County of Leiningen



The County of Leiningen consists on a group of counties (some of them with that were ruled with Imperial immediacy), which were ruled by the Leiningen family.

Most of these counties were annexed by the First French Republic in 1793, after French troops conquered the Left Bank of the Rhine during the War of the First Coalition. Several family branches subsequently received secularized abbeys as compensation, but shortly afterwards, these new counties were mediatized and the family lost its immediacy. Today, the only existing branch is that of the Princes of Leiningen.

Origins
The first count of Leiningen about whom anything definite is known was a certain Emich II (d. before 1138). He (and perhaps his father Emich I) built Leiningen Castle, which is now known as "Old Leiningen Castle" (German: Burg Altleiningen), around 1100 to 1110. Nearby Höningen Abbey was built around 1120 as the family's burial place. The first reliable mention of the family dates back to 1128, when Emicho, Count of Leiningen testified to a document from Adalbert I of Saarbrücken, Archbishop of Mainz.

This family became extinct in the male line when Count Frederick II died about 1214 or 1220. Frederick I's sister, Liutgarde, married Simon II, Count of Saarbrücken. One of Liutgarde's sons, also named Frederick, inherited the lands of the counts of Leiningen, and he took their arms and name as Frederick II (d. 1237). Known as a Minnesinger, one of his songs was included in the Codex Manesse. Before 1212, he built himself a new castle called Hardenburg, about 10 kilometers south of Altleiningen. This was outside the county of Leiningen on the territory of Limburg Abbey, of which his uncle was the overlord (Vogt), which caused some trouble.

His eldest son, Simon (c. 1204–1234), married Gertrude, heiress of the County of Dagsburg, bringing that property into the family. They had no children and Simon's two brothers inherited the county of Leiningen together: Frederick III (d. 1287) also inherited Dagsburg and Emich IV (d. c. 1276) Landeck Castle; he founded the town of Landau, but the Landeck branch extinguished with his grandson in 1290. Frederick III, who disliked sharing Leiningen castle with his brother, had a new castle built in 1238–41 about 5 kilometres northeast of Leiningen, called Neuleiningen Castle ("New Leiningen"). Frederick III's son, Frederick IV (d. 1316), had two sons, who divided the county into Leiningen-Dagsburg and Leiningen-Hardenburg.

History
Having increased its possessions, the Leiningen family was divided around 1317 into two branches:

Leiningen-Westerburg
The elder of these, whose head was a landgrave, died out in 1467. Upon this event, its lands fell to a female, the last landgrave's sister Margaret, wife of Reinhard, Lord of Westerburg, and their descendants were known as the family of Leiningen-Westerburg. Later this family was divided into two branches, those of Leiningen-Westerburg-Alt-Leiningen and Leiningen-Westerburg-Neu-Leiningen, both of which are extinct today.

After the French Revolution, the Left Bank of the Rhine was conquered during the War of the First Coalition and annexed by France in 1793. The two counts of Alt- and Neu- Leiningen were arrested and jailed in Paris. They lost their territories. In 1803 they were compensated with secularized Ilbenstadt Abbey (at Niddatal) and Engelthal Abbey. The German mediatization brought an end to these short-lived counties in 1806, when their territories were divided between the Grand Duchy of Berg, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Usingen. Ilbenstadt Abbey was sold by the House of Leiningen-Westerburg-Altleiningen in 1921, Engelthal Abbey by the heirs of the House of Leiningen-Westerburg-Neuleiningen in 1952.

Leiningen-Hardenburg
Meanwhile, the younger branch of the Leiningens, known as the family of Leiningen-Hardenburg, was flourishing. On 27 June 1560, this branch was divided into the lines of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg, founded by Count Johann Philip (d. 1562), and Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim or Falkenburg, founded by Count Emicho (d. 1593).

In 1658 Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg divided into
 * Leiningen-Dagsburg (extinct 1706)
 * Leiningen-Heidesheim (extinct 1766)
 * Leiningen-Guntersblum (extinct 1774)

The county of Leiningen-Dagsburg was inherited by Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg in 1774.

Leiningen-Guntersblum was divided between two further side branches:
 * Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg-Guntersblum, which was deprived of its lands on the left bank of the Rhine by France, but in 1803 received Billigheim as a compensation, then called Leiningen-Billigheim. In 1845 they also acquired Neuburg Castle at Obrigheim. The branch became extinct in 1925.
 * Leiningen-Heidesheim, which in 1803 received Neudenau and became known as Leiningen-Neudenau (extinct in 1910).

In 1779, the head of the Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg line was raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire with the title of Prince of Leiningen. In 1801, this line was deprived of its lands on the left bank of the Rhine by France, but in 1803 it received Amorbach Abbey as an ample compensation for these losses. A few years later, the Principality of Leiningen at Amorbach was mediatized, and its territory is now included mainly in Baden, but partly in Bavaria and in Hesse. Amorbach Abbey is still today the family seat of the Prince of Leiningen.

Since 1991, the head of the princely line has been Prince Andreas (b. 1955). His eldest brother, Prince Karl Emich was excluded from succession after he married morganatically.

Table of rulers
Notes:
 * The House of Leiningen challenged at some times the German custom of male-originated surname. The original male line of the family died in 1214, and therefore had to rely on female succession and inheritance to preserve the surname. The post-1214 House of Leiningen (or agnatically House of Saarbrücken, as the family who ruled in the County of Saarbrücken) is cognatic, descendant of Liutgard, sister of the last count, Frederick I. The same applies to the line of Leiningen-Westerburg, originally called Runkel or Runkel-Westerburg: the inheritance of countess Margaret (d.1470) caused the change of name to Leiningen, and therefore included in the group of rulers of the family.

Succession in the Principality of Leiningen

 * Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, 1st Prince of Leiningen (1724–1807)
 * Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814)
 * Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (1804–1856)
 * Ernst, 4th Prince of Leiningen (1830–1904)
 * Emich, 5th Prince of Leiningen (1866–1939)
 * Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen (1898–1946)
 * Emich, 7th Prince of Leiningen (1926–1991)
 * Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen (born 1955)
 * his heir-apparent, Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Leiningen (born 1982)

Succession in the County of Altleiningen

 * Christian Karl, Count of Leiningen-Altleiningen (18 September 1757 – 1 December 1811)
 * Friedrich I Ludwig Christian, Count of Leiningen-Altleiningen (2 November 1761 – 9 August 1839)
 * Friedrich II Eduard, Count of Leiningen-Altleiningen (20 May 1806 – 5 June 1868)
 * Friedrich III Wipprecht Franz, Count of Leiningen-Altleiningen (30 December 1852 – 7 February 1916), nephew
 * Gustav Friedrich Oskar, Count of Leiningen-Altleiningen (8 February 1876 – 23 July 1929)

Succession in the County of Neuleiningen

 * Ferdinand Karl III, Count of Leiningen-Neuleiningen (8 September 1767 – 26 November 1813)
 * August George Gustav, Count of Leiningen-Neuleiningen (19 February 1770 – 9 October 1849)
 * Christian Franz Seraph Vincenz, Count of Leiningen-Neuleiningen (1810 – 1856)
 * George Karl August, Count of Leiningen-Neuleiningen (27 August 1789 – 17 March 1865), cousin of the previous
 * Wilhelm, Count of Leiningen-Neuleiningen (16 February 1824 – 29 April 1887) - Inherited by Altleiningen