Reference and historical essay

Mediatized Imperial States of The Holy Roman Empire

Mediatized Imperial States of The Holy Roman Empire – Mediatisation is the loss of Imperial immediacy, defined it is the subsumption of one monarchy into another monarchy.

Jurisdiction
Holy Roman Empire
Entry type
Reference
Editorial status
Reviewed - Verified
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The History of Mediatisation

Mediatisation, defined broadly, is the subsumption of one monarchy into another monarchy in such a way that the ruler of the annexed state keeps his or her sovereign title and, sometimes, a measure of local power. For instance: when a sovereign county is annexed to a larger principality, its reigning count might find himself subordinated to a prince, but nevertheless remains a count of sovereign rank, if not actually fully sovereign in fact. His subjects owe allegiance to the higher prince through him, and so his sovereignty is said to be mediatised, that is, rendered intermediate. The term “mediatization” was originally applied to the reorganization of the German states during the early 19th century, although the process had been going on since the Middle Ages. Mediatization has occurred in a number of other countries: Italy (e.g. Orsini, Doria, Pallavicini), Russia (e.g. Sibirsky, Vorotynsky), and France (e.g Rohan, de Bouillon and Lorraine) are examples.

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Mediatized sovereign houses rank higher than other houses of nominally equal (or higher) rank, but who never ruled a state. This division had great social significance, as mediatized princes were considered equal to royals for marriage purposes; in essence they were regarded as royalty. Thus if a scion from the most obscure mediatized family (say the child of an impoverished mediatized count) married an emperor or a king, their alliance was considered equal, not morganatic, and their children could inherit dynastic rights. Thus the children of Ernst Count zu Lippe-Biesterfeld, though the children of a Count, were called princes, and the son of his second son, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, was fit to marry Juliana, Crown Princess, later Queen, of the Netherlands and their eldest daughter, Beatrix, today occupies the Dutch throne.

The Mediatisation of the Imperial

Between 1803 and 1806, the vast majority of the states of the Holy Roman Empire were mediatized by Napoleon. These states lost their Reichsunmittelbarkeit (“imperial immediacy”) and became part of other states. The number of states was reduced from about three hundred to about thirty. Mediatization went along with secularization: the abolition of most of the ecclesiastic states. The legal basis for mediatization was the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, which had become necessary under pressure from France. The Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine of 1806 continued the process of mediatization. The constitution of the German Confederation of 1815 confirmed the mediatization, but gave certain rights to the mediatized princes, such as first instance jurisdiction.

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire meant that anyone who was previously a directly subject to the authority of the Emperor ceased to be subject to any superior authority. In practice, however, not everyone survived as sovereign into the new legal order that emerged in 1806. Of those who were immediate in the Empire, some became sovereign; the others became subjects of someone else: they were mediatized. Most mediatizations took place in July 1806 as a consequence of the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine. Within the area covered by the Confederation, those who became full-fledged members of the Confederation became full-fledged members of the international community as sovereign entities. A few other mediatizations were carried out by Napoleon between 1806 and 1813, and were not reversed by the Congress of Vienna. The exact process of mediatization was delineated by articles 25-33 of the treaty founding the Confederation. Although the mediatized families did not acquire sovereignty and lost some of their powers (legislation, final jurisdiction, control over police and military conscription, right to levy taxes), they kept their private estates and feudal rights, including lower jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, jurisdiction over local policing, forests, hunting and fishing rights, mining rights, etc. Mediatized princes continued to be subject to a special jurisdiction in criminal matters, their estates were free from confiscation, and some of their liabilities were taken over by their new sovereigns. They were free to settle anywhere within the territory of the Confederation.

Over the course of the 19th c. the term mediatized families began to slide. The reason is that the act founding the German Confederation (8 June 1815) defined special privileges for members of the mediatized families, in a manner reminiscent of what the Confederation of the Rhine had done. But it left it to the individual members of the Federation to decide who was a mediatized family among its subject, and drew a list of princely families (in 1825) and comital families (in 1829) to whom this status had been recognized. These families became the ones included in the Gotha and are known as standesherrliche. Because of this process, there is some degree of discrepancy between the upper nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and that of 19th century Germany. By the Rheinbundsakte of July 12, 1806, a group of German states consisting in Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau and a few others, seceded from the German Empire. Article 24 specified a long list of domains, hitherto the properties of various princes and counts who were states of the Empire, henceforth to be ruled by the members of the new Confederation. These 72 princes and counts were “mediatized” (the old German term was “eximiert”; the word “mediatize” appears in French and English about the same time, in 1815).

The process of mediatization was not unknown, it was called “exemption” (from the obligations to the Empire), there were also cases of partial mediatization, in which the territories of a family were partly or wholly placed under the sovereignty of another state, but the family nevertheless retained its seat and vote at the Reichstag: Giech (subjected to Prussia 1791), Stolberg-Wernigerode (sovereignty shared with Prussia, 1714), Stolberg-Stolberg and Stolberg-Roßla (1730-38 partial subjection to Saxony), Schönburg (subjected to Saxony, 4 May 1740), Ortenburg (ceded its county to Bavaria, 1805), counts Fugger (to Bavaria, 7 June 1806), a few weeks later, on August 6, 1806, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, relinquished his imperial sovereign title and dignity and thus absolved all his subjects from their obligations under the old Empire, whereas it is sometimes wrongly quoted and listed that the Emperor abolished the Empire this is quite incorrect and wrong he in fact only ever relinquished and abdicated his imperial titles therein and absolved his imperial subjects from thier oaths and obligations thereon to the Emperor and Empire, whereas there is no such legal document in existence to proof the empire was fully abolished, furthermore the Emperor left all other former states at the mercy of political events and as such No rights were guaranteed to the aforementioned mediatized princes until after the year 1815 when their formal status was defined by the Congress of Vienna of 1815.

