Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

coat of arms flag State capital Sigmaringen Form of government monarchy Head of state Count (until 1623) Prince (from 1623) dynasty House of Hohenzollern Consist 1623-1849 surface 906 km² [1] Residents 40.492 (1849) [2] Population density 47 inhabitants / km² (1849) Arose from County of Zollern Incorporated into Prussian Province of Hohenzollernsche Land map

Sigmaringen Castle

The royal seat of Sigmaringen in the middle of the 18th century

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is the Swabian, Catholic line of the Hohenzollern , an old German noble family , and at the same time the name of the lands it ruled, the county of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, which was elevated to the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1623 and existed until 1849. Today the family members use the name without the addition "Sigmaringen". Another branch of the Swabian Hohenzollern family, now extinct, ruled the Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen until 1849 .

geography

Hohenzollern existed since 1634 from the two lying separated parts of the country Sigmaringen and Haigerloch , 1802 there came the front of the monastery Muri belongs dominion smooth on the upper Neckar to 1806, among other areas, the former to rule Trochtelfingen belonging area around Ringingen , Salmendingen and Melchingen as an exclave , with a total area of ​​906 km². The three areas were separated from the Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen . The eight exclaves Thalheim , Thiergarten , Igelswies , Tautenbronn , Mühlhausen , Langenenslingen , Bärenthal and Achberg -Esseratsweiler also belonged to the principality . Neighboring countries were Württemberg in the north-east and Baden in the south-west .

The area around Haigerloch, the north-western part of the country, which was at times independent as Hohenzollern-Haigerloch , lies mainly on a layer of shell limestone upstream of the Swabian Alb . This area is drained by the Neckar and its tributaries Glatt , Eyach and Starzel .

The area around Ringingen, Salmendingen and Melchingen, only a few square kilometers in size, is located on the plateau of the Swabian Alb at an altitude of between 800 and 900 meters. The source of the Lauchert is located near Melchingen .

The area around Sigmaringen lies on the Swabian Alb and on the Molasse area to the south . The Danube flows through the area from west to east, tributaries here are the Schmeie , Lauchert and Ablach .

history

→ Main article : Swabian Hohenzollern  and Hohenzollern

Karl Anton (1811–1885) was the last reigning Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1848 and 1849

The Counts of Zollern can be safely traced back to the 11th century. A descent from the Swabian family of the Burchardinger was often suspected in ancient literature, but cannot be proven. At the beginning of the 13th century the sex was divided into a Swabian and a Frankish line. The Frankish line, which the Burgraviate of Nuremberg held, was later elevated to the position of Elector of Brandenburg . Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was part of the Swabian Empire until 1808 .

Karl I. Count von Hohenzollern was Reich Chamberlain and later President of the Reichshof Council . In 1534 he received the counties Sigmaringen and Veringen from Emperor Charles V as an imperial fief . In 1576 the Swabian line of the Hohenzollern divided further into Hohenzollern-Hechingen , Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Haigerloch. In 1623 the Hechinger and Sigmaringer lines were elevated to the rank of imperial prince, but not the Haigerloch line, whose connection to the other two lines was not considered appropriate. It died out again in 1634. The Hechingen line also died out in 1869, while the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family still exists today.

Princess Amalie Zephyrine one was at the beginning of the 19th century Mediatisierung by Napoleon prevent. In 1806 he created the Rhine Confederation and thus finally smashed the Holy Roman Empire . The two royal houses of Hohenzollern, Sigmaringen and Hechingen, managed to maintain their sovereignty and, in the case of Sigmaringen, also experienced a considerable increase in territory. In 1806 the Principality of Sigmaringen received the possessions of the Habsthal and Wald monasteries and the Teutonic Order of Achberg and Hohenfels . It also gained sovereignty over the Princely Fürstenberg rule in Jungnau and Frohnstetten , the Thurn and Taxis rule in Ostrach and Straßberg, and over the Speth rule in Gammertingen and Hettingen .

