Principality of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

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Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and his wife Princess Benedigte of Denmark .

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was a principality ruled by the princely family Sayn-Wittgenstein .

For the most part, the former area is now in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district (state of North Rhine-Westphalia ) in Germany. The seat of the principality was the castle of the city of Berleburg (today Bad Berleburg).

The Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg area was still in the catchment area of Sayn-Wittgenstein in the 16th century . This also included Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein in the south with its seat in Laasphe (today Bad Laasphe). Wittgenstein-Berleburg moved from a county to an imperial principality in 1792. In 1806 the principality was mediatized and annexed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse before it became part of Prussia in 1816 due to the agreements of the Congress of Vienna as part of an area swap .

Princes and ruling princes

Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1607–1792)

  • George V (1565–1631, ruled 1607–1631)
  • Ludwig Casimir (1598–1643, reigned 1631–1643)
  • Georg Wilhelm (1636–1684, reigned 1643–1684)
  • Ludwig Franz (1660–1694, reigned 1684–1694)
  • Casimir (1687–1741, reigned 1694–1741)
  • Ludwig Ferdinand (1712–1773, ruled 1741–1773)
  • Christian Heinrich (1753–1800, ruled as Count 1773–1792)

Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (since 1792), as noblemen (from 1806)

Heads of the house since 1918

Succession to the throne

At the beginning of the 20th century there were four lines of the Sayn house. Each house inherited its own apanage and the royal families enjoyed imperial immediacy as vassals of the Holy Roman Empire .

Order of succession according to Ludwig I, Count zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (1532–1605)

  1. Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg (1565–1631)
  2. Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn descended from Count Christian Ludwig (1725–1797)
  3. Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg Ernst (1735–1792)
  4. Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, descended from Count Ludwig II. (1571–1634)

Some lines split up into smaller dynastic and non-dynastic subsidiary branches. Non-dynastic branch lines were also partially recognized by the Russian, Prussian and Bavarian crowns. This gave them the right to the princely title. Still other morganatic lines claimed the title less for themselves.

Current lineage

Ludwig, 3rd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, died in 1912 . He was followed by the eldest of his three sons, Hereditary Prince August (1868–1948). As the 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, he became head of the House of Sayn. As a childless bachelor, August adopted Prince Christian Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1908–1983). His older brother Georg (1873-1960) had married morganatically and his 49-year-old younger brother Wilhelm (1877-1958) was unmarried.

Christian Heinrich was the 2nd son of the late Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1882–1925). Richard's eldest son, Gustav Albrecht Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1907–1944) had already inherited from his father.

In November 1960, Christian married Heinrich Dagmar zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1919–2002), after divorcing Beatrix von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1921–2006), with whom he already had three children. Dagmar was the older daughter of the brother of Christian Heinrich's adopted father, Georg. He died seven months before the wedding.

Due to a declaration made by her uncle August on February 11, 1947, Georg's three children were disorganized. The morganatic marriage with Marie Rühm (appointed Baroness von Freusburg by the Prince Regent von Lippe in 1916) could thus be recognized as dynastic.

family members

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Burkardt, Ulf Lückel: The Princely House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg . Börde-Verlag, Werl 2005.
  2. ↑ a b Silve-Maria von Hueck: "Sayn-Wittgenstein" . In: Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, Princely Houses . tape XIX . CA Starke, 2011, ISBN 978-3-7980-0849-6 , pp. 314-338 .
  3. ↑ a b Sayn and Wittgenstein . In: Gothaischer Hofkalender . Justus Perthes, 1944, p. 284-291 .

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