Löwenstein-Wertheim

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Coat of arms of those of Löwenstein-Wertheim

The Löwenstein-Wertheim are a noble German noble family that still exists today in two princely lines , which arose from a morganatic side branch of the Palatinate line of the Wittelsbach family that was split off around 1460 .

history

Elector Friedrich I of the Palatinate , father of Ludwig I of Löwenstein
Count Ludwig I von Löwenstein , painted by Hans Baldung in 1513

Today's house Löwenstein-Wertheim goes back to Ludwig von Bayern , also known as Count Ludwig I von Löwenstein (1463–1524), a son of the Palatinate Elector Friedrich I from the Wittelsbach house and the Munich court lady Clara Tott from Augsburg. Friedrich I, called the Victorious, ruled after the death of his brother Ludwig IV. From 1449 to 1451 as the guardian of his one-year-old nephew Philip , adopted him in 1451 and derived his own right as elector from this so-called "arrogation". When Frederick I adopted his underage nephew and in his place became elector, he had to vow celibacy in order not to give the heir to the throne any co-heirs who might dispute his legal inheritance.

From a love affair between Elector Friedrich I and the Munich court lady Clara Tott from Augsburg, which began in 1459, two sons emerged, for whom their father - except when the legitimate line died out - waived the inheritance. Both sons are recognized as legitimate in a large number of documents, but the date of the parental marriage is unclear; some sources mention the year 1462. The secret marriage did not become public until 1472, when Friedrich, the first-born son, tried to be accepted as a cleric in the cathedral monasteries of Speyer and Worms and therefore had to prove an unequivocal marital parentage. In the same year and already once in 1470, the future Elector Philip the Sincere had released his uncle, Elector Friedrich I, from the promise of celibacy made in his favor. For reasons of state, the whole situation was kept as secret as possible. After the death of her husband, Clara Tott was even kept in captivity for years by his successor Philipp , just to keep the actual family situation from being made public. The early historians were mostly unclear and very cautious about the case because they did not want to fall out of favor with the mighty Electoral Palatinate. Later historians adopted these unclear formulations from their predecessors, especially since the subject lost dynastically and historically in importance over the course of time. It was only the legally qualified historians Johann Ludwig Klüber and August Wilhelm Heffter who carried out sustained research in this regard in the 19th century and wrote very detailed treatises on the subject, which, based on various sources, prove that both sons of Frederick I and Clara Tott were born in marriage and provide solid evidence that Clara Tott must have been of aristocratic origin because of her high position at the Bavarian royal court.

The two sons of Elector Friedrich I and Clara Tott were:

  • Friedrich of Bavaria (around 1460 - October 16, 1474); Canon at the cathedral monastery of Speyer since 1472, then also at the cathedral monastery of Worms, died while his father was still alive and - like him - was buried in the Heidelberg Franciscan Church. His epitaph there expressly referred to him as the “legitimate son” of the elector. The tombstone, with a portrait of Frederick in clerical clothing, was still in this church in 1716, but it was badly damaged by the French.
  • Ludwig of Bavaria (born September 29, 1463 in Heidelberg , † March 28, 1523 in Löwenstein ). He was raised to the rank of imperial count on February 24, 1494 by the Roman-German King Maximilian I. Ludwig von Bayern, as he was called, is the founder of the Princely House of Löwenstein − Wertheim.

Ludwig of Bavaria or Count Ludwig I. von Löwenstein received the small rule Scharfeneck with the castle Neuscharfeneck in the Rhine Palatinate in 1469 and in 1488 the electoral Palatinate office Löwenstein with castle Löwenstein , after which he (and thus his family) named himself, and Wildeck Castle in 1492 . Due to the defeat in the Landshut War of Succession , the County of Löwenstein fell under Württemberg suzerainty in 1510. The Scharfeneck rule was also lost in 1622, but returned to the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort family branch in 1634 and remained its only property on the left bank of the Rhine until the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803.

Only the grandson of the first Löwensteiner, Ludwig III. von Löwenstein (1530–1611), thanks to the marriage of an heir daughter from the house of the Counts of Stolberg and the Counts of Wertheim , succeeded in acquiring the county of Wertheim am Main and other territories and thus establishing his house in the ruling imperial counts .

