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County of Isenburg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isenburg (pink, right) and Lower Isenburg (pink, left) around 1400

The County of Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau (located in the Rhineland-Palatinate), which partitioned in 1137 into Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern. These countships were partitioned between themselves many times over the next 700 years.

House of Isenburg

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Ruins of the Castle at Isenburg (Lower Isenburg)

The House of Isenburg was an old aristocratic family of medieval Germany, named after the castle of Isenburg in Rhineland-Palatinate. Occasionally referred to as the House of Rommersdorf before the 12th century, the house originated in the Hessian comitatus of the Niederlahngau in the 10th century. It partitioned into the lines of Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern in 1137, before partitioning again into smaller units, but by 1500 only the lines of Isenburg-Büdingen (in Upper Isenburg) and Lower Isenburg remained. In 1664 the Lower Isenburg branch died out. The Büdingen line continued to partition, and by the beginning of the 19th century the lines of Isenburg-Büdingen, Isenburg-Birstein, Isenburg-Meerholz and Isenburg-Wächtersbach existed. Today still exist the (Roman Catholic) princes of Isenburg (at Birstein), the (Lutheran) princes of Ysenburg (at Büdingen and Ronneburg) and the (Lutheran) counts of Ysenburg-Philippseich.

"Family tree" of the Isenburg countships

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Büdingen Castle
Castle Ronneburg, Hesse
Birstein Castle
Wächtersbach Castle
Meerholz Castle at Gelnhausen
Philippseich Castle at Dreieich

Isenburg, the original countship was divided upon the death of Count Rembold II in 1137 into:

Principality of Isenburg

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Coat of Arms of the Principality of Isenburg

It was not until 1806 that there was a state called simply "Isenburg". When the Holy Roman Empire was defeated by Napoleon of France in that year, the empire was abolished and the Confederation of the Rhine was established amongst the various German states. As an incentive to join the Confederation, it was stated that any state which joined could mediatise their neighbours. Prince Charles of Isenburg-Birstein joined the Confederation and was granted the mediatized Isenburgian Countships of Isenburg-Büdingen, Isenburg-Meerholz, Isenburg-Philippseich, and Isenburg-Wächtersbach. His Principality was renamed to Isenburg.

The Principality continued under the rule of Prince Charles through the Napoleonic era, but was mediatised by Austria in December 1813, at the insistence of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who was angered that Isenburg had raised a regiment for French service by recruiting Prussian deserters and vagabonds.[1] Isenburg was one of only three original member princes of the Empire to be mediatized at the end of the Napoleonic era (the others being Leyen and prince-primate Dalberg, Prince of Aschaffenburg). This decision was confirmed at the Congress of Vienna. The lands of the principality were divided between the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel).

Rulers

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Partitions of Isenburg under House of Isenburg rule

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County of Isenburg
(1041-1199)
      
County of
Kempenich

(1st creation)
(1137-1153)
County of Kobern
(1137-1306)
female-branch of Isenburg-Vianden from 1275
      
                    
County of
Braunsberg

(1199-1388)
Renamed as:
County of
Wied

(1388-1462)
      
County of
Kempenich

(2nd creation)
(1199-1430)
County of
Lower Isenburg

(1218-1502)
      
County of
Limburg

(1227-1406)
      
County of Cleeberg
(1167-1340)
County of
Grenzau

(1st creation)
(1278-1292)
County of
Arenfels

(1278-1403)
      
      
County of
Grenzau

(2nd creation)
(1340-1439)
County of Büdingen
(1st creation)
(1340-1511)
Part of the
County of
Braunsberg

(1371-1388)
Renamed as:
County of
Wied

(1388-1462)
To
Archbishopric
of Trier
To Lords of
Schöneck
(1424-1434),
Archbishopric
of Trier

(1434)
and Counts of
Virneburg
(from 1434)
To Nassau-Beilstein
(1439-1446)
and Archbishopric
of Trier

(1446-1460)
      
To County of Wied To County of Wied
County of
Neumagen

(1502-1563)
County of
Grenzau

(3rd creation)
(1502-1664)
County of Ronneburg
(1511-1601)
County of Birstein
(1st creation)
(1511-1664)
To County of Sayn-Homburg
      
County of Büdingen
(2nd creation)
(1628-1806)
(mediatized to Isenburg-Birstein in 1806)
             
To Archbishopric of Trier, Archbishopric of Cologne and Abbots of Fulda       
County of Marienborn
(1673-1725)
      
County of Meerholz
(1673-1806)
(mediatized to Isenburg-Birstein in 1806)
              County of Offenbach
(1628-1718)
County of Wachtersbach
(1673-1806)
(mediatized to Isenburg-Birstein in 1806)
              County of Philippseich
(1711-1806)
(mediatized to Isenburg-Birstein in 1806)
County of Birstein
(2nd creation)
(1685-1744)
Raised to
Principality of Birstein
(1744-1806)
Principality of Isenburg
(Isenburg-Birstein line)
(1806-1815)
(mediatized to Austria in 1815
and Hesse in 1816)

Table of rulers

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Post-1815 lines of succession

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Mediatized line of Birstein (1815)

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[citation needed]
  • Charles, 1st Prince 1803-1820 (1766-1820)
    • Wolfgang Ernst, 2nd Prince 1820-1866 (1798-1866)
    • Prince Victor (1802-1843)
      • Karl, 3rd Prince 1866-1899 (1838-1899)
        • Prince Leopold (1866-1933) -renounced his rights in 1898
        • Franz Joseph, 4th Prince 1899-1939 (1869-1939)
          • Franz Ferdinand, 5th Prince 1939-1956 (1901-1956)
            • Franz Alexander, 6th Prince 1956–2018 (1943-2018)
              • Alexander, 7th Prince 2018–present (1969) ∞ Sarah Lorenz
                • Princess Alix (2015)
                • Princess Zita (2017)
                • Franz Salvator, Hereditary Prince (2019)
              • Princess Katharina (1971) ∞ Archduke Martin of Austria
              • Princess Isabelle (1973) ∞ Carl, Prince of Wied
              • Frederick, Feudal Prince 2018–present (1974)
              • Princess Sophie (1978) ∞ Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia
              • Prince Viktor (1979) ∞ Jungeun Anes Lee
                • Princess Amalia (2016)
                • Princess Victoria (2018)

Mediatized line of Büdingen (1806)

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  • Ernest Casimir III (1806-1848), in 1840 he was raised to Prince.
  • Ernest Casimir IV (1848-1861)
  • Bruno (1861-1906)
  • Wolfgang (1906-1920)
  • Alfred (1920-1922)
  • Karl (1922-1941)
  • Otto Friedrich (1904-1990), from the Ysenburg-Büdingen-Wächtersbach branch, adopted by Karl in 1936
  • Wolfgang-Ernst, 8th Prince 1990- (b.1936) ∞ Leonille Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
    • Hereditary Prince Casimir-Alexander (b.1967)
      • Prince Tristan Alexander (b.2014)
    • Prince Maximilian (b.1969)
      • Prince Tassilo-Alexander (b.2006)

Notable members of the family

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References

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  1. ^ Treitschke, Heinrich. History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. I, page 609.
  2. ^ a b c d Given the uncertainty of previous counts pre-1090, the numbering of rulers in this table will start only after 1090
  3. ^ a b Hess, J. (ed.) (1901), Die Urkunde des Pfarrarchivs von St Severin in Köln, Köln, "Köln St Severin", 5, p. 8.
  4. ^ See Niederrheins Urkundenbuch, Band I, 253, p. 163, and Hess, J. (ed.) (1901) Die Urkunde des Pfarrarchivs von St Severin in Köln (Köln) ("Köln St Severin"), 5, p. 8.
  5. ^ a b c Niederrheins Urkundenbuch, Band I, 286, p. 187.
  6. ^ a b Some sources (as the English wiki article itself), conflate Gerlach IV (d.1167, documented in 1158) and Gerlach V (d.1217, documented in 1179) in one person; however, this also conflates Henry I of Cleeberg (d.1220) and Rembold IV (d.1175) in the same generation as brothers. This, given Rembold and Henry's different life-spans, is fairly unlikely. For the 1158 document, see Trier Diplomatica (Hontheim), I, CCCCI, p. 586. For the 1179 one, see Codex diplomaticus Rheno-Mosellanus, Theil I, 201, p. 431.
  7. ^ Last documented in 1210. See Mittelrheinisches Urkundenbuch II, 261, p. 302.
  8. ^ Codex diplomaticus Rheno-Mosellanus, Theil I, 247, p. 500.
  9. ^ Isenburg-Wied-Runkel (1775), Urkunden, LXXIII, p. 88
  10. ^ Sometimes counted as Gerlach IV after Gerlach III of Kobern.
  11. ^ Codex diplomaticus Rheno-Mosellanus, Theil II, 247, p. 376
  12. ^ Isenburg-Wied-Runkel (1775), Urkunden, LVI, 73.
  13. ^ Milmeister (2003), p. 60.
  14. ^ Counted as II given his father his numbered I as co-ruler of Cecilia.
  15. ^ Sometimes counted as Gerlach V.
  16. ^ Clervaux (1883), 501, p.100.
  17. ^ Sometimes numbered II in reference to his uncle, Henry, who died in 1298, even before his father's ascension.
  18. ^ Sometimes counted as Gerlach VI.
  19. ^ a b Isenburg-Wied-Runkel (1775), Urkunden, CIII, 120.
  20. ^ Sometimes numbered John V.
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  • Official Website – Fürstenhaus Isenburg (Princely House of Isenburg) (in German)