As a result of the March Revolution in 1848 (regionally: Revolution in Sigmaringen ), the princes of Sigmaringen and Hechingen abdicated in 1849, so that their principalities fell to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 as the "Hohenzollern Lands" . The Prussian occupation of Sigmaringen took place on April 6, 1850. The two principalities were united and formed the Hohenzollern Lands as the Sigmaringen administrative district . After the Second World War, Württemberg-Hohenzollern was established , which comprised the southern part of the former Kingdom of Württemberg and the "Hohenzollern Lands". With the formation of the south-western state , Hohenzollern finally merged into Baden-Württemberg .

The Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family continued to play an important role even after the Prussian takeover. Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen's eldest son Leopold was offered the takeover of the Spanish throne in 1870 . This became the occasion of the Franco-German War . His brother became King of Romania as Charles I and founded the ruling dynasty from 1866 to 1947. Her sister Stephanie became Queen of Portugal .

To date, there are the Sigmaringen Castle , a third of the Hohenzollern Castle , the Castle Umkirch , the hunting lodge Josefslust and Krauchenwies castle owned by the royal house; Namedy Castle has a side branch . For Group Prince of Hohenzollern , based in Sigmaringen heard the Zollern GmbH & Co. KG , one of the largest employers in the district of Sigmaringen . In 2015, Zollern employed around 3,000 people in 22 plants and branches worldwide. The current head of the house, Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern , as the sole shareholder and chairman of the advisory board of the Prinz von Hohenzollern Capital GmbH & Co. KG , also owns a number of company investments.

Administration and population

The Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was divided into various Hohenzollern senior offices . In 1822 there were the upper districts Sigmaringen , Wald , Ostrach , Straßberg , Gammertingen and Haigerloch as well as the senior bailiffs Achberg , Hohenfels , Jungnau and Trochtelfingen . At the transition to Prussia, the upper offices of Gammertingen, Ostrach, Sigmaringen, Trochtelfingen and Wald still existed. Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was purely rural with a mostly Catholic population. There were Jewish communities in Haigerloch and Dettensee.

For the judiciary, see the list of courts in the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen .

Regents and bosses

Coat of arms currently used by the Princely House

Counts of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1576–1623)

• Charles II (1576–1606)
• Johann (1606–1623)

Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1623–1849)

• Johann (1623–1638)
• Meinrad I (1638–1681)
• Maximilian (1681-1689)
• Meinrad II. (1689-1715)
• Joseph Friedrich Ernst (1702–1769)
• Karl Friedrich (1769–1785)
• Anton Aloys (1785–1831), married to Amalie Zephyrine von Salm-Kyrburg
• Karl (1831-1848)
• Karl Anton (1848–1849; father of the Romanian King Carol I ), ceded his territory to Prussia in 1849, since then only titular Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Heads of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1849–1869)

• After the death of Constantine in 1869, Karl Anton (1849–1885) , the last Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen , became Prince of the entire Princely House of Hohenzollern

Head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern (since 1869)

Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern , the current head of the house

• Karl Anton (1869–1885), Prince of Hohenzollern
• Leopold (1885–1905; father of the Romanian King Ferdinand I ), Prince of Hohenzollern
• Wilhelm (1905–1927), Prince of Hohenzollern
• Friedrich (1927-1965), the Weimar Republic with official surname Prince of Hohenzollern , but in his home country traditionally known as "Prince of Hohenzollern" known
• Friedrich Wilhelm (1965-2010)
• Karl Friedrich (since 2010)

Kings of Romania (1866–1947)

→ Main article : Kingdom of Romania

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania under the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty (in this form from 1881 to 1922)