Map of the county of Wertheim in the 17th century

The house contract statutum gentilicium issued by Ludwig in 1597 granted all of his sons the equal right of succession . As a result, the community government of the County of Wertheim, soon notorious throughout the Holy Roman Empire, came into being. Due to this house contract and a different denominational policy of the sons Ludwig III. The aristocratic house split into two main lines: the Catholic Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rocheforter line was opposed to the Lutheran Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg line. As a result of the house contract of 1597, these lines were again divided into different branches, so that several counts were always involved in government at the same time, which often made government business more than difficult.

The Catholic line succeeded in 1712, thanks to their practiced proximity to the emperor, to rise to the prince status . The Virneburg Line could only achieve this in 1812 - but by the grace of Bavaria. In the meantime, however, were u. a. with Rochefort (Belgium) and Virneburg, the possessions that had previously given the two lines their name have been lost. In order to differentiate between the two lines in the future, the Catholic line was given the name Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg to Rosenberg (Baden) , the Protestant line Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg to Freudenberg (Baden) .

On the eve of the French Revolution, the Princely House had possessions on the Main, in the Odenwald, in Bohemia, in the Palatinate, the Eifel, in the Austrian Netherlands and in Alsace. However, these were all quite fragmented, with different legal titles. The Löwenstein-Wertheimers were a classic example of the so-called inferior imperial estates , which only acquired greater political importance in individual cases and only for a short time and were mostly limited to the region. In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803, the Löwenstein-Wertheimers were awarded compensation lands for their lost areas on the left bank of the Rhine, primarily on the Lower Main, the Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (soon afterwards prince as the Freudenberg Line) received the Triefenstein Monastery , which was dissolved in the course of secularization , the Prince of Löwenstein- Wertheim-Rochefort received the Bronnbach monastery . This enabled them to consolidate their national territory. But there was no time for internal and external consolidation. In 1806 the house was mediatized by the Princes of the Rhine Confederation . Its territories were divided among no fewer than six states ( Grand Duchy of Baden , Kingdom of Württemberg , Kingdom of Bavaria , Grand Duchy of Würzburg , Grand Duchy of Frankfurt , Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt ).

The territorial reorganization in the course of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Frankfurt Territorial Recession of 1819 reduced the number of sovereign states affecting the Löwenstein-Wertheimers to four (Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, Kingdom of Württemberg). In addition to these possessions in the Altreich , the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenbergs had extensive estates in Bohemia ( Haid Castle ) since the 18th century - and should not be confused with the Bohemian aristocratic Rosenberg / Rožmberk family .

Both lines still exist today. The Rosenberger line has resided in their castle in Kleinheubach since 1720 , while they sold the Bronnbach monastery in 1986; In 2002 she acquired the Laudenbach Castle ; a younger branch lives in Habitzheim Castle . The Freudenberger line is based at Schloss Kreuzwertheim today . In 1995 both lines sold the ruinous Wertheim Castle to the city.

Tribe list of the Löwenstein

Counts of Löwenstein

Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim

  • 1541–1611: Count Ludwig von Löwenstein-Wertheim (* 1530; † 1611)
    • marries Anna Countess von Stolberg -Wertheim and Rochefort in 1590 , heiress of the counties of Wertheim and Rochefort

Acquisitions - by marriage and inheritance

Acquisitions - through secularization

Inheritance

The death of Count Ludwig von Löwenstein-Wertheim in 1611 led to the division of the estate and the establishment of the lines:

  • Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg
  • Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg house / later Freudenberg

Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg
Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg

Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg

  • 1611–1618: Count Christoph Ludwig zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1568; † 1618)
  • 1618–1657: Count Friedrich Ludwig zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1598; † 1657), received in 1631 Bronnbach Monastery
  • 1657–1683: Count Friedrich Eberhard zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1629; † 1683)
  • 1683–1721: Count Heinrich Friedrich zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1682; † 1721)

Due to the lack of primogeniture in the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg house, after the death of Count Heinrich Friedrich, all of his five sons were equally involved in the government. In the end, the Vollrath line was preserved:

