Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was one of several imperial counties and later principalities ruled by the House of

Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein was a county of medieval Germany, located in the Sauerland of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. History Sayn-Wittgenstein was created when Count Salentin of Sayn-Homburg (1314-1392), a member of the House of Sponheim, married ...

. Most of the former county is located in the present district of

Siegen-Wittgenstein Siegen-Wittgenstein is a Kreis (district) in the southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Olpe (district), Olpe, Hochsauerlandkreis, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill, Westerwaldkreis, and Altenkirche ...

(in the modern state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

), Germany. The residence was the town and palace in Berleburg (now

Bad Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

History

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was a partition of

in the 16th century; the southern and more-developed portion was the County of

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein was a county of the Sauerland of Germany. Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein was a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein, comprising the southern portion of the Wittgenstein County. In 1657, it was partitioned into Sayn-Wittge ...

with its seat Laaspe (now

Bad Laasphe Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of Wittgenstein Castle (de) (nowadays a boarding ...

) and its residence Wittgenstein Castle, whereas Berleburg is tucked away in a very rural landscape in the midst of vast forests. Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was raised from a county with

Imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

to an immediate principality (''Reichsfürstentum'') in 1792, and was mediatised to the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

in 1806 before being annexed to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1816.

Counts and reigning princes

Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1607–1792)

* Georg V (1565–1631, ruled 1607–1631) * Ludwig Casimir (1598–1643, ruled 1631–1643) * Georg Wilhelm (1636–1684, ruled 1643–1684) * Ludwig Franz (1660–1694, ruled 1684–1694) * Casimir (1687–1741, ruled 1694–1741) * Ludwig Ferdinand (1712–1773, ruled 1741–1773) * Christian Heinrich (1753–1800, ruled as ''

Graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

'' 1773–1792)

Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (since 1792)Burkardt & Lückel

* Christian Heinrich, 1st Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1753–1800, ruled as ''

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German language, German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. ' were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ...

'' 1792–1800) * Albrecht, 2nd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1777–1851, ruled 1800–1806) * Albrecht, 3rd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1834–1904) *

Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (, 27 May 1882 – 25 April 1925) was Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg from 1904 to 1918. Life Prince Richard was born on 27 May 1882 at Berleburg, Germany, to Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgen ...

(27 May 1882 – 25 April 1925) *

Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Gustav Albrecht Alfred Franz Friedrich Otto Emil Ernst; 28 February 1907 – 1944) was prince and head of the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein. He was the son of Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-W ...

(28 February 1907 – 1944, declared dead 29 November 1969) *

Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Richard Casimir Karl August Robert Konstantin; 29 October 1934 – 13 March 2017) was the head of the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and husband of Princess Benedikte of Denmark. Early lif ...

(29 October 1934 – 13 March 2017) * Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 12 January 1969)

Line of succession

Five branches of the House of

Sayn Sayn was a small Germany, German county of the Holy Roman Empire which, during the Middle Ages, existed within what is today Rhineland-Palatinate, Rheinland-Pfalz. There have been two Counties of Sayn. The first emerged in 1139 and became closel ...

were extant by the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, each having inherited its own

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

while the family enjoyed

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

.''Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser'' Band XIX. "Sayn-Wittgenstein". C.A. Starke Verlag, 2011, pp.314-338. German. .

Almanach de Gotha The ''Almanach de Gotha'' () is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published in 1763 by C. W. Ettinger in ...

''Sayn und Wittgenstein''.

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749 – 2 May 1816) was a Germans, German publisher and founder of Justus Perthes (publishing company), the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian town of Rudolstadt, t ...

, 1944, pp.284-291. French. In order of seniority of legitimate descent from their progenitor, Ludwig I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1532-1605), they were the: #Princes (''

en'') zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg (1565-1631) #Counts (''Grafen'') zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Karlsburg Sayn-Wittgenstein-Karlsburg was a cadet branch of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, created by in 1694 Graf Casimir (ruled 1693–1741) for his younger brother Count Karl Wilhelm (1694–1749). In 1806, the county was mediatised by the Grand Duchy of ...

, descended from Count Karl Wilhelm (1693-1749) #Princes (''Fürsten'') zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the C ...

, descended from Count Christian Ludwig (1725-1797) #Counts (''Grafen'') zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, descended from Count Georg Ernst (1735-1792) #Princes (''Fürsten'') zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was a county and later principality between Hesse-Darmstadt and Westphalia. History The county with imperial immediacy was formed by the 1657 partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein and raised from a county t ...

