Solms-Laubach was a County of southern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

and eastern

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The

House of Solms A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

See German article on the ''

'' or French article '' Maison de Solms. had its origins in Solms, Hesse.

History

Solms-Laubach was originally created as a partition of Solms-Lich. In 1537 Philip, Count of Solms-Lich, ruling count at

Lich In fantasy fiction, a lich (; from the Old English , meaning "corpse") is a type of undead creature. Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's " The Empire of the Necromancers" ( 1932), had used ''lich'' as a general ter ...

, purchased the '' Herrschaft'' Sonnewalde in

Lower Lusatia Lower Lusatia (; ; ; szl, Dolnŏ Łużyca; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the ...

which he left to his younger son Otto of Solms-Laubach (1496–1522), together with the county of Laubach. While Lich and Laubach were counties with

imperial immediacy Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular pr ...

, Sonnewalde remained a semi-independent

state country State country (german: Freie Standesherrschaft; cs, stavovské panství; pl, państwo stanowe) was a unit of administrative and territorial division in the Bohemian crown lands of Silesia and Upper Lusatia, existing from 15th to 18th centuries ...

within the

March of Lusatia The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast '' Marca Geronis'' ...

(the latter being an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire). A later Count Otto (1550–1612) moved to Sonnewalde and built the castle in 1582. In 1596 he also purchased the nearby Herrschaft of Baruth which was also elevated to a state country within the March of Lusatia. The branch then was divided into the twigs of Solms-Laubach, Solms-Sonnewalde and Solms-Baruth. Solms-Laubach partitioned between itself and Solms-Sonnenwalde in 1561; between itself, Solms-Baruth and Solms-Rödelheim 1607; and between itself and Solms-Sonnenwalde 1627. Solms-Laubach inherited Solms-Sonnenwalde in 1615. With the death of Count Charles Otto in 1676, it was inherited by Solms-Baruth and recreated as a partition in 1696. Solms-Laubach was mediatised to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806. The counts of Solms-Laubach still own Laubach Castle and

Arnsburg Abbey Arnsburg Abbey (German: Kloster Arnsburg) is a former Cistercian monastery near Lich in the Wetterau, Hesse, Germany. It was founded by monks from Eberbach Abbey in 1174. Although heavily damaged in the Thirty Years' War it was rebuilt later in th ...

. Until 1935, Münzenberg Castle also belonged to the estate. Laubach schloss ws ds 05 2008

Counts of Solms-Laubach

First creation: 1544–1676

* Frederick Magnus I (1544–61) * John George (1561–1600) * Albert Otto I (1600–10) * Albert Otto II (1610–56) * Charles Otto (1656–76)

Second creation: 1696–1806

* Frederick Ernest (1696–1723) * Christian Augustus (1723–84), ''with...'' ** Frederick Magnus II (1723–38) * Frederick Louis Christian (1784–1806)

Mediatized

* Friedrich Ludwig Christian, 5th Count 1806 (Mediatized)-1822 (1769-1822) ** Otto, 6th Count 1822-1872 (1799-1872) *** Friedrich, 7th Count 1872-1900 (1833-1900) **** Otto, 8th Count 1900-1904 (1860-1904) ***** Georg, 9th Count 1904-1969 (1899-1969) ****** Otto, 10th Count 1969-1973 (1926-1973) ******* Karl, 11th Count 1973–present (b.1963) ******** August, Hereditary Count of Solms-Laubach (b.1994) ******* Count Gustav (b.1965) ******** Count Oscar (b.2008) ******* Count Franz (b.1971) ***** '' Count Friedrich (1902-1991)'' ****** Count Ernst (b.1939) ******* Count Stefan (b.1976) **** ''Count Reinhard (1872-1937)'' ***** Count Hans (1927-2009) ****** Count Georg (b.1972) *** ''Count Ernst (1837-1908)'' **** ''Count Ernstotto (1890-1977)'' ***** Count Friedrich-Ernst (b.1940) ****** Count Moritz (b.1980) ****** Count Philipp (b.1985)

References

Literature

* Rudolph zu Solms-Laubach: ''Geschichte des Grafen- und Fürstenhauses Solms.'' Adelmann, Frankfurt am Main 1865 1676 disestablishments States and territories established in 1696 Middle Hesse 1544 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1696 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-hist-stub