  • 1721–1790: Count Johann Ludwig Volrath zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1705; † 1790)
  • 1790–1812: Count Johann Karl Ludwig zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1740; † 1816)
    • is elevated to prince by the Bavarian king on November 19, 1812
  • 1779–1812: Prince Friedrich Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (* 1743; † 1825), since November 19, 1812 Prince Friedrich Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg

Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg

Heads of the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg house

  • 1918–1931: Ernst Alban Ludwig Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1854; † 1931)
  • 1931–1980: Udo Prinz ("6th Prince") of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1896; † 1980)
  • 1980–2010: Alfred-Ernst Prinz ("7th Prince") of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1924; † 2010)
  • since 2010: Ludwig Udo Hans Peter Alfred Prinz ("8th Prince") of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1951)

House Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort-Rochefort / later Rosenberg

Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort
Bronnbach Monastery

Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg

Heads of the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg house

Other family members

Year badge “Prince of Lion's Arch” from the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt

coat of arms

Small coat of arms

Coat of arms of the Löwenstein-Wertheim

The coat of arms is divided, split above, on the right in silver on four green mountains striding inwards a gold-crowned red lion (Löwenstein), on the left awakened by blue and silver diagonally to the right (Wittelsbach), divided below, above in gold a growing black eagle, below in blue three (2: 1) silver roses with golden clusters (Wertheim). On the helmet with red and silver covers the lion on the mountains.

Large coat of arms of the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort

Large coat of arms of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
  • Field 1: Lion's Arch , in silver on a green three- or four-pointed green shield base (three- or four-pointed natural rock), a crowned lion striding.
  • Field 2: Montaigu, in silver a red eagle
  • Field 3: Wertheim, upper half: in gold, a black eagle emerging from the division.
  • Field 4: Rochefort, in silver a red oval buckle.
  • Heart shield: Wittelsbach blue-silver diagonal diamonds and Palatinate lion, gold in black, reinforced in red. As the legitimate descendants of Elector Frederick the Victorious of the Palatinate, the Löwensteiners carry the coat of arms of the Wittelsbach and Palatinate Lions. Black blank inflected tip.
  • Field 6: Wertheim, lower half: 3 silver roses in blue with golden clusters
  • Field 7: Breuberg , two red bars in silver.
  • Field 8: in gold a red lion, above a three-row silver-red scabbarded bar. The original coat of arms of those von der Mark is the nested beam. The lion comes from the Arenberg.
  • Field 9: Scharfeneck , a silver lion in red, crowned.

archive

In order to accommodate the Löwenstein-Wertheim archives acquired by the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1975, the Wertheim State Archive was set up on January 1, 1978 as Department 8 of the Baden-Württemberg State Archive in the former hospital of the Bronnbach Monastery . The Wertheim State Archives keep the records of the Counts of Wertheim, who died out in 1556, and include a joint archive and the two Löwenstein-Wertheim line archives. The Wertheim City Archives were soon incorporated into it. This smaller network paved the way for the Main-Tauber archive network set up on December 7, 1988 under the auspices of the Wertheim State Archives .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Löwenstein-Wertheim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carl von Rotteck: "Das Staats-Lexikon", 1847; on family relationships and descendants of Elector Friedrich the Victorious
  2. ^ Johann Ludwig Klüber: The marital descent of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim , 1837 in the Google book search
  3. ^ August Wilhelm Heffter: Vote of a North German journalist on Klübers of marital descent of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim , 1838 in the Google book search
  4. ^ Johann Ludwig Klüber: The marital descent of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim , 1837, page 185; Scan from the source
  5. ↑ Peter Riffenach: Prince Alfred-Ernst died at the age of 85 . In: Wertheimer Zeitung from January 14, 2010
  6. ↑ across. Broadcast: BR from December 12, 2013 ( Memento from December 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon Volume VIII, Volume 113 of the complete series, p. 34, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1997
  8. ↑ Main-Tauber archive network - Bronnbach Monastery Cultural Office. In: kloster-bronnbach.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  9. ^ State archive Wertheim - State archive Baden-Württemberg. In: landesarchiv-bw.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Extended magazine inaugurated in the archive network. In: main-tauber-kreis.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .