Hohenlohe - History

History

An early ancestor was mentioned in 1153 as one Conrad, Lord of Weikersheim. His son Conrad jun. called himself the possessor of Hohlach (Hohenloch or Hohenlohe) Castle near Uffenheim, and the dynasty's influence was soon perceptible in-between the Franconian valleys of the Kocher, the Jagst and the Tauber Rivers, an area that was to be called the Hohenlohe Plateau.

Heinrich I (d. 1183) was the first to take the title of Count of Hohenlohe, and in 1230 his grandsons, Gottfried and Conrad, supporters of Emperor Frederick II, founded the lines of Hohenlohe-Hohenlohe and Hohenlohe-Brauneck, names taken from their respective castles. The latter became extinct in 1390, its lands passing later to Brandenburg, while the former was divided into several branches, only two of which, however, Hohenlohe-Weikersheim and Hohenlohe-Uffenheim-Speckfeld, need be mentioned here. Hohenlohe-Weikersheim, descended from Count Kraft I (d. 1313), also underwent several divisions, that which took place after the deaths of Counts Albert and George in 1551 being specially important. At this time the lines of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein and Hohenlohe-Waldenburg were founded by the sons of Count George. Meanwhile, in 1412, the family of Hohenlohe-Uffenheim-Speckfeld had become extinct, and its lands had passed through the marriages of its heiresses into other families. George Hohenlohe was archbishop of Esztergom (1418 – 1423), serving the King Sigismund of Hungary (later also Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia).

The existing branches of the Hohenlohe family are descended from the lines of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein and Hohenlohe-Waldenburg, established in 1551. The former of these became Protestant, while the latter remained Roman Catholic. Of the family of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, which underwent several partitions and inherited Gleichen in 1631, the senior line became extinct in 1805, while in 1701 the junior line divided itself into three branches, those of Langenburg, Ingelfingen and Kirchberg. Kirchberg died out in 1861, but members of the families of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen are still alive, the latter being represented by the branches of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and Hohenlohe-Öhringen. The Roman Catholic family of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg was soon divided into three branches, but two of these had died out by 1729. The surviving branch, that of Schillingsfürst, was divided into the lines of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Hohenlohe-Bartenstein; other divisions followed, and the four existing lines of this branch of the family are those of Waldenburg, Schillingsfürst, Jagstberg, and Bartenstein. The family of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst possesses the Duchies of Ratibor and of Corvey, inherited in 1834.

The current prince is Friedrich-Karl zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst who lives at Waldenburg.