The List of the Mediatized Houses of the Empire

  • Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym:
  • Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Hoym 1806
  • Arenberg:
  • Prince of Arenberg 1810
  • Aspremont-Lynden:
  • Count of Aspremont-Lynden 1806
  • Auersperg:
  • Prince of Auersperg 1806
  • Bentheim:
  • Count of Bentheim-Bentheim and Steinfurt 1806;
  • Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda 1806
  • Bentinck:
  • Baron of Bentinck 1807
  • Boyneburg-Bömelberg:
  • Baron of Boyneburg-Bömelberg 1806
  • Castell:
  • Count of Castell-Castell 1806;
  • Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen 1806
  • Colloredo:
  • Prince of Colloredo-Mansfeld 1806
  • Croÿ:
  • Prince of Croÿ-Dulmen 1806
  • Dietrichstein:
  • Prince of Dietrichstein 1806
  • Erbach:
  • Count of Erbach-Erbach 1806;
  • Count of Erbach-Fürstenau 1806;
  • Prince of Erbach-Schönberg 1806
  • Esterházy de Galántha:
  • Prince of Esterházy 1806
  • Fugger:
  • Prince of Fugger-Babenhausen 1806;
  • Count of Fugger-Glött 1806;
  • Countof Fugger-Kirchberg-Weissenhorn 1806;
  • Count of Fugger-Kirchheim 1806;
  • Count of Fugger-Nordendorf 1806
  • Fürstenberg:
  • Prince of Fürstenberg-Pürglitz 1806
  • Giech:
  • Count of Giech 1806
  • Grävenitz:
  • Count of Grävenitz 1806
  • Harrach:
  • Count of Harrach zu Thannhausen 1806
  • Hesse:
  • Elector of Hesse-Kassel
  • (or Hesse-Cassel) 1807;
  • Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg 1806
  • Hohenlohe:
  • Prince of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein 1806;
  • Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen 1806;
  • Prince of Hohenlohe-Jagstberg 1806;
  • Count of Hohenlohe-Kirchberg 1806;
  • Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 1806;
  • Count of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst 1806
  • Isenburg:
  • Prince of Isenburg 1814;
  • Count of Isenburg-Büdingen 1806;
  • Count of Isenburg-Meerholz 1806;
  • Count of Isenburg-Wächtersbach 1806
  • Kaunitz-Rietberg:
  • Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg 1806
  • Khevenhüller-Metsch:
  • Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch 1806
  • Königsegg:
  • Count of Königsegg-Aulendorf 1806
  • Küfstein:
  • Count of Küfstein-Greillenstein 1806
  • Leiningen:
  • Prince of Leiningen 1806;
  • Count of Leiningen-Alt-Westerburg 1806;
  • Count of Leiningen-Billigheim 1806;
  • Count of Leiningen-Neudenau; 1806
  • Count of Leiningen-Neu-Westerburg 1806
  • Leyen:
  • Prince of Leyen 1814
  • Limburg-Styrum:
  • Count of Limburg-Styrum-Borkelö 1806;
  • Count of Limburg-Styrum-Bronchhorst 1806
  • Lobkowicz:
  • Prince of Lobkowicz 1806
  • Löwenstein-Wertheim:
  • Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg 1806;
  • Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg 1806
  • Looz und Corswarem:
  • Duke of Looz-Corswarem 1806
  • Metternich:
  • Prince of Metternich 1806
  • Neipperg:
  • Count of Neipperg 1806
  • Nesselrode:
  • Count of Nesselrode 1806
  • Orsini and Rosenberg:
  • Prince of Orsini and Rosenberg 1806
  • Ortenburg:
  • Count of Ortenburg-Neuortenburg 1806
  • Ostein:
  • Count of Ostein 1806
  • Öttingen:
  • Prince of Öttingen-Öttingen 1806;
  • Prince of Öttingen-Spielberg 1806
  • Pappenheim:
  • Count of Pappenheim 1806
  • Platen-Hallermund:
  • Count of Platen-Hallermund 1806
  • Plettenberg:
  • Count of Plettenberg-Wittem 1806
  • Pückler and Limpurg:
  • Count of Pückler and Limpurg 1806
  • Quadt:
  • Count of Quadt-Isny 1806
  • Rechberg and Rothenlöwen:
  • Count of Rechberg and Rothenlöwen 1806
  • Rechteren-Limpurg:
  • Count of Rechteren 1806
  • Salm:
  • Wild- and Rhinegrave of Salm-Horstmar 1806;
  • Prince of Salm-Kyrburg 1810;
  • Count of Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck 1806;
  • Count of Salm-Reifferscheid-Hainsbach 1806;
  • Prince of Salm-Reifferscheid-Krautheim 1806;
  • Prince of Salm-Salm 1810
  • Sayn-Wittgenstein:
  • Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg 1806;
  • Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohnstein 1806
  • Schäsberg:
  • Count of Schäsberg-Thannheim 1806
  • Schlitz genannt von Görtz:
  • Count of Schlitz genannt von Görtz 1806
  • Schönborn:
  • Count of Schönborn-Wiesentheid 1806
  • Schönburg:
  • Count of Schönburg-Penig-Vorderglauchau-Wechselburg 1806;
  • Count of Schönburg-Rochsburg-Hinterglauchau 1806;
  • Prince of Schönburg-Waldenburg 1806
  • Schwarzenberg:
  • Prince of Schwarzenberg 1806
  • Sickingen:
  • Count of Sickingen 1806
  • Sinzendorf:
  • Prince of Sinzendorf 1806
  • Solms:
  • Count of Solms-Baruth 1806;
  • Prince of Solms-Braunfels 1806;
  • Prince of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich 1806;
  • Count of Solms-Laubach 1806;
  • Count of Solms-Rödelheim-Assenheim 1806;
  • Count of Solms-Rödelheim und Assenheim 1806;
  • Count of Solms-Wildenfels 1806
  • Stadion:
  • Count of Stadion-Thannhausen 1806;
  • Count of Stadion-Warthausen 1806
  • Starhemberg:
  • Prince of Starhemberg 1806
  • Sternberg-Manderscheid:
  • Countess of Sternberg-Manderscheid 1806
  • Stolberg:
  • Count of Stolberg-Rossla 1806;
  • Count of Stolberg-Stolberg 1806;
  • Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode 1809
  • Thurn und Taxis:
  • Prince of Thurn and Taxis 1806
  • Törring:
  • Count of Törring-Jettenbach 1806
  • Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg:
  • Prince of Trauttmansdorff 1806
  • Waldbott von Bassenheim:
  • Count of Waldbott von Bassenheim 1806
  • Waldburg:
  • Prince of Waldburg-Waldsee 1806;
  • Prince of Waldburg-Wurzach 1806;
  • Prince of Waldburg-Zeil 1806
  • Waldeck:
  • Count and Countess of Waldeck-Limpurg 1806
  • Wallmoden:
  • Count of Wallmoden-Gimborn 1806
  • Wartenberg:
  • Count of Wartenberg-Roth 1806
  • Wied:
  • Prince of Wied-Neuwied 1806;
  • Prince of Wied-Runkel 1806
  • Windisch-Grätz:
  • Prince of Windisch-Grätz Elder line 1806
  • Wurmbrand-Stuppach:
  • Count of Wurmbrand-Stuppach 1806

The Mediatized States of The Empire

The Imperial States [Reichsstand] were the real pillars of the Holy Roman Empire. They consisted mainly of the Princes and Counts of the Empire who posessed immediate territories therein; i.e., fiefs which were held directly of the Emperor himself, and who had, each of them, a vote and a seat in the Imperial Diet. The holders of these Imperial States and all those who were of equal birth with them constituted the High Nobility [Hochadel]. The dignity of States of the Empire was in general attached not to the person but to the fief. Such a territory had to enjoy sovereign rights under the suzerainty of the Empire. … The States of the Empire accordingly exercised sovereignty over various Imperial Territories. But the fact of sovereignty under the suzerainty of the Emperor was not in itself sufficient to constitute a State of the Empire. Of equal importance was the fact of having a vote and a seat in the Imperial Diet. Still another requirement was the recognition of the quality of a State of the Empire either by usage or by special legal authorization. In a few cases this authorization was granted to persons even without an immediate territority. The following legal requirements were met by all Imperial States, except by those who had received that dignity for their person and not for their territory:

1. The possession of an immediate
Principality, County or Lordship invested with
the right of Sovereignty [Landeshoheit].

  • 2. The consent of the Emperor and of all the
  • Councils of the Imperial Diet, in the case of
  • an Electorate; the consent of the Emperor, of
  • the Council of Electors and of the Council of
  • Princes in all other cases.

3. The assumption of an appropriate share in
supplying the financial, military and other
needs of the Empire.

4. The membership in one of the ten Imperial
Circles.

These Imperial Circles had been set up by Maximilian I, and were for military purposes. As such, they won’t be described further here In the Council of Princes [Reichsfürstlicheskollegium] of the Imperial Diet [Reichstag] of 1792 there were 108 seats and votes, allocated as follows, with the name of the dynasty holding the seat given in (parentheses):

The Three Ecclesiastical Electors

o Mainz
o Trier
o Cologne

The Five Secular Electors:

  • Bohemia (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Palatinate (Wittelsbach)
  • Electoral Saxony (Electoral Saxony, i.e., Wettin)
  • Brandenburg (Electoral Brandenburg, i.e., Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Hanover (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)

The Sixty-one Secular Princes: “The Old Princes”

  • Austria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Burgundy (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
  • Palatinate-Lautern (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
  • Palatinate-Simmern (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
  • Palatinate-Neuburg (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
  • Palatinate-Zweibrücken (Zweibrücken-Wittelsbach)
  • Palatinate-Veldenz (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
  • Saxe-Weimar (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
  • Saxe-Eisenach (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
  • Saxe-Coburg (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
  • Saxe-Gotha (Wettin-Saxe-Gotha)
  • Saxe-Altenburg (Wettin-Saxe-Gotha)
  • Brandenburg-Ansbach (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Brandenburg-Bayreuth (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Brunswick-Celle (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Brunswick-Kalenberg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Brunswick-Grubenhagen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbüttel)
  • Pomerania-Wolgast (Sweden)
  • Pomerania-Stettin (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
  • Mecklenburg-Güstrow (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
  • Württemberg (Württemberg)
  • Hesse-Cassel (Hesse-Cassel)
  • Hesse-Darmstadt (Hesse-Darmstadt)
  • Baden-Baden (Baden)
  • Baden-Durlach (Baden)
  • Baden-Hochberg (Baden)
  • Holstein-Glückstadt (Oldenburg-Denmark)
  • Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg-Holstein-Gottorp)
  • Saxe-Lauenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Savoy (Savoy-Sardinia)
  • Leuchtenberg (Palatinate-Wittelsbach)
  • Anhalt (Bernburg, Koethen, Zerbst, and Dessau branches)
  • Henneberg (all branches of the House of Saxony-Wettin)
  • Lorraine-Nomeny (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Montbeliard (Württemberg)
  • Arenberg (Ligne-Arenberg)

The Secularized Ecclesiastical Territories

  • Magdeburg (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Bremen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Halberstadt (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Verden (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Minden (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
  • Kamin (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Ratzenburg (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
  • Hersfeld (Hesse-Cassel)

The New Princes

  • Zollern (Hohenzollern-Hechingen)
  • Sternstein (Lobkowicz)
  • Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg)
  • Trasp in Tyrol (Dietrichstein)
  • Nassau-Hadamar (Nassau-Dietz-Orange)
  • Nassau-Dillenburg (Nassau-Dietz-Orange)
  • Wels (Auersperg)
  • East Frisia (Hohenzollern-Prussia)
  • Stühlingen (Fürstenberg)
  • Schwarzenberg (Schwarzenberg)
  • Schellenberg and Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
  • Schwarzburg (Schwarzburg)
  • Friedberg (Thurn und Taxis)

The Four seats representing the Councils of the Counts of the Empire

  • Council of the Counts of the Wetterau (representing 12 Houses)
  • Council of the Counts of Suabia (representing 23 Houses)
  • Council of the Counts of Franconia (representing 17 Houses)
  • Council of the Counts of Westphalia (representing 32 Houses)

The Two other seats, representing the Free Cities

This is also the order in which the Princes voted. Several points can be made about this list. First, there are a number of Habsburg domains, such as Hungary and Moravia, which are not on this list. This is because they were not part of the Holy Roman Empire. For that matter, Prussia (the territory that the Elector of Brandenburg was King of) was not in the Empire either. Second, note the concentration of votes in just a few houses — for example the Palatine Elector had six votes and the Elector of Hanover had seven. The Elector of Hanover was, at that time (1792), also King of Great Britain, which illustrates how many non-German sovereigns played a role in the Empire (on the other hand the Kings of Sardinia, while they had a seat in the Diet, seldom bothered even to send a representative).

Note also the distinction between “Old Princes” and “New Princes”. All of the “Old Princes” were present in the Diet of 1582, and the “New Princes” were added afterwards. Starting in 1641, the Emperor would award the title of “Reichsfürst” [Prince of the Empire] to those persons or Houses he thought worthy, and once the recipient person or dynasty was able to satisfy the other requirements, they were admitted to the Diet. Most though not all Reichsfürst creations were for persons or Houses which already had a territory and a function in the Empire. The Houses which had received the title of Reichsfürst but which had not fulfilled the other requirements remained in the Councils of the Counts of the Empire. These Councils comprised, as of around 1792, the following members:

The Council of the Counts of the Wetterau

  • Princes and Counts of Solms-Braunfels, Solms-Hohensolms, Solms-Rödelheim, and Solms-Laubach
  • Princes and Counts of Nassau-Usingen, Nassau-Weilburg, and Nassau-Saarbrücken
  • Princes and Counts of Isenburg-Birstein, Isenburg-Büdingen, Isenburg-Meerholz, and Isenburg-Waechtersbach
  • Counts of Stolberg-Gedern-Ortenburg, Stolberg-Stolberg, and Stolberg-Wernigerode
  • Princes and Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein
  • Counts of Salm (Wild- und Rheingrafen zu Grumbach, and Wild- und Rheingraf zu Rheingrafenstein)
  • Princes and Counts of Leiningen-Hartenburg and Leiningen-Heidesheim
  • Counts of Westerburg
  • Princes of Schönburg
  • Count of Wied-Runkel as Count of Criechingen
  • Counts of Ortenburg
  • Counts of Reuss zu Plauen
  • Council of the Counts of Suabia
  • Prince of Fürstenberg as Count of Heiligenberg
  • Abbess of Buchau
  • Commander of the Teutonic Knights as Count of Alschhausen
  • Prince of Oettingen
  • House of Habsburg-Lorraine for the Count of Montfort
  • Elector of Bavaria as Count of Helfenstein
  • Prince of Schwarzenberg as Count of Klettgau and Sulz
  • Count of Königsegg
  • Count of Waldburg
  • Margrave of Baden-Baden as Count of Eberstein
  • Count von der Leyen as Lord of Hohengeroldseck
  • Counts of Fugger
  • House of Habsburg-Lorraine as Lords of Hohenems
  • Count of Traun as Lord of Eggloff
  • Prince-Abbot of St. Blase as Count of Bonndorf
  • Count of Stadion as Lord of Thannhausen
  • Prince of Thurn und Taxis as Lord of Eglingen
  • Count of Khevenhüller
  • Count of Kuefstein
  • Prince of Colloredo
  • Count of Harrach
  • Count of Sternberg
  • Count of Neipperg

The Council of the Counts of Franconia

  • Princes and Counts of Hohenlohe
  • Counts of Castell
  • Counts of Erbach
  • Princes and Counts of Löwenstein as Counts of Wertheim
  • Heirs to the Counts of Limpurg
  • Counts of Nostitz as Counts of Rieneck
  • Prince of Schwarzenberg as Lord of Seinsheim
  • Heirs to the Counts of Wolfstein
  • Counts of Schönborn as Lords of Reichelsberg
  • Counts of Schönborn as Lords of Wiesentheid
  • Counts of Windischgraetz [personaliter]
  • Counts Orsini von Rosenberg [personaliter]
  • Counts of Starhemberg (elder line)
  • Counts of Wurmbrand [personaliter]
  • Counts of Giech [personaliter]
  • Counts of Grävenitz [personaliter]
  • Counts of Pückler [personaliter]

The Council of the Counts of Westphalia

  • King of Great Britain as Lord of Sayn-Altenkirchen
  • King of Great Britain as Count of Hoya
  • King of Great Britain as Count of Spiegelberg
  • King of Great Britain as Count of Diepholz
  • Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
  • Elector of Brandenburg as Count of Tecklenburg
  • Duke of Arenberg as Count of Schleiden
  • Duke of Arenberg as Lord of Kerpen
  • Duke of Arenberg as Count of Saffenburg
  • Prince of Wied-Runkel as Count of Wied
  • Prince of Wied-Neuwied as Chairman of the Council
  • Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Count of Lippe-Bückeburg as Count of Schaumburg
  • Counts of Lippe
  • Counts of Bentheim
  • Princes and Counts of Löwenstein as Counts of Virneburg
  • Prince of Kaunitz as Lord of Rietberg
  • Prince of Waldeck as Count of Pyrmont
  • Count of Törring as Count of Gronsfeld
  • Count of Aspremont as Count of Reckheim
  • Princes of Salm as Lords of Anholt
  • Count of Metternich as Lord of Winnenburg
  • Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumberg as Count of Holzapfel
  • Counts of Plettenberg as Lords of Witthem
  • Counts of Limburg-Stirum as Lords of Gehmen
  • Count of Wallmoden as Lord of Gimborn
  • Count of Quadt as Lord of Wyckradt
  • Counts of Ostein as Lords of Mylendonk
  • Counts of Nesselrode as Lords of Reichenstein
  • Counts of Salm-Reifferscheidt as Lords of Dyck
  • Counts of Platen [personaliter]
  • Counts of Sinzendorf as Lords of Rhieneck
  • Prince of Ligne as Count of Fagnolles

Those who are shown as [personaliter] were personal, not hereditary, members of their Council. Note also that these are not by any means the only titled persons in the Empire. Nor are these the only people who held immediate or non-immediate fiefs, or the people who comprised any of the ten Imperial Circles. The people listed above are those who had a voice, however small, in the Imperial decision-making process. By the time of the 1792 Diet, the Empire’s western neighbor, France, had already sunk into revolution. France achieved some measure of stability under the Republic and the Directorate, and its armies, especially under the command of Bonaparte, won some major victories against the Empire, particularly at Marengo (14 June 1800). In the Treaty of Luneville (9 February 1801), the Empire lost some twenty-five thousand square miles of territory. The only way for the Emperor to compensate the dispossessed Princes was to sieze the remaining ecclesiastical territories.

An Imperial Delegation did so, and published on 25 February 1803 the famous Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, which reorganized the Empire and the Imperial Diet. The Diet ratified this decision on 24 March 1803, and the Emperor ratified it on 27 April 1803 except for the paragraph (Paragraph 32) which dealt specifically with the reorganization of the Diet. The Emperor’s objections were never overcome, thus the reorganization of the Diet based on the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss cannot be considered lawful, even though a tentative list of seats was drawn up. What little business transacted by the Diet between 1803 and its dissolution in 1806 was based on the list, part of which (the Council of Princes) was printed in Prince Arenberg’s dissertation (cited above) on pp. 61-64 and is given here, territory first with name of the dynasty in (parentheses):

  • Austria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Upper Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
  • Styria (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Magdeburg (Brandenburg)
  • Salzburg (Lorraine-Tuscany)
  • Lower Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
  • Regensburg (Elector of Mainz)
  • Sulzbach (Wittelsbach)
  • The Teutonic Knights
  • Neuburg (Wittelsbach)
  • Bamburg (Wittelsbach)
  • Bremen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Meissen (Wettin-Saxony)
  • Berg (Wittelsbach)
  • Würzburg (Wittelsbach)
  • Carinthia (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Eichstaedt (Lorraine-Tuscany)
  • Coburg (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
  • Bruchsal-Speier (Zähringen-Baden)
  • Gotha (Wettin-Saxe-Coburg)
  • Ettenheim-Strassburg (Zähringen-Baden)
  • Altenburg (Wettin-Saxe-Altenburg)
  • Constanz (Zähringen-Baden)
  • Weimar (Wettin-Saxe-Weimar)
  • Augsburg (Wittelsbach)
  • Eisenach (Wettin-Saxe-Eisenach)
  • Hildesheim (Brandenburg)
  • Ansbach (Brandenburg)
  • Paderborn (Brandenburg)
  • Bayreuth (Brandenburg)
  • Freising (Wittelsbach)
  • Wolfenbüttel (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbüttel)
  • Thuringia (Wettin-Saxony, Saxe-Weimar, and Saxe-Gotha)
  • Celle (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Passau (Wittelsbach)
  • Calenberg (Brunswick-Guelf-Calenberg)
  • Trent (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Grubenhagen (Brunswick-Guelf-Grubenhagen)
  • Brixen (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Halberstadt (Brandenburg)
  • Carniola (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Baden (Zähringen-Baden)
  • Teck (Württemberg)
  • Durlach (Zähringen-Baden-Durlach)
  • Osnabrück (Brunswick-Guelf-Lüneburg)
  • Verden (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Münster (Brandenburg)
  • Hochberg (Zähringen-Baden)
  • Lübeck (Oldenburg-Holstein)
  • Württemberg (Württemberg)
  • Hanau (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
  • Glückstadt (Oldenburg-Holstein-Glückstadt)
  • Fulda (Nassau-Orange)
  • Oldenburg-Gottorp (Oldenburg-Holstein-Gottorp)
  • Kempten (Wittelsbach)
  • Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
  • Ellwangen (Württemberg)
  • Güstrow (Mecklenburg-Güstrow)
  • The Knights of St. John
  • Darmstadt (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
  • Berchtesgaden (Lorraine-Tuscany)
  • Cassel (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
  • Westphalia (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
  • Pomerania (Sweden)
  • Plön (Oldenburg-Holstein)
  • Thither Pomerania (Brandenburg)
  • Breisgau (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Lauenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Corvey (Nassau-Orange)
  • Minden (Brandenburg)
  • The Burggraviate of Meissen (Wettin-Saxony)
  • Leuchtenberg (Wittelsbach)
  • Anhalt (Anhalt)
  • Henneberg (Wettin – all Saxon houses)
  • Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
  • Camin (Brandenburg)
  • Ratzeburg (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
  • Hersfeld (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
  • Tyrol (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Tübingen (Württemberg)
  • Querfurt (Wettin-Saxony)
  • Arenberg (Ligne-Arenberg)
  • Hechingen (Hohenzollern-Hechingen)
  • Fritzlar (Louvain-Hesse-Cassel)
  • Sternstein (Lobkowicz)
  • Salm (Salm)
  • Dietrichstein (Dietrichstein)
  • Hadamar (Nassau-Orange)
  • Zwiefalten (Württemberg)
  • Dillenburg (Nassau-Dietz)
  • Auersperg (Auersperg)
  • Starkenburg (Louvain-Hesse-Darmstadt)
  • East Frisia (Brandenburg)
  • Fürstenberg (Fürstenberg)
  • Schwarzenberg (Schwarzenberg)
  • Göttingen (Brunswick-Guelf-Hanover)
  • Mindelheim (Wittelsbach)
  • Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein)
  • Thurn und Taxis (Thurn und Taxis)
  • Schwarzburg (Schwarzburg)
  • Ortenau (Habsburg-Lorraine)
  • Aschaffenburg (Elector of Mainz)
  • Eichsfeld (Brandenburg)
  • Blankenburg (Brunswick-Guelf-Wolfenbüttel)
  • Stargard (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
  • Erfurt (Brandenburg)
  • Usingen (Nassau-Usingen)
  • Weilburg (Nassau-Weilburg)
  • Sigmaringen (Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen)
  • Kyrburg (Salm-Kyrburg)
  • Baar and Stuhlingen (Fürstenberg)
  • Klettgau (Schwarzenberg)
  • Buchau (Thurn und Taxis)
  • Waldeck (Waldeck)
  • Löwenstein-Wertheim (Löwenstein-Wertheim)
  • Oettingen-Spielberg (Oettingen-Spielberg)
  • Oettingen-Wallerstein (Oettingen-Wallerstein)
  • Solms-Braunfels (Solms-Braunfels)
  • Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (Hohenlohe-Neuenstein)
  • Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst)
  • Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein (Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein)
  • Isenburg-Birnstein (Isenburg-Birnstein)
  • Rittberg (Kaunitz)
  • Plauen-Greiz (Reuss-Plauen-Greiz)
  • Leiningen (Leiningen)
  • Edelstetten (Ligne)
  • Looz-Wolbeck (Looz-Corswarem)
  • The Council of the Counts of Suabia
  • The Council of the Counts of the Wetterau
  • The Council of the Counts of Franconia
  • The Council of the Counts of Westphalia

