Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

County (Principality) of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
State of the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806),
State of the Confederation of the Rhine,
State of the German Confederation,
State of the North German Confederation,
State of the German Empire,
State of the Weimar Republic
1599–1919
Flag Coat of arms
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt within German Empire
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt within Thuringia
Capital Rudolstadt
Government Principality
Historical era Early modern period
 •  Emerged from
    Schwarzburg		 1599
 • Raised to Principality 1711
 •  German Revolution 1919
 • Merged into Thuringia 1920
Area
 •  1905 940 km² (363 sq mi)
Population
 •  1905 est. 97,000 
     Density 103.2 /km²  (267.3 /sq mi)
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
County of Schwarzburg
Thuringia

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany with its capital at Rudolstadt.

History

Heidecksburg residence at Rudolstadt

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since the 11th century, the ancestral seat of the comital family had been at Schwarzburg Castle, though after 1340, for most of its existence as a polity had the capital at the larger town of Rudolstadt. In 1583 Count Günther XLI of Schwarzburg, the eldest son of Günther XL the Rich and ruler over the united Schwarzburg lands, had died without issue. He was succeeded by his younger brothers, whereby Albert VII received the territory around Rudolstadt. After their brother Count William of Schwarzburg-Frankenhausen had died in 1597, the surviving brothers Albert VII and John Günther I established the two counties of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen by the 1599 Treaty of Stadtilm.

Albert's descendants ruled as sovereign counts of the Holy Roman Empire. Count Albert Anton (1662–1710) was elevated to the rank of a Prince by Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg, it was however his son Louis Frederick I (1710–1718) who first bore the princely title, whereby Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1711 became a principality under the same entity. It withstood the mediatisation and after the Empire's dissolution joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807 and the German Confederation in 1815.

On 23 November 1918, during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the fall of all the German monarchies, Prince Günther Victor was the last to abdicate. The former principality became a "Free State" in 1919, that was merged into the new state of Thuringia in the next year. In 1905 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt had an area of 940 km2 (360 sq mi) and a population of 97,000.

Rulers of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Prince Günther Victor, the last ruler of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
The castle at Schwarzburg
Aerial view at Schwarzburg

Counts of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Heads of the princely house of Schwarzburg post-monarchy

On the death of the childless Prince Günther Victor in 1925 he was succeeded by Prince Sizzo (1860–1926) who was the son of Prince Frederick Günther (1793–1867) from his second, morganatic marriage. Prince Sizzo was recognised as a full member of the House of Schwarzburg in 1896. Upon the death of Prince Friedrich Günther, the last in the male line, the headship passed under Semi-Salic primogeniture to his elder sister, Princess Marie Antoinette of Schwarzburg who married Friedrich Magnus V, Count of Solms-Wildenfels. The House of Schwarzburg subsequently became a personal union with the House of Solms-Wildenfels.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The House of Schwarzburg on Heraldica.org
  2. ↑ James, John Almanach de Gotha, Volume I, 2013.

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