, descended from Count Ludwig (1571-1634) Some of these lines further splintered into

cadet branch A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

es, both

dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

and non-dynastic, the latter including families whose right to the princely title was recognized by the Russian,

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

or Bavarian monarchies, whereas other

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

branches used lesser titles in Germany. On the death of Ludwig, 3rd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein in 1912, the eldest of his three sons, Hereditary Prince August (1868-1947), became 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein and head of the third branch of the House of Sayn. Being a childless bachelor, the elder of whose two younger brothers, Georg (1873-1960), had married morganatically, while the younger, Wilhelm (1877-1958), was 49 and yet unmarried, August preserved the name and heritage of his branch of the House of Sayn by adopting Prince Christian Heinrich (1908-1953) of the Berleburg line. He was the second son of the late head of the entire House of Sayn,

(1882-1925), whose eldest son

(1907-1944), had inherited the senior line's fortune and position. In November 1960, Christian Heinrich, being the divorced father of three daughters by his dynastic marriage to Countess Beatrix von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1921-2006), married Princess Dagmar zu

(1919-2002), elder daughter of his adopted father's younger brother, Georg, who died seven months before the wedding. As Georg's children by his morganatic wife, Marie Rühm, (created Baroness von Freusburg by the reigning

Prince of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It originated as a state during the Holy Roman Empire, an ...

in 1916) had been de-morganatized by declaration of their uncle August on 11 February 1947, her marriage to Christian Heinrich was deemed a dynastic match, ensuring that their son Bernhart would be born in compliance with the

house law House laws () are rules that govern a royal family or dynasty in matters of eligibility for succession to a throne, membership in a dynasty, exercise of a regency, or entitlement to dynastic rank, titles and styles. Prevalent in European mo ...

s of his adoptive ancestors, the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohensteins, while also being a grandson of the last dynastic male of that family, Prince Georg.

Members

Royal Wedding Stockholm 2010-Konserthuset-418

* ''

(1882-1925)'' ** ''

(1907-missing 1944, declared dead 1969)'' *** ''

(1934-2017)'' **** Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1969) ***** (1) Prince Gustav Albrecht of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2023) ***** Princess Mafalda of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2024) **** Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1970), married twice and has issue **** Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1975), divorced and has issue *** Princess Madeleine of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1936), married Otto, 10th Count of

Solms-Laubach Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The House of Solms had its origins in Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Laubach was originally created as a partition of Solms-Lich. In 1537 Philip, Count of S ...

(1926–1973) and has issue *** (2) Prince Robin of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1938) **** (3) Prince Sebastian of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1971) ***** (4) Prince Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2004) ***** Princess Stella of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2006) ***** (5) Prince Philipp of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2011) **** Princess Natascha of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1973), married and has issue **** Princess Marie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1980), married and has issue *** Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1940), married

Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse (legally ''Moritz Friedrich Karl Emanuel Humbert Prinz und Landgraf von Hessen''; 6 August 1926 – 23 May 2013) was the son of Prince Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, and the head of the House of Brabant and the Germa ...

(1926–2013) and has issue *** Princess Pia of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1942) ** ''Christian-Heinrich, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1908-1983)'' *** Princess Loretta of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (born 1946), married twice and has issue *** Princess Johanna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (born 1948), married thrice and has issue *** ''Hereditary Prince Albrecht of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1950–1953)'' *** Princess Madeleine of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (born 1961), married twice and has issue *** (6) Bernhart, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (born 1962) **** (7) Wenzel, Hereditary Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (born 1997) ** '' Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1910-1943)'' *** Princess Marita of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1936–2000), married and had issue *** (8) Prince Otto Ludwig of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1938) **** (9) Prince Stanislaus of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1965) ***** (10) Prince Friedrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1996) ***** (11) Prince August of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1998) ***** Princess Caroline of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2002) ***** Princess Emilia of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2005) **** Princess Stefanie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1966), married and has issue **** Princess Marie-Louise "Lily" of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1972), married twice and has issue **** Princess Vanessa of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1978), married and has issue **** (12) Prince Maximilian-Alexander of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1980) ***** Princess Aurelia of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2018) *** (13) Prince Johann-Stanislaus of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1939) **** (14) Prince Otto-Ludwig of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1972) ***** (15) Prince Justus-Casimir of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2005) ***** (16) Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2007) ***** Princess Ann-Katrin of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2009) **** Princess Isabelle of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1974), married and has issue **** (17) Prince Constantin of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1978) ***** Princess Margareta of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2016) *** (18) Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1942) **** (19) Prince Carl Albrecht of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1976) ***** (20) Prince Salentin of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2014) ***** Princess Annabelle of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2016) **** Princess Anna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1978), married Prince Manuel of Bavaria and has issue **** (21) Prince August-Frederik of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1981) **** Princess Theodora of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1986) *** ''Princess Ulrike-Christine of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1944–2021)'', married and had issue

References

External links

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family website
(in German)

{{Authority control