In all, 131 seats in the Council of Princes, after the proposed reorganization of the Diet, based on the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803. The Princes who would have benefited from this reorganization by finally gaining a seat in the Diet, such as Leiningen and Waldeck, started acting as though they had become sovereign (though still under the suzerainty of the Emperor), and have continued to be credited, in otherwise accurate references works, as having achieved sovereignty by virtue of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, even though the 1803 reorganization of the Diet cannot be considered lawful. Also in 1803 the number of secular Electors was almost doubled, from 5 (Bohemia, Palatinate, Electoral Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hanover) to 9 (with Baden, Hesse-Cassel, Württemberg, and Salzburg [later Würzburg, and held by the Grand Duke of Tuscany] added), while the Ecclesiastial Electors dropped from 3 (Mainz, Trier, and Cologne) to one (Mainz, the other two being secularized).

After Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804, the Holy Roman Emperor proclaimed himself Emperor of Austria on 11 August 1804, followed immediately by the Electors of Bavaria and Württemberg, who took advantage of the confusion and lack of Imperial control to proclaim themselves Kings, and started gobbling up smaller States, starting on 19 November 1805 when Württemberg annexed Fürstenberg. The formal end of the Empire was signalled on 13 January 1806 when the King of Sweden refused to send a representative to the Imperial Diet because of the violations of its constitution by its members. After his victory at Austerlitz (2 Dec 1805), Bonaparte tried to break up the Empire by driving a wedge between Brandenburg (the power in the north) and Austria (the power in the south), by offering to set up a federation of the German States under his protection. Those States which left the Empire and joined the federation could increase their territories at the expense of those States which did not. On 12 July 1806 the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine was signed, and the Confederation came into legal existance. The States which initially joined the Confederation, their dynasties and their date of joining were:

  • King of Bavaria Wittelsbach 12 July 1806
  • King of Württemberg Württemberg 12 July 1806
  • Grand Duke of Baden Zähringen 12 July 1806
  • Grand Duke of Frankfurt Dalberg 12 July 1806
  • Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg Murat 12 July 1806
  • Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Hesse 12 July 1806
  • Duke of Nassau-Usingen Nassau 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Nassau-Weilburg Nassau 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Hohenzollern 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen Hohenzollern 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Salm-Salm Salm 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Salm-Kyrburg Salm 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Isenburg-Birstein Isenburg 12 July 1806
  • Duke of Arenberg Ligne-Arenberg 12 July 1806
  • Prince of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 12 July 1806
  • Prince von der Leyen Leyen 12 July 1806

Note that many of these upgraded their title when they joined. Articles 13-25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine described in detail the territorial exchanges between the States which joined the Confederation, and annexations by the member States of the territories of the Princes and Counts who did not join. The Princes and Counts whose territories were annexed, and who were thus mediatized on 12 July 1806, under the terms of Articles 13-25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, were:

  • Prince of Auersperg
  • Duke of Croy-Solre
  • Prince of Dietrichstein
  • Prince of Esterhazy
  • Prince of Fürstenberg
  • Princes/Counts of Fugger
  • Princes of Hohenlohe (7 branches in all)
  • Prince/Count of Leiningen
  • Prince of Lobkowicz
  • Princes/Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim
  • Duke of Looz-Corswarem
  • Prince of Metternich
  • Prince of Nassau-Orange (Dillenburg, Siegen, etc.)
  • Princes of Oettingen
  • Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt
  • Prince of Sinzendorf
  • Princes/Counts of Solms
  • Prince of Thurn und Taxis
  • Princes/Counts of Truchsess-Waldburg
  • Prince of Wied
  • Count of Aspremont
  • Count of Bassenheim
  • Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt
  • Count of Castell
  • Count of Erbach
  • Count of Hatzfeld
  • Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg
  • Counts of Isenburg
  • Count of Könegsegg-Aulendorf
  • Count of Limburg
  • Count of Nostitz
  • Count of Ostein
  • Count of Plettenberg
  • Count of Quadt
  • Count of Rechteren-Limpurg
  • Count of Salm-Horstmar
  • Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein
  • Count of Schaesberg
  • Count of Schönborn
  • Count of Stadion
  • Count of Sternberg
  • Count of Törring
  • Count of Traun
  • Count of Wallmoden
  • Count of Wartenberg
  • Baron of Bömelburg
  • Baron of Riedesel
  • Baron of Wendt
  • Prince of Anhalt as Count of Holzapfel
  • Prince of Stolberg-Gedern as Count of Königstein
  • The Knights of the Empire in Franconia
  • The Knights of the Empire in Suabia
  • The Knights of the Empire in Westphalia

It should be noted that these were the Princes and Counts who had immediate fiefs which were mediatized by the annexations described in Articles 13-25 of the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine. Some of these Princes and Counts had a seat and a vote in the Council of Princes (before or after the 1803 reorganization of the Imperial Diet), and some of these Princes and Counts had a seat and a vote in one of the Councils of the Counts of the Empire, and some of them had neither seats nor votes. Mediatization of a fief refers only to the degrading of the immediacy of that fief, and does not imply anything else about the holder of the fief. Note also that mediatization under the Confederation of the Rhine is slightly different from mediatization under the Empire, because of the levels of feudal alliance involved. On 1 August 1806, ten States (Bavaria, Württemberg, the Arch-Chancellor, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Salm-Salm, Salm-Kyrburg, and Isenburg) presented a note to the Imperial Diet stating that they were seceeding from the Empire and the Diet. Two weeks later Arenberg, von der Leyen, Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg were added to the note, but by then the Emperor had abdicated and the Empire dissolved (6 August 1806).

