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
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 .
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.
Löwenstein Castle in Kleinheubach
Tribe list of the Löwenstein
Counts of Löwenstein
- 1494–1523: Ludwig , Herr von Scharfeneck (* 1463; † 1523)
- Unsuitable son of Frederick I the Victorious , Elector of the Palatinate and Clara Tott from Augsburg
- inherits Löwenstein in 1476
- on February 27, 1494 raised to the rank of imperial count by the Roman-German king and later Emperor Maximilian I.
- 1524–1541: Count Friedrich I von Löwenstein (* 1502; † 1541)
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
- Wertheim county
- County of Virneburg (-1801)
- County of Rochefort (Belgium) (-1737)
- Chassepierre reign (Belgium)
- County of Herbimont (Belgium)
- County of Montaigu (Belgium)
- County of Neufchâteau (Belgium)
- Lordship of Breuberg in the Odenwald
- County of Koenigstein
- Freudenberg reign in Baden
Acquisitions - through secularization
- Bronnbach Monastery (1802)
- Rothenfels Castle (1803)
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
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
- 1812–1825: Prince Friedrich Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1743; † 1825)
- 1812–1816: Prince Johann Karl Ludwig zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1740; † 1816)
- 1816–1855: Prince Georg zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1775; † 1855)
- 1855–1861: Prince Adolf zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1805; † 1861)
- 1861–1887: Prince Wilhelm zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1817; † 1887)
- 1887–1918: Prince Ernst Alban Ludwig zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (* 1854; † 1931)
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
Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort
- 1611–1644: Count Johann Dietrich von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1585; † 1644)
- 1644–1672: Count Ferdinand Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1616; † 1672)
- 1672–1711: Count Maximilian Karl Albrecht zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1656; † 1718)
- elevated to prince on April 3, 1711.
Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort
- 1711–1718: Prince Maximilian Karl Albrecht zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1656; † 1718)
- 1718–1735: Prince Dominik Marquard zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1690; † 1735), bought Rosenberg in 1730
- 1735–1789: Prince Karl Thomas zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1714; † 1789), Imperial Field Marshal (1769–1789)
- 1789–1814: Prince Dominik Constantin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (* 1762; † 1814), inherits Püttlingen in 1786, since 1812/13 Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, received Bronnbach Monastery in 1803 (owned by the family until 1986) and the castle Rothenfels (until 1919 owned by the family).
Princes of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
- 1814–1849: Prince Karl Thomas zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1783; † 1849)
- 1849–1908: Prince Karl Heinrich zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1834; † 1921)
- 1908–1918: Prince Aloys zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1871; † 1952)
Heads of the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg house
- 1918–1952: Aloys Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1871; † 1952)
- 1952–1990: Karl zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1904; † 1990)
- since 1990: Prince Alois Konstantin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1941)
Other family members
- Johann Ernst von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (1667–1731), Bishop of Tournai
- Eleonore Maria Anna von Löwenstein-Wertheim- Rochefort (1686–1753), wife of Landgrave Ernst II. Leopold of Hesse-Rotenburg
- Konstantin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1786–1844), Bavarian lieutenant general
- Christian Philipp von Löwenstein-Wertheim (1719–1781), Austrian general of the cavalry, namesake of the 2017 class of the Theresian Military Academy
- Konstantin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1802–1838), publicist
- Sophie zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1809–1838), German princess and princess of the Principality of Reuss older line
- Adelheid von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1831–1909), from 1851 wife of ex-King Michael I of Portugal
- Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1864–1927), aviation pioneer
- Maria Theresia zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1870–1935), from 1893 wife of the Portuguese pretender to the throne , Duke Michael von Braganza
- Hubertus Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1906–1984), journalist, writer and politician
- Felix zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1907–1986), religious, Jesuit, theologian and author
- Rupert Ludwig Ferdinand zu Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1933–2014), German-British banker, finance manager of the Rolling Stones
- Carl Friedrich Prinz zu Löwenstein (1966–2010), German racing driver
- Karl Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (* 1952), chairman of the board of the Malteser Hilfsdienst eV
- Felix Prinz zu Löwenstein-Wertheim Rosenberg (* 1954), agricultural scientist
coat of arms
Small coat of arms
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
- 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
- Counts of Wartenberg , morganatic descendants of Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria (1550–1608)
- Counts of Holnstein from Bavaria , illegitimate descendants of the Elector and later Emperor Karl Albrecht of Bavaria (1697–1745)
- Prince of Bretzenheim , illegitimate descendants of Elector Karl Theodor of Palatinate and Bavaria (1724–1799)
- List of Frankish knight families
- List of noble families in Franconia
- From Löwenstein to Löwenstein : unrelated Hessian prehistoric nobility
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Löwenstein-Wertheim, the princely house, genealogy . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 15th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1866, pp. 442–444 ( digitized version ).
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Löwenstein-Wertheim, the princely house, coat of arms . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 15th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1866, p. 447 ( digitized version ).
- Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume VIII, Volume 113 of the complete series, pp. 34-36, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1997, ISSN 0435-2408 .
- Hermann Grote : Family Tables. European rulers and princely houses. Reprint of the original edition Leipzig, Hahn, 1877. Reprint-Verlag Leipzig, Holzminden [1999], ISBN 3-8262-0710-6 .
- Harald Stockert: Nobility in transition. The princes and counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim between state rule and class rule. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-17-016605-0 . ( Publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Series B, Research. Volume 144)
- Eva Lacour: The history of the county of Virneburg in the early modern period .
Web links
- Genealogy of the Löwenstein house in: M. Marek: genealogy.euweb.cz .
- Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg: Building blocks for the history of the Löwenstein house .
- Genealogies of the House of Löwenstein-Wertheim .
- Princely Löwenstein archives in: Wertheim State Archives .
- The Löwenstein coat of arms .
- The princes Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg and the Neustadt am Main monastery .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carl von Rotteck: "Das Staats-Lexikon", 1847; on family relationships and descendants of Elector Friedrich the Victorious
- ^ Johann Ludwig Klüber: The marital descent of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim , 1837 in the Google book search
- ^ 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
- ^ Johann Ludwig Klüber: The marital descent of the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim , 1837, page 185; Scan from the source
- ↑ Peter Riffenach: Prince Alfred-Ernst died at the age of 85 . In: Wertheimer Zeitung from January 14, 2010
- ↑ across. Broadcast: BR from December 12, 2013 ( Memento from December 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon Volume VIII, Volume 113 of the complete series, p. 34, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1997
- ↑ Main-Tauber archive network - Bronnbach Monastery Cultural Office. In: kloster-bronnbach.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
- ^ State archive Wertheim - State archive Baden-Württemberg. In: landesarchiv-bw.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
- ↑ Extended magazine inaugurated in the archive network. In: main-tauber-kreis.de. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .