County (Principality) of Hohenlohe Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Hohenlohe | |||||||||
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| 1450–1806 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
 Hohenlohe state,Homann, 1748 | |||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Öhringen | ||||||||
| Religion | Catholic Lutheran | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Raised toImperial Counts | 13 May 1450 | ||||||||
• JoinedFranconian Circle | 1500 | ||||||||
• Raised toprincipality | 21 May 1744 | ||||||||
| 12 July 1806 | |||||||||
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TheHouse of Hohenlohe (pronounced[hoːənˈloːə]) is aGerman princely dynasty. It formerly ruled animmediate territory within theHoly Roman Empire, which was divided between several branches. In 1806, the area of Hohenlohe was 1,760 km² and its estimated population was 108,000.[1] The motto of the house isEx flammis orior (Latin for 'From flames I rise'). The Lords of Hohenlohe were elevated to the rank ofImperial Counts in 1450, and from 1744, the territory and its rulers were princely. In 1825, theGerman Confederation recognized the right of all members of the house to bestyled asSerene Highness (German:Durchlaucht), with the title ofFürst for the heads of its branches, and the title of prince/princess for the other members.[2] From 1861, the Hohenlohe-Öhringen branch was also of ducal status asdukes ofUjest.
Due to the continuous lineage of the dynasty until the present time, it is considered to be one of the longest-lived noble families in Germany and Europe. The large state coat of arms ofBaden-Württemberg today bears the Frankish rake of the former Duchy of East and West Franconia, which also included the Franconian region of Baden-Württemberg around Heilbronn-Hohenlohe. The dynasty is related to theStaufers around the famousEmperor Barbarossa, and also to theBritish royal family throughPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha andQueen Victoria's half-sisterPrincess Feodora of Leiningen.
The first ancestor was mentioned in 1153 as Conrad, Lord ofWeikersheim, where the family had theGeleitrecht (right of escorting travellers and goods and charging customs) along theTauber river on the trading route betweenFrankfurt andAugsburg until the 14th century. It is likely that Conrad was a son of Conrad von Pfitzingen, who was already mentioned in documents in 1136/1141 and owned a castle of that name near Weikersheim. Allegedly, according to some, however unconfirmed sources, the wife of Conrad von Pfitzingen named Sophie was an illegitimate daughter ofConrad III Hohenstaufen, King of Germany, with a noble lady named Gerberga.[3] TheHohenlohe family therefore later boasted of a kinship with the Imperial House ofHohenstaufen.
Heinrich von Weikersheim is mentioned in documents from 1156 to 1182 and Adelbert von Weikersheim around 1172 to 1182. The latter usedHohenlohe ("Albertus de Hohenloch") as his name for the first time in 1178 which is derived from the no longer existing Hohlach Castle nearSimmershofen in Middle Franconia. His brother Heinrich also called himself so from 1182 (in the versions “Hohenlach” or “Holach”) which later was to becomeHohenlohe. The name means “high-lying wood” (high Loh). The name Hohenlohe was probably adopted because Weikersheim was a fiefdom of theComburg monastery, but Hohlach was an imperial fiefdom that granted its owners the status ofimperial knight. Hohlach Castle secured theRothenburg−Ochsenfurt road. However, Hohlach soon lost its importance; the family's holdings were expanded from Weikersheim, which is located about 20 km further west, southwards to form the county of Hohenlohe.Haltenbergstetten Castle near Pfitzingen, south of Weikersheim, was built around 1200, as was Brauneck Castle halfway between Weikersheim and Hohlach.
The dynasty's influence was soon perceptible between theFranconian valleys of theKocher,Jagst andTauber rivers, an area that was to be called the Hohenlohe Plateau.[4] Their original main seats were Weikersheim, Hohlach and Brauneck (nearCreglingen).
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Of Konrad von Weikersheim's three sons, Konrad and Albrecht died childless. Heinrich I von Hohenlohe, the third son, died around 1183; he had five sons, of whom Andreas, Heinrich and Friedrich entered theTeutonic Order and thus the clergy, as a result of which the House of Hohenlohe lost important possessions aroundMergentheim to the order. Like Hohlach Castle, these had probably fallen to the Lords of Weikersheim through marriage. In 1219 Mergentheim became the seat of theMergentheim Commandery [de].Mergentheim Palace became the residence of theGrand Master of the Teutonic Order in 1527 and remained the headquarters of the Order until 1809.
The sonHeinrich von Hohenlohe (d. 1249) becameGrand Master of the Teutonic Order. His grandsons, Gottfried and Conrad, supporters of EmperorFrederick II, founded the lines of Hohenlohe-Hohenlohe and Hohenlohe-Brauneck in 1230, the names taken from their respective castles.[5] The emperor granted them the Italian counties ofMolise andRomagna in 1229/30, but they were not able to hold them for long. Gottfried was a tutor and close advisor to the emperor's son kingConrad IV. When the latter survived an assassination attempt plotted by bishopAlbert of Regensburg, he granted Gottfried some possessions of thePrince-Bishopric of Regensburg, namely theVogt position for theAugustineStift atÖhringen and the towns ofNeuenstein andWaldenburg. Gottfried's son Kraft I acquired the town ofIngelfingen with Lichteneck Castle. In 1253 the town and castle ofLangenburg were inherited by the lords of Hohenlohe, after the lords of Langenburg had become extinct. During theInterregnum the Hohenlohe sided with thePrince-Bishopric of Würzburg and defeated the count ofHenneberg and his coalition at theBattle of Kitzingen gainingUffenheim in the aftermath. In 1273 Kraft of Hohenlohe fought at theBattle on the Marchfeld on the side of kingRudolf of Habsburg. By 1300, town and castleSchillingsfürst had also passed into the possession of the Hohenlohe lords.
Hohlach later became part of thePrincipality of Ansbach, a subsequent state of the HohenzollernBurgraviate of Nuremberg, to which the Hohenlohe family had sold the nearby town ofUffenheim in 1378,[6] and Hohlach some time later. Yet, the nameHohenlohe remained attached to the county with its other territories.
The branch of Hohenlohe-Brauneck received Jagstberg Castle (nearMulfingen) as af fief from theBishop of Würzburg around 1300, which later came to various other feudal holders, but repeatedly also back to the House of Hohenlohe. The Lords of Hohenlohe-Brauneck became extinct in 1390, their lands were sold to theHohenzollern margraves of Ansbach in 1448. Hohenlohe-Hohenlohe was divided into several branches, two of which were Hohenlohe-Weikersheim and Hohenlohe-Uffenheim-Speckfeld (1330–1412). Hohenlohe-Weikersheim, descended from count Kraft I (died 1313), also underwent several divisions, the most important following the deaths of counts Albert and George in 1551. At this time the two main branches ofHohenlohe-Neuenstein andHohenlohe-Waldenburg were founded by George's sons. Meanwhile, in 1412, the branch of Hohenlohe-Uffenheim-Speckfeld had become extinct, and its lands passed to other families by marriage.[5] George Hohenlohe wasprince-bishop of Passau (1390–1423) andarchbishop of Esztergom (1418–1423), serving KingSigismund of Hungary (the later King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor).
In 1450, EmperorFrederick III granted Kraft of Hohenlohe (died 1472) and his brother, Albrecht, the sons of Elizabeth ofHanau, heiress of Ziegenhain, the titleCount of Ziegenhain (Graf zu Ziegenhain) and invested them with theCounty of Ziegenhain.[7] Actually, theLandgraves of Hesse soon took the County of Ziegenhain. After decades of, sometimes armed, conflict, the Hohenlohe gave up their claim to Ziegenhain in favor of the Hessian landgrave in a settlement with financial compensation in 1495. In this context, the emperor elevated their lordship Hohenlohe to the status of animperial county. The county remained divided between several family branches, however still being an undividedImperial Fief under the imperial jurisdiction, and was to be represented by the family's senior vis-à-vis theimperial court.
The Hohenlohes wereImperial Counts having two voices in the Diet (or Assembly, calledKreistag) of theFranconian Circle.[8] They also had six voices in the Franconian College of Imperial Counts(Fränkisches Reichsgrafenkollegium) of theImperial Diet (Reichstag).[9] The right to vote in the Imperial Diet gave a German noble family the status ofimperial state (Reichsstände) and made them belong to the High Nobility (Hoher Adel), on a par with ruling princes and dukes.
By 1455, Albrecht of Hohenlohe had acquired the castle and lordship of Bartenstein (nearSchrozberg). In 1472 the town and castle ofPfedelbach were bought by the Hohenlohe family. In 1586, Weikersheim was inherited by countWolfgang who reconstructed the medievalWeikersheim Castle into a Renaissance palace. When the last Weikersheim count, Carl Ludwig, died around 1760, his lands were divided between the Langenburg, Neuenstein and Öhringen branches; in 1967, Prince Constantin of Hohenlohe-Langenburg sold Weikersheim Castle, meanwhile a museum, to the state.
The existing branches of the Hohenlohe family are descended from the lines ofHohenlohe-Neuenstein andHohenlohe-Waldenburg, established in 1551 by Ludwig Kasimir (d. 1568) and Eberhard (d. 1570), the sons of Count Georg I (d. 1551).[10] Since Georg had becomeprotestant on his deathbed, thereformation was introduced in the county and confirmed by thePeace of Augsburg in 1556. In 1667 however, a confessional division arose when the two sons of Georg Friedrich II of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Christian (founder of the Bartenstein line) and Ludwig Gustav (founder of the Schillingsfürst line), converted to theCatholic Church. After the extinction of two other protestant side lines, Waldenburg in 1679 and Waldenburg-Pfedelbach in 1728, the whole property of the main branchHohenlohe-Waldenburg was inherited by the catholic counts.
Of theLutheran branch ofHohenlohe-Neuenstein, which underwent several partitions and inherited the county ofGleichen in Thuringia (with its residence atEhrenstein Castle inOhrdruf) in 1631, the senior line became extinct in 1805, while in 1701 the junior line divided itself into three branches, those ofHohenlohe-Langenburg,Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen andHohenlohe-Kirchberg.[5] The branch of Kirchberg died out in 1861, with its lands and castle passing to the Öhringen-Neuenstein branch (Kirchberg Castle was sold in 1952), but the branches of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (residing at Langenburg Castle) and Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen still exist, the latter being divided intoHohenlohe-Ingelfingen-Öhringen (which became extinct in 1960, and was residing atKoszęcin palace) andHohenlohe-Oehringen (today residing atNeuenstein Castle). The two actual heads of the branches of Langenburg and Oehringen are traditionally styledFürst. The two princes of Hohenlohe-Oehringen-Neuenstein and of Hohenlohe-Langenburg entertained a government office for the county of Gleichen at Ehrenstein Castle until 1848.
Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, had acquired the estates ofSlawentzitz,Ujest andBitschin inSilesia by marriage in 1782, an area of 108 square miles, where his grandsonHugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, Duke of Ujest, establishedcalamine mines and founded one of the largestzinc smelting plants in the world. His son, prince Christian Kraft (1848–1926), sold the plants and went almost bankrupt with a fund in which he had invested in 1913; the mines he had still kept were depropriated by communist Poland in 1945. Until then, this branch had its headquarters in Slawentzitz and also owned estates in Hungary. After their expulsion and expropriation, the branch returned to Neuenstein.
TheCatholic branch ofHohenlohe-Waldenburg was soon divided into three side branches, but two of these had died out by 1729. The surviving branch, that of Schillingsfürst, was divided into the lines ofHohenlohe-Schillingsfürst andHohenlohe-Bartenstein, with further divisions following.[5] The four catholic lines which still exist today (with their heads styledFürst) are those of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (at Schillingsfürst),Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (at Waldenburg),Hohenlohe-Jagstberg (at Haltenbergstetten) andHohenlohe-Bartenstein (at Bartenstein). A side branch of the House of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst inherited thedukedom of Ratibor in Silesia in 1834, together with the principality ofCorvey in Westphalia. While the Silesian property was expropriated in Poland in 1945,Corvey Abbey remains owned by the Duke of Ratibor to this day, together with further inherited properties in Austria.
The Holy Roman Emperors granted the title ofImperial Prince (Reichsfürst) to the Waldenburg line (in 1744) and to the Neuenstein (Öhringen) line (in 1764).[11] In 1757, the Holy Roman Emperor elevated possessions of the Waldenburg line to the status of Imperial Principality.[12] In 1772, the Holy Roman Emperor elevated possessions of the Neuenstein and Langenburg lines to the status of Imperial Principality.[12]
On 12 July 1806, the principalities became parts of the kingdoms ofBavaria and ofWürttemberg by the Act of theConfederation of the Rhine. Therefore, the region of Hohenlohe is presently located for the most part in the north eastern part of the State ofBaden-Württemberg (forming the counties ofHohenlohe,Schwäbisch Hall and the southern part ofMain-Tauber-Kreis), with smaller parts in theBavarian administrative districts ofMiddle Franconia andLower Franconia. TheHohenlohisch dialect is part of theEast Franconian German dialect group and the population still values its traditional distinct identity.
Notable members of the von Hohenlohe family include:
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(*) still owned by members of the House of Hohenlohe
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TheLegion de Hohenlohe was a unit of foreign soldiers serving in theFrench Army until 1831, when its members (as well as those of the disbandedSwiss Guards) were folded into the newly-raisedFrench Foreign Legion for service in Algeria.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Phillips, Walter Alison; Atkinson, Charles Francis (1911). "Hohenlohe".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). pp. 572–575.
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