several months following his flight from Potsdam ahead of Soviet army forces during the closing months of World War II. He and his wife Crown Princess Cecilie are buried there, as the family's estates in Brandenburg had been occupied by the Soviet Union at the time of their deaths.
Hohenzollern Castle | Third castle
Within the German Empire (1871–1918), the northern part of Hohenfelden belonged to the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, while the southern part belonged to the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen.
Hohenfelden | History
Gebhard XIV. von Alvensleben (mentioned 1393–1425) was part of the noblemen's opposition against Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, the first Hohenzollern to rule Brandenburg, but was later subdued by him.
House of Alvensleben | History
The House of Hohenlohe () is a German princely dynasty. It ruled an immediate territory within the Holy Roman Empire which was divided between several branches. The Hohenlohes became imperial counts in 1450. The county was divided numerous times and split into several principalities in the 18th century. In 1806 the Princes of Hohenlohe lost their independence through mediatisation initialized by Napoleon, and their lands became parts of the kingdoms of Bavaria and of Württemberg by the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine (12 July 1806), a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. In 1806 the area of Hohenlohe was 1,760 km² and its estimated population was 108,000.
Hohenlohe | Introduction
The County of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was created in 1576, upon the partition of the County of Hohenzollern, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. When the last count of Hohenzollern, Charles I of Hohenzollern (1512–1579) died, the territory was to be divided up between his three sons: Unlike the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg and Prussia, the Hohenzollerns of southwest Germany remained Roman Catholic. The County was raised to a principality in 1623. The principality joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and was a member state of the German Confederation between 1815 and 1850. The democratic Revolution of 1848 was relatively successful in Hohenzollern, and on 16 May 1848, the Prince was forced to accept the establishment of a constitution.
Hohenzollern-Hechingen | History
At this time, the Principality had a territory of 850 km² with 60.000 inhabitants.
House of Oettingen-Wallerstein | History
They were given Sisgau as a fief from the bishop of Basel. Count Oswald von Thierstein in 1479 received Hohkönigsburg in the Alsace as fief from emperor Frederick III. The Thierstein family was extinct in 1517, after which Hohkönigsburg fell back to the House of Habsburg.
House of Homberg | Introduction
After the extinction of the Harz-based line of the House of Hohnstein in 1593, the feudal castle and house returned to the House of Grubenhagen. In 1596 Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel inherited the fortress. Later it passed into the possession of the Hanover line of the House of Welf.
Scharzfels Castle | Emergence in the Middle Ages
Whereas the male line of the House of Babenberg became extinct in 1246, the Counts of Henneberg lived on until 1583. In 1554 William IV of Henneberg-Schleusingen had signed a treaty of inheritance with Duke John Frederick II of Saxony. However, when the last Count George Ernest of Henneberg died, both the Ernestine and the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty claimed his estates, that were finally divided in 1660 among the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Gotha and the Albertine duke Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz. The Lordship of Schmalkalden fell to Landgrave William IV of Hesse-Kassel, according to an inheritance treaty of 1360.
House of Henneberg | Disestablishment
The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. In 1273, Count Radbot's seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg became Roman-German King. He moved the family's power base to the Duchy of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918.
House of Habsburg | Introduction
The castle is still today the residence of the Prince of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein.
Schrozberg | Introduction
The Counts of Hohenzollern had financial problems and grew steadily weaker. In 1388, there was a siege, following which Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg gained feudal rights over the territory. The Counts of Hohenzollern became his vassals and opened the town and their castle to him.
Hechingen | Middle Ages
In June 2019, a claim made by Prince Georg Friedrich that Rheinfels Castle be returned to the Hohenzollern family was dismissed by a court. In 1924, the ruined Castle had been given by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the town of St Goar, under the proviso it was not sold. In 1998 the town leased the ruins to a nearby hotel. His case made the claim that this constituted a breach of the bequest.
House of Hohenzollern | Property Claims
The classical gods Diana and Mars are shown on the cartouches framing the balcony doors. The von Osteins, a dynasty of counts, were not able to make use of the mansion for very long. After the left bank of the Rhine was occupied by French Revolutionary armies, the mansion was appropriated by the state, and in 1798 it became the seat of a newly created département of France, Mont-Tonnerre.
Osteiner Hof | Introduction
they were not allowed to increase the number of imperial princes by further subdividing their principalities. In 1695, Meinrad II concluded a treaty of inheritance with the Elector of Brandenburg: if either the Swabian or the Brandenburg line of Hohenzollern were to die out, then the other line would inherit their territories. In 1702, Meinrad's uncle Francis Anthony died. Both his sons had joined the clergy, so Hohenzollern-Haigerloch fell back to Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
Meinrad II, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Life
The House of Hanxleden is a Westphalian noble family whose seat is the village of Hanxleden, today part of Schmallenberg in the district of Hochsauerland in Germany. In the 14th and 15th centuries the family provided several bailiffs ("Amtmänner") of Fredeburg.
