Johann (Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen)

Prince Johann von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen monument on the market fountain in Sigmaringen by Hans Baur , 1891

Johann von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (born August 17, 1578 in Sigmaringen ; † March 22, 1638 in Munich ) was Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 1606 to 1623 and, after he was raised to the rank of prince in 1623, the first from 1623 to 1638 Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Life

Johann was the oldest surviving son of Count Karl II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1547–1606), from his marriage to Euphrosyne (1552–1590), daughter of Count Friedrich V. von Oettingen-Wallerstein . Johann received his first education from private tutors in Sigmaringen and Strasbourg . Although a military career was considered desirable in the family, the count did not go this way. He studied political science and law at the universities of Freiburg and Ingolstadt . In Ingolstadt he made friends with Maximilian I of Bavaria . He also became friends with the later Emperor Ferdinand II. The Habsburgs , when Emperor Rudolf II ruled at the time, had a good relationship anyway. On June 30, 1602, Johann married his three years younger cousin Johanna von Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1581–1634), daughter of Count Eitel Friedrich IV. Von Hohenzollern-Hechingen in Sigmaringen . Johann's son and heir to the throne Meinrad I was born in Munich in 1605 .

With the death of his father on April 8, 1606, Johann took over the reign of the county. In contrast to the Hohenzollern of the Electorate of Brandenburg , the Sigmaringer had remained Catholic , but were located in the immediate vicinity of the Protestant Duchy of Württemberg and were thus in a prominent position in the escalating denominational dispute. Johann therefore tied himself closely to the Duchy of Bavaria , the pioneer of the Catholic League . He was also involved in administrative reforms in Bavaria in Munich. The count was a member of the privy council and later its president. He also tried to positively influence the attitude of the Pope and Emperor towards Bavaria. It was beneficial in these efforts that his brother Eitel Friedrich represented the Catholic League and the German bishops in Rome .

The alliance with the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I and Emperor Ferdinand II paid off. In 1623, after Bohemia had been subjugated and Bavaria itself had risen from the duchy to the electorate , Johann was also rewarded with an increase in rank: In 1623 the Reichstag in Regensburg approved the elevation of Count Johann to the hereditary princehood. Count Johann Georg von Hohenzollern-Hechingen , his cousin from the Hohenzollern-Hechingen line established by Eitel Friedrich IV , was also raised to prince. When the Hohenzollern-Haigerloch line died out , its territory came under the rule of Johann in 1634. Johann found his brother Ernst Georg financially, because he made claims to Krauchenwies , among other things .

The excellent financial situation of his country allowed Johann to make substantial donations to the church and monasteries and to expand the residential palace in Sigmaringen . The events of the Thirty Years' War brought a change . In 1630 the prince accompanied Maximilian I to Regensburg , who sought military leadership over the imperial army there. War devastation also took place in Sigmaringen, the castle of which was conquered by the Swedes in 1632 and liberated by the imperial family in the following year, but went up in flames during the fighting. Together with Maximilian von Bayern, he fled the chaos of war to Braunau am Inn as its president of the privy council . After Maximilian's retirement, Johann received the rule of Schwabegg from him . Johann himself stayed in Bavaria, where he died in 1638, four years after his wife, at the age of 60. Shortly before, he had been accepted into the Imperial Princes College, which meant the elevation of the country to an Imperial Principality. The primogeniture was established in the male line.

progeny

Johann had the following children with his wife Johanna:

• Meinrad I. (1605–1681), Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

⚭ 1635 Countess Anna Marie von Toerring-Seefeld (1613–1682)

• Marie (1606–1674)

⚭ 1. 1625 Count Paul Andreas von Wolkenstein (1595–1635)

⚭ 2nd Baron Rudolf Georg von Haßlang († after 1676)

• Sibylla Euphrosyna (1607-1636)

⚭ 1. 1622 Count Georg Wilhelm von Helfenstein , Baron von und zu Gundelfingen (1605–1627)

⚭ 2. 1628 Count Ernst Benno von Wartenberg (1604–1666)

literature

• Willi Eisele:  Hohenzollern- (Sigmaringen), Johann Graf, since 1623 Prince to. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 501 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Otto Hintze : The Hohenzollern and their work 1415-1915. Verlag A. Steiger, Solingen 1982, ISBN 3-921564-18-2 .
• EG Johler: History, geography and local history of the sovereign German principalities of Hohenzollern, Hechingen and Sigmaringen. Stettin'sche Buchhandlung, Ulm 1824, p. 65f.
• Gustav Schilling: History of the House of Hohenzollern in genealogically continuous biographies of all its rulers from the oldest to the most recent times, according to documents and other authentic sources. Fleischer, Leipzig 1843, p. 266ff.

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles II	Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 1623 Prince 1606–1638	Meinrad I.
Karl	Count of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch 1634–1638	Meinrad I.