Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (20 February 1785 – 11 March 1853) was the

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

ing Prince of

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen () was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the junior House of Hohenzollern#Swabian branch, Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 162 ...

from 1831 to 1848. In 1833, Karl summoned a

constitutional assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

(''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

'') and promulgated a constitutional charter as the law in his lands. He founded a hospital for his subjects, and had the ''Ständehaus'' built on the modern ''Leopoldsplatz'' in

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, ...

(today owned by the Hohenzollerische Landesbank). Karl also removed the burden of

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

dom and various other medieval laws. During the

German revolutions of 1848–1849 The German revolutions of 1848–1849 (), the opening phase of which was also called the March Revolution (), were initially part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many European countries. They were a series of loosely coordinated p ...

, Karl abdicated in favor of his son,

Karl Anton Karl Anton or Karel Anton (25 October 1898 12 April 1979) was a Bohemian-born German film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Biography He was born in Prague on 25 October 1898. His father, Wilhelm Anton (1861–1918) was a physician. ...

, on 27 August 1848.

Marriage

His marriage as

hereditary prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

at the imperial court in Paris on 4 February 1808 to Princess Antoinette Murat, a niece of Napoleon I's brother-in-law, the French Marshal

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also ; ; ; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the ...

who was then Grand Duke of Berg, constituted a union between extended family members of the previously warring French imperial and

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, ...

n royal dynasties following Napoleonic victories on the European continent. Following the death of his first wife on 19 January 1847, Karl married Princess Katharina (1817–1893), daughter of Karl III Albrecht, last reigning Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, and the widow since 1845 of Count Franz Erwin von Ingelheim, on 14 March 1848.

Death

He died on 11 March 1853 in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, while traveling to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Children

From his first marriage he had the following children:
Der Stammbaum seit 1800
'' from Schloss Sigmaringen website Retrieved 22 January 2010 * Karoline von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1810–1885) :∞ 1. 1839 Count Friedrich Franz Anton von Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1790–1847) :∞ 2. 1850 Johann Stäger von Waldburg (1822–1882) *

(1811–1885), Prince of Hohenzollern, Prussian minister :∞ 1834 Princess Josephine of Baden (1813–1900) * Amalie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1815–1841) :∞ 1835 Prince Eduard von Sachsen-Altenburg (1804–1852) * Friederike von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1820–1906) :∞ 1844 Marchese Gioacchino Napoleone Pepoli (1825–1881)

Ancestry

References

1785 births 1853 deaths Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen People from Sigmaringen Monarchs who abdicated {{Germany-noble-stub