The Other States that joined the Confederation:

  • Grand Duke of Würzburg Lorraine-Tuscany 25 Sept 1806
  • King of Saxony Wettin 11 Dec 1806
  • Duke of Saxe-Weimar Wettin 15 Dec 1806
  • Duke of Saxe-Gotha Wettin 15 Dec 1806
  • Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Wettin 15 Dec 1806
  • Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen Wettin 15 Dec 1806
  • Duke of Saxe-Coburg Wettin 15 Dec 1806
  • Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg 18 Apr 1807
  • Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
  • Duke of Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
  • Duke of Anhalt-Köthen Anhalt 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Lippe-Detmold Lippe 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe Lippe 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Waldeck Waldeck 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Reuss-Greiz Reuss 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Reuss-Schleiz Reuss 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Reuss-Lobenstein Reuss 18 Apr 1807
  • Prince of Reuss-Ebersdorf Reuss 18 Apr 1807
  • King of Westphalia Bonaparte 7 Dec 1807
  • Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Mecklenburg 18 Feb 1808
  • Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg 22 Mar 1808
  • Duke of Oldenburg Oldenburg 14 Oct 1808
  • Grand Duke of Cleves and Berg Bonaparte (Murat had abdicated on 1 Aug 1808) 3 March 1809

The details of the activities of the Confederation of the Rhine can fill several books and need not concern us here, except that Napoleon’s military demands constantly increased. Napoleon at least maintained the appearance of legality in his dealings with the States of the Confederation, until 13 December 1810 when he, without pretext, incorporated the Duchy of Oldenburg, the Duchy of Arenberg, the Principalities of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg, and large parts of the Grand Duchy of Cleves and Berg, of the former Electorate of Hanover, and of the Kingdom of Westphalia, into France. This followed his swallowing of Holland (9 July 1810). The 13 December 1810 action was later cited by Alexander I of Russia (brother-in-law of the Duke of Oldenburg) as one of the reasons why he (Alexander I) joined the Great Coalition against Napoleon. The Confederation started unravelling after the Treaty of Kalisch (28 February 1813), which provided that the Confederation should be dissolved after an Allied victory. The Mecklenburg Dukes promptly quit the Confederation and joined the Allies, followed by the Anhalt Dukes and most of the rest. Among the last to leave were the Princes of Hohenzollern on 24 November 1813, leaving behind the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Prince von der Leyen, and the Prince of Isenburg, but by then the Confederation of the Rhine was effectively dead.

File: CongressVienna.jpg

The Congress of Vienna was charged with bringing some sort of order to Europe after the fall and exile of Napoleon. Again the details of the negotiations need not concern us, but one result was the German Federal Act [Deutschen Bundesakte] of 8 June 1815, which dealt with the Mediatized houses in Article 14. In this, the Mediatized Houses were counted among the highest nobility with the right of equality with the reigning houses [Ebenbürtigkeit], the Heads of the Mediatized Houses were the first vassals [Standesherren] of those States in which their former territories were located, they were exempt from military service, given civil and penal jurisdiction at the lowest level, etc., but always within the framework of the laws of the new State and under the supervision of the government of the new State. Many of the Mediatized Houses protested violently against the terms of this Article, but they were powerless to prevent it. At no point, though, did the Congress of Vienna decide exactly which Houses had been mediatized, and thus deserving of these higher privileges, leaving that up to the discretion of the individual States. The astute reader may have noticed that the lists of those Houses which had a seat and vote in the Council of Princes of the Imperial Diet both before and after the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, and the lists of those Houses which either joined the Confederation of the Rhine, or whose territories were mediatized by the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, bear little or no relation to the list of families we usually refer to as “Mediatized”. There’s an explanation for this, though perhaps not a reason. After the Congress of Vienna, Europe settled down. The sovereign States in the area which used to be the Holy Roman Empire were the States that are familiar to us:

  • Empire of Austria
  • Kingdom of Bavaria
  • Kingdom of Hanover
  • Kingdom of Prussia
  • Kingdom of Saxony
  • Kingdom of Württemberg
  • Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau
  • Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg
  • Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen
  • Grand Duchy of Baden
  • Duchy of Brunswick
  • Electorate of Hesse
  • Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine
  • Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
  • Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
  • Principality of Liechtenstein
  • Principality of Lippe-Detmold
  • Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
  • Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
  • Principality of Nassau-Usingen
  • Principality of Nassau-Weilburg
  • Grand Duchy of Oldenburg
  • Principality of Reuss-Greiz
  • Principality of Reuss-Schleiz
  • Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein
  • Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf
  • Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
  • Duchy of Saxe-Gotha
  • Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen
  • Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen (later Saxe-Altenburg)
  • Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg
  • Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe
  • Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
  • Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
  • Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont

Several of these States acknowledged various Standesherren among the nobility in their country, under the terms of Article 14 of the Deutsches Bundesakte, and on 18 August 1825, the German Diet recognized the predicate of “Most Serene Highness” [Durchlaucht] for the Heads of the princely Houses that were recognized as Standesherren, and later on 13 February 1829 the Diet recognized the predicate of “Most Illustrious Highness” [Erlaucht] for the Heads of the countly Houses that were recognized as Standesherren. Note that the Standesherren were the highest nobility in their countries, and that these predicates of “Durchlaucht” and “Erlaucht” denoted nothing more than social status within and among these countries. The Almanach de Gotha, an annual publication, which up until the 1835 edition had divided its genealogical pages into two Parts, Part I showing the Sovereign houses and Part II showing the non-sovereign Princely houses, added a Part III starting in its 1836 issue. This Part III, “Maisons Princieres et Comtales”, listed those Princes and Counts who had been recognized as Standesherren, with the predicates of “Durchlaucht” and “Erlaucht”, and the States in which the Standesherren had been recognized:

The Princes (“Durchlaucht” as of 18 August 1825)

  • Arenberg (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
  • Auersperg (Austria)
  • Bentheim-Bentheim (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
  • Bentheim-Steinfurt (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
  • Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
  • Colloredo-Mannsfeld (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Croy-Dulmen (Austria, Prussia)
  • Dietrichstein (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Esterhazy v Galantha (Austria, Bavaria)
  • Fürstenberg (Austria, Württemberg, Baden, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen)
  • Fugger-Babenhausen (Austria, Bavaria)
  • Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Hohenlohe-Oehringen (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Hohenlohe-Kirchberg (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein-Jagstberg (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Isenburg-Birstein (Austria, Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Kaunitz-Rietberg (Austria, Prussia)
  • Khevenhuller-Metsch (Austria)
  • Leiningen (Austria, Bavaria, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Leyen (Austria, Baden)
  • Lobkowicz (Austria)
  • Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden)
  • Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (Austria, Bavaria,

* Württemberg, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse)