Hanxleden | Introduction
In 1525 the Duchy of Prussia was established as a fief of the King of Poland. Albert of Prussia was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and the first Duke of Prussia. He belonged to the Ansbach branch of the dynasty. The Duchy of Prussia adopted Protestantism as the official state religion. From 1701 the title of Duke of Prussia was attached to the title of King in and of Prussia.
House of Hohenzollern | Dukes of Prussia (1525–1701)
After the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eagle was the second highest order of the kingdom in order of precedence. In 1918, it was finally abolished as a state order, but continues as a House Order of the House of Hohenzollern.
Ordre de la Sincérité | History
Karl I of Hohenzollern (1516 in Brussels – 18 March 1576 at Sigmaringen Castle) was Count of Hohenzollern from 1525 to 1575. He was Imperial Archchamberlain and chairman of the Aulic Council.
Karl I, Count of Hohenzollern | Introduction
The House of Hohenzollern came to the throne of Brandenburg in 1415. In 1417, Frederick I moved its capital from Brandenburg an der Havel to Berlin. Under Hohenzollern leadership, Brandenburg grew rapidly in power during the 17th century and inherited the Duchy of Prussia. The resulting Brandenburg-Prussia was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Prussia, which became a leading German state during the 18th century. Although the electors' highest title was "King in/of Prussia", their power base remained in Brandenburg and its capital Berlin.
Margraviate of Brandenburg | Introduction
The Prussian king and his family mostly lived in Berlin and because of an ongoing dispute about the inheritance with the King-Stadtholders sole heirs in the Frisian Nassau branch, little or no maintenance was taken up and the house fell into disrepair. Due to negotiations between Frederick II the Great and Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, the house was sold to her son prince William V in 1754. There were plans for renovation, but considered too expensive. William V occasionally used the house only for hunting purposes. The last real residents were his sister princess Carolina and her husband Karl Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg between 1760 and 1765.
Huis Honselaarsdijk | History
The senior Swabian branch is not as well known to history, as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire. The County of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was created in 1576, upon the partition of the County of Hohenzollern, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. When the last count of Hohenzollern, Karl I (1512–1579) died, the territory was divided among his three sons: The Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ruled over a small principality in southwest Germany, with a seat at Sigmaringen Castle. Unlike the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg and Prussia, the Hohenzollerns of Sigmaringen remained Roman Catholic, along with their cousins of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, the senior line of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, and Hohenzollern of Haigerloch.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | History
Dyhrn is a German noble family originally from Saxony.
House of Dyhrn | Introduction
In 1488, Jobst Nikolaus acquired the Lordship of Haigerloch. He rebuilt the ancestral seat, Hohenzollern Castle. It would serve as the residence of the Counts of Hohenzollern until the late 18th century. The county had come in a precarious political situation during the reign of the preceding generation. The county was fragmented when it had been divided between his father and his uncle Friedrich XII. The financial situation was almost hopeless and there was a risk that the Swabian line of the Hohenzollerns might die out. Friedrich XII had sold some land to improve the financial situation, however, this meant that the county became politically insignificant.
Jobst Nikolaus I, Count of Hohenzollern | Life
At Frederick V's death on 21 January 1398, his lands were partitioned between his two sons: After John III/I's death on 11 June 1420, the margraviates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach were briefly reunited under Frederick VI/I/I. He ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398. From 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. From 1411 Frederick VI became governor of Brandenburg and later Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I. Upon his death on 21 September 1440, his territories were divided among his sons: In 1427 Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg sold Nuremberg Castle and his rights as burgrave to the Imperial City of Nuremberg.
House of Hohenzollern | Burgraves of Nuremberg (1192–1427)
A judgment of the "Reichskammergericht" in 1588 stated that the County of Sigmaringen was an imperial fief. However, this assessment was until 1806 called into question.
Charles II, Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Life
The family continued to use the title of Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. After the Hechingen branch became extinct in 1869, the Sigmaringen branch adopted title of "Prince of Hohenzollern". In 1866, Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was chosen prince of Romania, becoming King Carol I of Romania in 1881. Charles's elder brother, Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, was offered the Spanish throne after a revolt exiled Isabella II in 1870. Although encouraged by Bismarck to accept, Leopold declined in the face of French opposition. Nonetheless, Bismarck altered and then published the Ems telegram to create a "casus belli": France declared war, but Bismarck's Germany won the Franco-Prussian War.
House of Hohenzollern | House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen after 1849
The head of the Swabian branch of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ruled over the following territories: From 1061 until 1806 five of these fiefs (not including Nuremberg) constituted an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire under the counts of Zollern, vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor. From 1806 until 1813 the Hohenzollern lands were a realm of the Confederation of the Rhine, a short-lived state set up by Napoleon I Bonaparte. From 1815 until 1849 the principality was a sovereign country and a member of the German Confederation. In 1849 it lost its independence, and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Hohenzollern.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Jurisdiction
The Counts of Hohenzollern wanted to remain independent from Württemberg. The imperial court in Rottweil pronounced an imperial ban over Friedrich XII in 1418, and he had to flee. The conflict with Eitel Friedrich I over Hohenzollern Castle escalated when in 1422 Friedrich XII began a feud against the free imperial city of Rottweil. The Swabian League of Cities allied with Eitel Friedrich I and the Counts of Württemberg against Friedrich XII. After they had besieged Hohenzollern castle for ten months, Friedrich XII had to surrender in 1423. Emperor Sigismund ordered the castle to be destroyed as a punishment, and forbade Friedrich to build it up again.
Frederick XII, Count of Hohenzollern | Life
1963), belongs to a "Uradel" family whose nobility in Swabia has been authenticated back to 1152, and whose mother, born Isabelle de Guyard, Countess von Saint Julien von und zu Wallsee is a direct descendant of Pierre Guyard (fl. 1418), to which family had belonged the crusader Guillaume Guyard who flourished in 1280, the family being made Imperial counts in 1627. The couple wed civilly 21 September 1991, their elder son, Eberhard, being born in 1990 and the younger, Anselm, on 29 November 1992.
House of Urach | Rules of succession
In 632, after a period of coups and revolts, Yazdegerd III (r. 632–651) was crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire at Estakhr, an ancient Iranian city in Pars, where the Sasanian family had founded their empire.
Hormuzan | Family and early life
Charles I was the first Hohenzollern to rule in Sigmaringen. In 1539 there was another fire that damaged the castle. A year later, in 1540, Sigmaringen and Veringen were transferred to the House of Hohenzollern as part of the "Pfullendorf agreement" (German: "Pfullendorfer Vertrag"). Count Charles I. von Hohenzollern occupied the castle.
Sigmaringen Castle | The Hohenzollern and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen families, 1535–1850
Today it is managed by their grandsons' widow, Princess Heide of Hohenzollern, housing concerts, theatre plays, art exhibitions, dinners and other events.
Andernach | Places of interest
von Hohenzollern in 1526. All of his children died, except for his daughter Anna, who married Friedrichs II. von Fürstenberg.
Sigmaringen Castle | Werdenberg family 1399–1534
Schlüsselberg was a Franconian aristocratic family which was a member of the high nobility. Until it died out in 1347, the family was able to establish itself firmly in the region of Franconian Switzerland and turned out to be unwelcome competition for the bishops of Bamberg. The Schlüsselbergs founded "inter alia" the town of a number of Schlüsselfeld in 1336 as well as Schlüsselau Abbey. and Hohenzollern-Schalksburg in Swabia
House of Schlüsselberg | Introduction
Genealogical tree of the House of Braganza, during its ducal period, from origins of its founder, Afonso I, Duke of Braganza, to the issue of its last noble duke, Teodósio II, Duke of Braganza:
House of Braganza | Ducal line: Afonso I to Teodósio II (1377–1630)
On 2 December 1791, Charles Alexander sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia. From 8 January 1701 the title of Elector of Brandenburg was attached to the title of King "in" Prussia and, from 13 September 1772, to that of King "of" Prussia.
House of Hohenzollern | Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1398–1604), later Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1604–1791)
Following cession of their sovereignty over the principality to their kinsmen the Kings of Prussia in 1849, the heirs of Karl Anton continued to bear the same title, "Prince ("Fürst") of Hohenzollern":
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | (1849–present)
A similar development of names can be seen in the "Hohenstaufen" (high seat of the Staufer family), "Hohenschwangau" (House of Welf) and "Hohenzollern". In 1242, the Hoher Bogen went to the House of Wittelsbach.
Hoher Bogen | Name
The Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV bought the building in 1858. Henceforth it housed the and thus among other things the private wealth management of the House of Hohenzollern. House ministers who resided in the palace included Alexander von Schleinitz (1862–1885) and (1914–1918). In 1919 the German Reich acquired the property from the abdicated German Emperor Wilhelm II, who at that time was urgently in need of funds for the purchase of the Dutch manor Huis Doorn. The banker Eduard von der Heydt acted as an intermediary for the transaction, which was kept top secret for a long time.
Palace of the Reich President | Home Office
Fragmentary references (see below) cite the Habsburgs as descendants of the early Germanic Etichonider, probably of Frankish, Burgundian or Visigothic origin, who ruled the Duchy of Alsace in the Early Middle Ages (7th–10th centuries). The dynasty is named for Eticho (also known as Aldarich) who ruled from 662 to 690.
House of Habsburg | Ancestors of the Habsburgs