Cotroceni Castle , Bucharest

In February 1866, Prince Karl Eitel Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1866-1914), the second son of Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , on the recommendation of Napoleon III. and after a referendum on April 20, 1866 elected Prince of Romania . On November 15, 1869, he married Princess Elisabeth zu Wied (1843–1916). After Romania achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire in the Peace of San Stefano in 1878 , Charles was proclaimed King of Romania on March 26, 1881. Carol and Elisabeth's only child was their daughter Maria, who died in 1874 at the age of three. When King Carol died on October 10, 1914, his nephew Ferdinand I , a younger son of his brother Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern , succeeded him. In 1927, his son Crown Prince Carol was forced to abdicate and his underage son Mihai I (Michael I, 1927–1930, 1940–1947) became king. However, his father ascended the throne in 1930 as Carol II (Karl II, 1930–1940). He ruled until September 6, 1940, when Michael I was again proclaimed king. After the end of the Second World War, Michael continued to rule as head of state with severely restricted powers until he was forced to abdicate and leave the country on December 30, 1947 by the ruling Romanian Communist Party . After decades in exile in Switzerland , the ex-king was allowed to return to Romania after the fall of the Ceaușescu regime in 2001 and was given the right to live in the Elisabeth Palace in Bucharest for himself and his family, as well as the restitution of the property in the Săvârșin , Peleș and Pelișor castles .

1. Karl Anton Prince of Hohenzollern (1811–1885), Prussia. Prime Minister ⚭ Josephine von Baden (1813–1900)
   1. Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern (1835–1905) ⚭ Antonia Maria of Portugal (1845–1913), daughter of Queen Maria II (Portugal) (1819–1853)
      1. Prince Wilhelm von Hohenzollern (1864–1927) ⚭ (I) Maria Theresia of Bourbon-Sicily (1867–1909), daughter of Ludwig of Naples-Sicily (1838–1886); ⚭ (II) Adelgunde von Bayern (1870–1958), daughter of King Ludwig III. (Bavaria) (1845-1921)
      2. Ferdinand I , King of Romania (1865–1927) ⚭ Marie von Edinburgh (1875–1938), daughter of Alfred (Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) (1844–1900)
         1. Charles II , King of Romania (1893–1953) ⚭ Elena of Greece (1896–1982), daughter of King Constantine I (Greece) (1868–1923)
            1. Michael I , King of Romania (1921–2017) ⚭ Anna of Bourbon-Parma (1923–2016), daughter of Prince Renato of Bourbon-Parma (1894–1962)
               1. Margarita of Romania (* 1949)
               2. Helen (* 1950)
               3. Irina (* 1953)
               4. Sophie (* 1957)
               5. Maria (* 1964)
         2. Elisabeth of Romania (1894–1956) ⚭ King George II (Greece) (1890–1947)
         3. Maria of Romania (1900–1961) ⚭ King Alexander I (Yugoslavia) (1888–1934)
         4. Nicholas of Romania (1903–1978)
         5. Ileana of Romania (1909–1991) ⚭ Anton of Austria-Tuscany (1901–1987)
         6. Mircea (1913-1916)
   2. Karl I (1839–1914), King of Romania , ⚭ Elisabeth zu Wied (1843–1916), called Carmen Sylva , daughter of Prince Hermann zu Wied (1814–1864)

• 

  Charles I
  (1881-1914)

• 

  Ferdinand I.
  (1914-1927)

• 

  Michael I.
  (1927–1930 and 1940–1947)

• 

  Charles II
  (1930–1940)

Family after the monarchy

• Albrecht Prince of Hohenzollern (* 1898, † 1977)
• Auguste Viktoria Princess of Hohenzollern (* 1890, † 1966), wife of Manuel II of Portugal
• Ferfried Prinz von Hohenzollern (* 1943), former racing driver
• Friedrich Prince von Hohenzollern (* 1891; † 1965), head of the family
• Friedrich Wilhelm Prince of Hohenzollern (* 1924 - † 2010), head of the family
• Johann Georg Prince von Hohenzollern (* 1932; † 2016), art historian
• Karl Friedrich Prince of Hohenzollern (* 1952), head of the family

More name bearers

• Katharina von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1817–1893), founder of the Beuron Abbey
• Oswald von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1715–1765), Canon in Cologne

See also

• Hohenzollern mountain
• Tribe list of the Hohenzollern , there the line Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Web links

• Literature by and about Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen  in the German Digital Library
• Official website of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen company
• Statistical and historical information on the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen at HGIS
• Information on the Hechingen and Sigmaringen lines