Leiningen-Heidesheim

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The house of Leiningen-Heidesheim , from 1803 Leiningen-Neudenau , was a counts line of the noble house Leiningen and ruled the county of Leiningen-Heidesheim (in today's Rhineland-Palatinate ) from 1787 to 1801 , from 1803 to 1806 the county of Leiningen-Neudenau (in today's Baden-Württemberg ); after that she was one of the noblemen in the Grand Duchy of Baden .

Origin of the house

The noble family Leiningen-Heidesheim belonged to the Hardenburger (also Dagsburger) line of the house Leiningen .

Coming from this branch of the family, Count Johann Ludwig von Leiningen-Falkenburg (1643–1687) lived or ruled in Guntersblum near Worms and had a first, unofficial connection with Amalie Sybille von Daun, (daughter of Wilhelm Wirich von Daun-Falkenstein ) illegitimate son (* 1673) with the same name as the father, who was excluded from regular succession.

The father, Count Johann Ludwig von Leiningen-Falkenburg, left his partner Amalie Sybille von Daun - with whom he said he had lived in a " marriage of conscience" - and in 1678 married Sophia Sibylla Countess von Leiningen-Westerburg-Oberbronn. The descendants resulting from this now official connection were entitled to inheritance in the Leiningen-Falkenburg line, but expired in the male line in 1774 after they had previously split into the two sub-lines Leiningen-Falkenburg-Guntersblum and Leiningen-Falkenburg-Heidesheim. From the latter branch (Falkenburg-Heidesheim) came Maria Luise Albertine zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1729-1818), the grandmother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria . When the male line of the Leiningen-Falkenburg line was extinguished, the relatives of the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg line (prince in 1779) took over all of Leiningen-Falkenburg's possessions.

The illegitimate son of Count Johann Ludwig von Leiningen-Falkenburg, who had the same name as his father, had married Ernestina, Countess von Velen and Meggen. Their son Johann Franz (* 1698) married Charlotte Countess von Walderode Eckhausen (widowed Countess von Formentini). The two sons of that couple, Wilhelm Carl and Wenzel Joseph sued their relatives, the princes of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg, at the Reichshofrat for the surrender of the property of their great-grandfather that had been confiscated in 1774 and claimed their rights to succession in their Leiningen-Falkenburg family line, from the they had previously been excluded because of the illegitimate birth of their grandfather.

By decisions of the Reichshofrat dated February 15, 1782, February 4, 1783 and August 19, 1784, their claims were recognized as justified. This finally resulted in a settlement between them and the princes of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg on January 17, 1787, by which they were declared sovereigns of the two Leiningen-Falkenburg offices of Guntersblum and Heidesheim, with the castles of the extinct line that existed there. The remainder of the confiscated Leiningen-Falkenburg possessions remained with the princes of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg.

As a continuation of the Leiningen-Falkenburg family tribe, which had previously been considered extinct, the two independent count houses Leiningen-Heidesheim were created under Count Joseph Wenzel and Leiningen Guntersblum under his brother Wilhelm Carl.

The county of Leiningen-Heidesheim

Entrance to the Heidesheim Palace Park (2011)
Heidesheim Castle Park (2011)

The County of Leiningen-Heidesheim was founded in 1787 after the Leiningen-Falkenburg family line was no longer considered to be extinct and the male descendants still alive were recognized as legitimate in the line of succession by the Reichshof Council decision of 1784. The former territory was confiscated in 1774 by the closest relatives from the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg line and, following the court decision, has now been partially returned to the Leiningen-Falkenburg line.

The legitimate heirs were two brothers from the Falkenburg family line, namely Wilhelm Carl (1737-1832) and Wenzel Joseph (1738-1825).

Wilhelm Carl received back the former Leiningen-Falkenburg office of Guntersblum from the possessions of his ancestors and established his own Count State of Leiningen-Guntersblum there, which was later transferred to the right bank of the Rhine, to Billigheim and then to Leiningen-Billigheim , as a result of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 was called.

The younger brother, Wenzel Joseph , Privy Councilor and Vice-Obermarschall of Trier Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony , received the old leiningen-Falkenburg office of Heidesheim back, which included the Palatinate villages of Heidesheim , Colgenstein , Mühlheim an der Eis , Kindenheim and Erpolzheim , as well as three District of the village Steinbach am Donnersberg included. The residence of this dwarf state, of which only the three villages Heidesheim, Colgensteil and Mühlheim were territorially connected, while the other communities were exclaves , was set up by the Count on the already existing Heidesheim Castle . The two new counties of Leiningen-Guntersblum and Leiningen-Heidesheim were the only territories in Leiningen to be Catholic, which meant that the Catholic religion was revived to a modest extent in those almost purely Protestant areas. Wenzel Joseph set up a Catholic house chapel in his Heidesheim castle, which apparently also served as the unofficial parish church of the local Catholics, as the holy oils were kept here. It is documented in the Worms consecration diaries that Auxiliary Bishop Stephan Alexander Würdtwein consecrated a pyxis on September 1, 1791 , which was used to store the holy oils in the house chapel of Count Wenzel von Leiningen-Heidesheim.

The only Count of Leiningen-Heidesheim was Wenzel Joseph (1738–1825), who with his wife Maria Margareta Katharina Elisabeth Ferdinanda Walburga Eva Freiin von Sickingen zu Ebernburg (1741–1795) and their six children (a son named Klemens Wilhelm and five daughters) lived in Heidesheim until it was expelled by the French revolutionary army. The French burned the castle down in 1794, during the First Coalition War , and the count family fled. Only the park remains of the Heidesheim Castle.

With the Peace of Campo Formio concluded in 1797 - finally confirmed by the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) - the County of Leiningen-Heidesheim fell to France and was incorporated into the Département du Mont-Tonnerre with the seat of government in Mainz . From 1816 the former county came to the new Rhine district of the Kingdom of Bavaria .

The county of Leiningen-Neudenau

Neudenau Castle, seat of the counts from 1803
Neudenau Castle, keep

At the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the sovereigns on the left bank of the Rhine, whose territories had fallen to France, were compensated with previously clerical possessions on the right bank of the Rhine. The now widowed Count Wenzel Joseph von Leiningen-Heidesheim received the former Kurmainzische winery Neudenau with the local castle, where he resided with his family from 1803, as well as the places Herbolzheim and Stein am Kocher . The count married again in the same year and had with his second wife Maria Viktoria Crescentia Josephina Freiin von Grünberg again a son named Klemens August Wenzeslaus (1805-1862). He was born at Neudenau Castle and the name of the county or gender changed from "Leiningen-Heidesheim" to "Leiningen-Neudenau" .

In Neudenau, too, Count Wenzel Joseph was granted only a short reign. As early as 1806 the small state of Leiningen-Neudenau was mediated and incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Baden . Count Wenzel Joseph lost his second time sovereignty and was now only a subordinate to the Grand Duke of Baden nobleman . In this capacity, he and his successors automatically belonged to the First Chamber of the Baden Council of Estates .

Count Wenzel Joseph died in Neudenau on January 15, 1825 and his son Klemens Wilhelm (from his first marriage) entered the state rule as a count. He died on November 17, 1826 and was inherited by his half-brother (from the father's second marriage) August Clemens Wenzeslaus (1805-1862). When his son Karl Theodor Ernst August Wenzeslaus , Count of Leiningen, Lord of Herbolzheim (1844–1910) died, the male line of the Count's House of Leiningen-Heidesheim and Leiningen-Neudenau died out in 1910. Since Count Karl Theodor (1844–1910) had entered an unsuitable marriage with a woman of civil origin in 1869, he gave the lordship of Leiningen-Neudenau to his younger brother Maximilian (1853–1899), who, however, passed it on to the family contract in 1876 next brother Emich (1855-1896) resigned. When Emich died childless in 1896, his nephew Emich Max (1882–1901), born in 1882, could have succeeded him. Since he was not yet of legal age and died in 1901 at the age of 18 without heirs, the lordship of Leiningen-Neudenau was no longer represented in the First Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly from 1896.

Varia

The subsequent recognition of the so-called “ marriage of conscience” and the resulting correction of the inheritance of the descendants or the legal dispute over it, represented a legal precedent about which many contemporary legal scholars expressed themselves, e.g. B. Johann Ludwig Klüber (1762–1837) and Karl Friedrich Dieck (1798–1847).

Since 1803, the count's family members have also added the attribute “Herr zu Herbolzheim” to their large family title.

The coat of arms of the Counts of Leiningen-Heidesheim was the family coat of arms of Leiningen, i.e. three red-armored silver eagles in blue, topped by a count's crown.

The coats of arms of the neighboring and related counties of Leiningen-Neudenau and Leiningen-Billigheim - united on a shield - were added to the large state coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1807.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ On the origin of the sideline in the Leiningen house
  2. ↑ On Count Wenzel Joseph von Leiningen-Heidesheim
  3. ↑ On the work for the Archbishop of Trier
  4. ↑ Description of the Heidesheim office (= Grafschaft Leiningen-Heidesheim) at the end of the 18th century
  5. ^ Description of Heidesheim Castle by Carl Friedrich Barth, who had set up a teaching facility there before it was returned
  6. ^ Description of Heidesheim Castle, 1770
  7. ↑ On the consecration of a pyxis for the count's house chapel in Heidesheim
  8. ↑ On the cremation of the castle in Heidesheim near Grünstadt
  9. ↑ On the remains of the Heidesheim Castle
  10. ↑ Genealogy page Leiningen, see under Section 3
  11. ^ Genealogical page on the last deceased male offspring from Leiningen-Heidesheim or Leiningen Neudenau
  12. ^ To Karl Theodor Ernst August Wenzeslaus von Leiningen-Neudenau
  13. ↑ On the coat of arms of Leiningen-Heidesheim
  14. ↑ On the Baden coat of arms from 1807