County (Principality) of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Solms-Hohensolms-Lich | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1718–1806 | |||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Lich | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||||||
| 1718 | |||||||||||||||||
• Raised toprincipality | 1792 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1806 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was at first aCounty and laterPrincipality withImperial immediacy in what is today the federal Land ofHessen,Germany. It was ruled by a branch of theHouse of Solms,[1] originally fromSolms.
TheImperial county was originally created in 1718 as a union of the counties ofSolms-Hohensolms andSolms-Lich for Count Friedrich Wilhelm zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1682-1744). It existed from 1718 until 1792.
Hohensolms was an old territory of the lords and counts of Solms, with Alt-Hohensolms Castle built in 1321 and destroyed in 1349, and Neu-Hohensolms Castle built in 1350. The latter was owned by the princely family until 1969.
The county ofLich was inherited by the Counts ofSolms-Braunfels after theCounts of Falkenstein-Münzenberg died out in 1418, resulting in strong territorial growth of the House of Solms in theWetterau, including the lordships ofMünzenberg Castle,Hungen Castle, Lich Castle andLaubach Castle. Shortly thereafter, the branch of Solms-Lich split off from Solms-Braunfels.
It was raised to aPrincipality of the Holy Roman Empire in 1792 for Prince Karl Christian zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1725-1803). Solms-Hohensolms-Lich wasmediatised toAustria,Hesse-Darmstadt,Prussia andWürttemberg in 1806. TheHouse of Solms had its origins atSolms, Hesse. The Prince ofSolms-Hohensolms-Lich still resides atCastle Lich inLich.
Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, daughter of Hermann, 5th Prince, wedErnest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, becoming a Grand Duchess.
TheHouse of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich is aHessian princely family, and a collateral line of theHouse of Solms-Braunfels. The House of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich originally were imperial counts, raised to the rank ofImperial Prince in 1792.