  • Looz-Corswarem (Austria, Prussia, Hanover)
  • Metternich (Austria)
  • Oettingen-Spielberg (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Oettingen-Wallerstein (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Rosenberg (Austria)
  • Salm-Salm (Austria, Prussia)
  • Salm-Kyrburg (Austria, Prussia)
  • Salm-Horstmar (Austria, Prussia)
  • Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim (Austria, Baden)
  • Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz (Austria)
  • Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Austria, Prussia)
  • Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (Austria, Prussia, Württemberg)
  • Schönburg-Waldenburg (Austria, Kingdom of Saxony)
  • Schönburg-Hartenstein (Austria, Kingdom of Saxony)
  • Schwarzenberg (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Solms-Braunfels (Austria, Prussia, Württemberg, Grand Duchy od Hesse)
  • Solms-Lich (Austria, Prussia, Württemberg, Grand Duchy od Hesse)
  • Starhemberg (Austria)
  • Thurn und Taxis (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen)
  • Trauttmansdorff (Austria)
  • Waldburg-Wolfegg-Waldsee (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (Austria, Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Wied (Austria, Prussia, Nassau)
  • Windisch-Graetz (Austria, Württemberg)

The Counts (“Erlaucht” as of 13 February 1829)

  • Castell-Remlingen (Bavaria)
  • Castell-Rudenhausen (Bavaria)
  • Erbach-Erbach (Bavaria, Württemberg, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Erbach-Wartenberg-Roth (Bavaria, Württemberg, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Fugger-Kirchberg-Weissenhorn (Württemberg)
  • Fugger-Glött (Bavaria)
  • Fugger-Kirchheim (Bavaria)
  • Fugger-Nordendorf (Bavaria, Württemberg)
  • Giech (Bavaria)
  • Görtz, Schlitz gennant von (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Harrach (Austria)
  • Isenburg-Philippseich (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Isenburg-Büdingen (Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Isenburg-Büdingen-Meerholz (Württemberg, Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Königsegg-Aulendorf (Württemberg)
  • Kuefstein (Austria)
  • Leiningen-Billigheim (Baden)
  • Leiningen-Neudenau (Baden)
  • Leiningen-Alt-Westerburg (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Leiningen-Neu-Westerburg (Nassau)
  • Neipperg (Württemberg)
  • Ortenburg (Bavaria)
  • Pappenheim (Bavaria)
  • Platen-Hallermund (Hanover)
  • Plettenberg-Mietingen (Württemberg)
  • Pückler-Limpurg (Württemberg)
  • Quadt-Isny (Württemberg)
  • Rechberg (Württemberg)
  • Rechteren-Limpurg (Bavaria)
  • Schaesberg-Thannheim (Württemberg)
  • Schönborn-Wiesentheid (Bavaria)
  • Schönborn-Buchheim (Austria, Bavaria)
  • Schönburg-Hinterglauchau (Kingdom of Saxony)
  • Schönburg-Rochsburg (Kingdom of Saxony)
  • Schönburg-Wechselburg (Kingdom of Saxony)
  • Solms-Laubach (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Solms-Rödelheim (Electoral Hesse, Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Solms-Wildenfels (Grand Duchy of Hesse)
  • Stadion (Austria, Württemberg)
  • Stadion-Thannhausen (Bavaria)
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Privacy and Cookie Policy Last updated: 11 August 2026

Neue Gotha respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently. This Privacy and Cookie Policy explains who is responsible for personal data, what information we process, why we process it, how long we retain it, who may receive it, and the rights available to individuals under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and applicable national data-protection and electronic-communications law.

1. Who is responsible for your personal data?

The controller responsible for the processing described in this policy is:

  • Legal name: Neue Gotha Historical Register gUG
  • Trading or project name: Neue Gotha
  • Postal address: Musterstraße 12, 10115 Berlin, Germany
  • Email: editor@neuegotha.de
  • EU/EEA representative: Not applicable (the controller is established in Germany).
  • Data Protection Officer: No Data Protection Officer has been appointed. Privacy enquiries are handled through editor@neuegotha.de.

Questions about this policy or requests concerning personal data may be sent to the email or postal address above.

2. Scope of this policy

This policy applies to personal data processed through https://neuegotha.com, correspondence with the Neue Gotha editorial office, material submitted for editorial consideration, and editorial or archival records concerning identifiable living individuals.

It does not govern independent third-party websites or services linked from this website. Those providers are responsible for their own privacy practices.

3. Personal data we process and why

Processing activity Personal data Purpose Legal basis Retention
Website delivery, logging, and security IP address; date and time of access; requested page or file; referring page; browser, operating-system, and device information; error and security-event data Deliver the website, maintain availability, diagnose faults, prevent abuse, and protect the website and its users Article 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interests in operating a secure and reliable website. Where processing is required by law, Article 6(1)(c) GDPR may also apply. Routine access and error logs are retained for 14 days. Records isolated for investigation of a suspected security incident may be retained for up to 90 days after the incident is resolved, or longer where required for legal claims.
Editorial correspondence and enquiries Name, contact details, message content, correspondence history, and any documents or other information voluntarily provided Respond to enquiries, assess corrections or submissions, maintain editorial records, and protect legal rights Article 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interests in conducting editorial work and responding to correspondence; Article 6(1)(b) GDPR where processing is necessary to take steps at an individual’s request before entering into a contract; Article 6(1)(c) GDPR where retention or disclosure is legally required Correspondence is ordinarily retained for 24 months after the matter closes. Material required to document an editorial decision, resolve a dispute, meet a legal obligation, or establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim may be retained for the applicable limitation period.
Editorial, genealogical, and archival records Names; titles and styles; dates and places associated with public or genealogical events; family relationships; jurisdictions, offices, and public roles; images; biographical information; source and citation information; and correspondence relating to accuracy or provenance Research, document, preserve, verify, correct, and publish material concerning dynastic, genealogical, heraldic, and institutional history Article 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interests and those of readers, researchers, and institutions in maintaining an accurate historical and genealogical reference work, subject to a documented necessity and balancing assessment. Applicable national rules implementing Article 85 GDPR concerning freedom of expression and information may also apply. For as long as the information remains relevant to the legitimate editorial or archival purpose, subject to accuracy review, correction, restriction, erasure, and applicable archiving or legal requirements
Cookie-consent and language preferences Consent choice, language preference, cookie identifiers, and related technical information Remember privacy choices, demonstrate consent where required, and provide the language selected by the visitor Article 6(1)(f) GDPR for strictly necessary preference and consent-management functions; Article 6(1)(a) GDPR for optional storage, access, or associated processing based on consent As stated in the cookie table below
Optional external services IP address, page URL, device and browser information, language choice, and service-interaction data, depending on the provider Provide optional translation, embedded content, analytics, or similar features actually enabled on the website Article 6(1)(a) GDPR — consent. Non-essential services remain disabled until consent is given. As described for each service and by the relevant provider

We do not use personal data for solely automated decisions that produce legal effects or similarly significant effects concerning individuals.

4. Editorial and archival information obtained from other sources

Neue Gotha is an editorial and historical reference project. Some information in the register may concern identifiable living individuals and may not have been collected directly from those individuals.

Depending on the record, information may be obtained from official gazettes and public registers; archives and libraries; published books and scholarly works; institutional publications; reputable news sources; publicly accessible websites; submissions from the individual concerned or their authorised representative; family representatives; and other documented sources.

The categories of information may include the categories listed under “Editorial, genealogical, and archival records” above. The material may be made available to website visitors and may be indexed by search engines. Neue Gotha seeks to use relevant, proportionate, and appropriately sourced information and to distinguish documented fact from uncertainty or editorial interpretation.

Individuals may contact the editorial office to request access, correction, contextualisation, restriction, or erasure. Requests are assessed under the GDPR and applicable national law, taking into account accuracy, source integrity, the public interest, freedom of expression and information, archival considerations, and the rights and freedoms of other people. No provision of this policy removes a right granted by applicable law.

Neue Gotha does not intentionally publish special-category personal data or information concerning criminal convictions about living individuals unless a specific lawful basis and any additional legal condition have been identified and documented.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on, or read from, a visitor’s device. Similar technologies may perform comparable functions. Some are strictly necessary for a website or a service expressly requested by the visitor. Others, including many analytics, advertising, social-media, translation, or embedded-content technologies, require prior consent under applicable EU electronic-communications rules.

Neue Gotha does not place or access non-essential cookies, or activate non-essential external services, before valid consent has been given. Visitors may accept or reject optional purposes separately and may withdraw consent at any time by selecting the permanently available “Cookie settings” control. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before withdrawal. Strictly necessary technologies cannot be disabled through the consent tool, but they may be controlled through browser settings where technically possible.

The following table reflects the technologies currently deployed on the website. It is updated whenever a plugin, host, analytics tool, embedded service, or cookie configuration changes.

Name Provider Purpose Category Duration Third-party access
_scc_session Neue Gotha / managed hosting and site-control provider Maintains a short-lived session for website security and site-control functions Strictly necessary Browser session The contracted hosting or site-control provider may access the identifier when providing technical support
_tccl_visit Neue Gotha / managed website-analytics provider Distinguishes a single website visit and reduces duplicate counting within the same session Analytics — disabled until consent 30 minutes Yes; the contracted analytics provider processes the identifier on Neue Gotha’s behalf
_tccl_visitor Neue Gotha / managed website-analytics provider Assigns a pseudonymous visitor identifier used to produce aggregated website-usage statistics Analytics — disabled until consent 12 months Yes; the contracted analytics provider processes the identifier on Neue Gotha’s behalf
googtrans Neue Gotha / Google Translate Stores or applies the visitor’s language selection for the translation feature Functional — disabled until consent 12 months Google may receive technical and service-interaction data when Google Translate is activated
ng_gt_default_applied Neue Gotha / website translation plugin Records whether the website’s default translation setting has been applied Functional — disabled until consent 24 hours No direct vendor access is assumed; Google may receive data if activation causes Google Translate to load
eu_cookies_bar_consent Neue Gotha / locally hosted EU Cookies Bar plugin Stores the visitor’s cookie choices and prevents the banner from being shown unnecessarily Strictly necessary 6 months No, provided the consent plugin remains locally hosted and does not transmit consent records to its developer
wordpress_test_cookie Neue Gotha / WordPress Checks whether the browser supports cookies when an authorised user visits the sign-in page Strictly necessary Browser session No; the cookie is processed by Neue Gotha and its contracted host

Authorised editorial users may receive WordPress authentication, security, or preference cookies when they sign in. wordpress_logged_in_[hash] maintains an authenticated session for up to two weeks when “Remember Me” is selected; wordpress_sec_[hash] protects administrative access for the session; and wp-settings-[user_id] stores an editor’s interface preferences for up to one year. These internal cookies are processed solely for editorial access and site administration.

6. Google Translate, web fonts, and other external content

Where enabled with the visitor’s consent, Neue Gotha may use Google Translate to provide machine-generated translations. Activating the service may cause the visitor’s browser to connect to Google and disclose technical information such as the IP address, requested page URL, browser or device information, and language or service-interaction data. Machine translations may contain errors and do not replace the original editorial text.

Website fonts are hosted locally by Neue Gotha and do not require a connection to Google. Google Translate remains an optional external service that is activated only after the visitor provides consent.

Information about Google’s processing is available in the Google Privacy Policy and Google’s explanation of how it uses information from sites and applications that use its services.

Embedded material from another website may allow that provider to process personal data as if the visitor had visited the provider directly. Non-essential embeds remain blocked until consent is obtained. Each enabled provider is identified in this policy and in the consent interface.

7. Recipients of personal data

Personal data may be disclosed only where necessary to:

  • hosting, content-delivery, backup, website-maintenance, email, security, and consent-management providers acting under contract;
  • translation, analytics, media, or other external-service providers selected by the visitor through the consent interface;
  • professional advisers, insurers, auditors, or other specialists where necessary to protect legal or operational interests;
  • courts, regulators, law-enforcement bodies, or public authorities where disclosure is required or permitted by law; and
  • the public and search engines where personal data form part of a lawfully published editorial or archival record.

8. International data transfers

Some service providers may process personal data outside the European Economic Area. Where the GDPR restricts such a transfer, Neue Gotha relies on an applicable European Commission adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards under Article 46 GDPR, such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, together with supplementary measures where required.

Cloudflare and Google may transfer limited technical information to recipients in the United States. Where the recipient is validly certified, the transfer is based on the European Commission’s adequacy decision for the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. Where that mechanism is unavailable or does not cover a transfer, the relevant provider’s European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses and supplementary technical and organisational measures are used. Information about the applicable safeguards, including how to obtain a copy, may be requested from editor@neuegotha.de.

9. How long we retain personal data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including security, editorial integrity, source verification, dispute resolution, and compliance with legal obligations. The specific periods or criteria are stated in the processing and cookie tables above.

When a retention period ends, information is deleted or anonymised unless continued retention is required by law, is necessary for legal claims, or is justified by a documented editorial or archival purpose. Encrypted rolling backups are retained for 35 days and are then overwritten automatically, unless a backup has been isolated for incident recovery or a legal hold.

10. Security

Neue Gotha uses appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. No method of internet transmission or electronic storage is completely secure, and absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

11. Your data-protection rights

Subject to the conditions and limitations in the GDPR and applicable national law, an individual may have the right to:

  • obtain confirmation as to whether personal data concerning them are processed and request access to those data;
  • request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
  • request erasure of personal data;
  • request restriction of processing;
  • object, on grounds relating to their particular situation, to processing based on legitimate interests;
  • receive personal data they provided in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and transmit those data to another controller where the right to portability applies;
  • withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal; and
  • lodge a complaint with a competent data-protection supervisory authority.

To exercise a right, contact editor@neuegotha.de. Please identify the information or record concerned and the nature of the request. We may request information reasonably necessary to verify identity and protect personal data from unauthorised disclosure. Requests are normally answered within one month, subject to any extension permitted by law.

Where a request concerns published editorial or archival content, applicable rights may be limited where necessary and proportionate to reconcile data protection with freedom of expression and information or other rights recognised by law. Each request will be assessed individually.

12. Complaints

We encourage individuals to contact us first so that we can try to resolve a concern. Individuals also have the right to complain to the supervisory authority in the EU or EEA country of their habitual residence, place of work, or the place of the alleged infringement.

For this Berlin-based controller the supervisory authority is the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Alt-Moabit 59–61, 10555 Berlin, Germany; telephone +49 30 13889-0; email mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de; website https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/.

13. Children

The website is intended as a general historical and reference resource and is not directed specifically at children. We do not knowingly request personal data directly from children for an online service requiring parental consent. If you believe a child has provided personal data inappropriately, please contact us.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our processing activities, service providers, technologies, or legal obligations change. The current version will be published on this page with a revised “Last updated” date. Where required, we will provide additional notice or request renewed consent before introducing a new processing purpose.

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