County of Leiningen

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Arms of the Leiningen family Armoiries de Leiningen.svg
Arms of the Leiningen family
Evolution of the Leiningen arms Leiningen Wappen.png
Evolution of the Leiningen arms

The County of Leiningen consists on a group of counties (some of them with that were ruled with Imperial immediacy), which were ruled by the Leiningen family.

Contents

Most of these counties were annexed by the First French Republic in 1793, after French troops conquered the Left Bank of the Rhine during the War of the First Coalition. Several family branches subsequently received secularized abbeys as compensation, but shortly afterwards, these new counties were mediatized and the family lost its immediacy. Today, the only existing branch is that of the Princes of Leiningen.

Origins

Count Frederick II (d. 1237) Codex Manesse Friedrich von Leiningen.jpg
Count Frederick II (d. 1237)

The first count of Leiningen about whom anything definite is known was a certain Emich II (d. before 1138). He (and perhaps his father Emich I) built Leiningen Castle, which is now known as "Old Leiningen Castle" (German: Burg Altleiningen), around 1100 to 1110. Nearby Höningen Abbey was built around 1120 as the family's burial place. The first reliable mention of the family dates back to 1128, when Emicho, Count of Leiningen testified to a document from Adalbert I of Saarbrücken, Archbishop of Mainz. [1]

This family became extinct in the male line when Count Frederick II died about 1214 [2] or 1220. Frederick I's sister, Liutgarde, married Simon II, Count of Saarbrücken. One of Liutgarde's sons, also named Frederick, inherited the lands of the counts of Leiningen, and he took their arms and name as Frederick II (d. 1237). [3] Known as a Minnesinger , one of his songs was included in the Codex Manesse. Before 1212, he built himself a new castle called Hardenburg, about 10 kilometers south of Altleiningen. This was outside the county of Leiningen on the territory of Limburg Abbey, of which his uncle was the overlord ( Vogt ), which caused some trouble.[ citation needed ]

His eldest son, Simon (c. 1204–1234), married Gertrude, heiress of the County of Dagsburg, bringing that property into the family. They had no children and Simon's two brothers inherited the county of Leiningen together: Frederick III (d. 1287) also inherited Dagsburg and Emich IV (d. c. 1276) Landeck Castle; he founded the town of Landau, but the Landeck branch extinguished with his grandson in 1290. Frederick III, who disliked sharing Leiningen castle with his brother, had a new castle built in 1238–41 about 5 kilometres northeast of Leiningen, called Neuleiningen Castle ("New Leiningen"). Frederick III's son, Frederick IV (d. 1316), had two sons, who divided the county into Leiningen-Dagsburg and Leiningen-Hardenburg.[ citation needed ]

History

map of the counties in 1774 Leiningen-1774.png
map of the counties in 1774
map of the counties in 1789 Leiningen-map.png
map of the counties in 1789

Having increased its possessions, the Leiningen family was divided around 1317 into two branches:

Leiningen-Westerburg

The elder of these, whose head was a landgrave, died out in 1467. Upon this event, its lands fell to a female, the last landgrave's sister Margaret, wife of Reinhard, Lord of Westerburg, and their descendants were known as the family of Leiningen-Westerburg. Later this family was divided into two branches, those of Leiningen-Westerburg-Alt-Leiningen and Leiningen-Westerburg-Neu-Leiningen, both of which are extinct today.[ citation needed ]

After the French Revolution, the Left Bank of the Rhine was conquered during the War of the First Coalition and annexed by France in 1793. The two counts of Alt- and Neu- Leiningen were arrested and jailed in Paris. They lost their territories. In 1803 they were compensated with secularized Ilbenstadt Abbey (at Niddatal) and Engelthal Abbey. The German mediatization brought an end to these short-lived counties in 1806, when their territories were divided between the Grand Duchy of Berg, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Usingen. Ilbenstadt Abbey was sold by the House of Leiningen-Westerburg-Altleiningen in 1921, Engelthal Abbey by the heirs of the House of Leiningen-Westerburg-Neuleiningen in 1952.[ citation needed ]

Leiningen-Hardenburg

Meanwhile, the younger branch of the Leiningens, known as the family of Leiningen-Hardenburg, was flourishing. On 27 June 1560, this branch was divided into the lines of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg, founded by Count Johann Philip (d. 1562), and Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim or Falkenburg, founded by Count Emicho (d. 1593).[ citation needed ]

In 1658 Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg divided into

The county of Leiningen-Dagsburg was inherited by Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg in 1774.[ citation needed ]

Leiningen-Guntersblum was divided between two further side branches:

In 1779, the head of the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg line was raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire with the title of Prince of Leiningen. In 1801, this line was deprived of its lands on the left bank of the Rhine by France, but in 1803 it received Amorbach Abbey as an ample compensation for these losses. A few years later, the Principality of Leiningen at Amorbach was mediatized, and its territory is now included mainly in Baden, but partly in Bavaria and in Hesse. Amorbach Abbey is still today the family seat of the Prince of Leiningen.[ citation needed ]

Since 1991, the head of the princely line has been Prince Andreas (b. 1955). [4] His eldest brother, Prince Karl Emich was excluded from succession after he married morganatically.

Rulers

House of Leiningen

Partitions of Leiningen under Leiningen family

County of Leiningen
(1st creation)
(1093–1316)
Lordships of Runkel
and Westerburg

(until 1470)
      County of
Dagsburg

(1st creation)
(1316–1470)
County of
Rixingen

(1st creation)
(1344–1507)
County of
Hardenburg

(1316–1779)
      Renamed as:
County of Westerburg
(1470–1597)
(female branch of Leiningen-Westerburg)
Annexed to
Daun-Oberstein and
Hohenfels

(from 1507)
      
            
Raised to:
Principality of
Leiningen

(1779–1806)
County of Falkenburg
(1541–1806)
County of Leiningen
(2nd creation)
(1547–1656)
            
County of
Schaumburg

(1547–1708)
            County of
Rixingen

(2nd creation)
(1622–1705)
      County of
Broich-
Oberstein

(1657-1709/22)
County of
Guntersblum

(1657–1774)
(1787–1806) [5]
County of
Oberbronn

(1622–1724)
                  County of
Neuleiningen

(Younger Leiningen)
(1695–1793)
      
            
      County of
Altleiningen

(Elder Leiningen)
(1695–1793)
            
      
Mediatised to the
Grand Duchy of Baden

(from 1806)
Mediatised to the
Grand Duchy of Hesse

(from 1806)
Mediatised to the
Grand Duchy of Baden

(from 1806)
Annexed to France (1793–1806)
Mediatised to the
Grand Duchies of Berg and Hesse
and the Nassau Principalities of
Weilburg and Usingen

(from 1806)

Table of rulers

Notes:
  • The House of Leiningen challenged at some times the German custom of male-originated surname. The original male line of the family died in 1214, and therefore had to rely on female succession and inheritance to preserve the surname. The post-1214 House of Leiningen (or agnatically House of Saarbrücken, as the family who ruled in the County of Saarbrücken) is cognatic, descendant of Liutgard, sister of the last count, Frederick I. The same applies to the line of Leiningen-Westerburg, originally called Runkel or Runkel-Westerburg: the inheritance of countess Margaret (d.1470) caused the change of name to Leiningen, and therefore included in the group of rulers of the family.

The post-mediatization

Succession in the Principality of Leiningen

The princely arms in the mid 19th century Leiningen Hardenburg - Tyroff HA.jpg
The princely arms in the mid 19th century

Succession in the County of Altleiningen

Succession in the County of Neuleiningen

See also

Notes

  1. Toussaint 1982, S. 204.
  2. Toussaint 1982, S. 248.
  3. Franz Neumer: Ist Hochspeyer eine leiningische Gründung?, in Jahrbuch zur Geschichte von Stadt und Landkreis Kaiserslautern, Band 32/33, 1994/95, S. 17 (quoting Ruppersberg 1979 and Toussaint 1982).
  4. Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (2004), Volume 133, p. 249, 251.
  5. Guntersblum was annexed to France in 1774-87.
  6. Franz Haffner: Ist die Schloßkirche in Bad Dürkheim eine ehemalige Stiftskirche?, in: Pfälzer Heimat 18, 1967, S. 3 bzw. VatA, Rom/I, Reg. Suppl. 964, Bl. 38v.
  7. Also Reinhard IV as Lord of Westerburg.
  8. He is usually not counted as ruler.
  9. Also Cuno II as Lord of Westerburg.
  10. See Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, p. 16 and p. 764.
  11. Graf Wenzel Joseph von Leiningen-Heidesheim
  12. 1 2 Runkel (Leiningen-Westerburg)
  13. Runkel/Leiningen-Westerburg
  14. Marek, Miroslav. "runkel/runkel3.html". genealogy.euweb.cz.[ self-published source ]

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References

Attribution

49°32′24″N8°08′24″E / 49.54000°N 8.14000°E / 49.54000; 8.14000