The House of Homberg (also spelled ''Honberg'', historically '' Hochinberc, Hochenberg''; also Thierstein, ''Tierstein'') was a noble family of medieval Switzerland; they had the title of count from late 11th to early 16th century. They ruled over much of what is now northwestern Switzerland, including parts of the cantons of

Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

, Berne, Solothurn and Basel-Country. The first count of Thierstein (alternatively, of Homberg) was Rudolf de Dierstein, mentioned 1082. The two names are taken from two castles in Rudolf's possession, both located near Frick, Aargau. The Thierstein and Homberg lines separated in 1149. The Homberg line was extinct in 1223 with the death of Werner III and their territories were acquired by marriage Hermann IV of the House of Frohburg, whose line is also known as Frohburg-Homberg. Hermann's son Friedrich took the title of count of Homberg and built the castle Neu-Homberg in what is now part of the canton of Basel-Country. One of Friedrich's sons was Wernher von Homberg, one of the minnesingers featured in '' Codex Manesse''. The ancestral castles of Thierstein and Homberg were both destroyed in the earthquake of 1356, and the Thierstein branch of the family now renamed a castle of theirs near

Büsserach Büsserach is a municipality in the district of Thierstein in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Büsserach is first mentioned in 1194 as ''Buezherach''. Geography Büsserach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 42.4% is used f ...

(in what is now known as the

Thierstein District Thierstein District is one of the ten districts of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, situated to the north of the canton. Together with the Dorneck District, it forms the ''Amtei'' (electoral district) of Dorneck-Thierstein. It has a popula ...

of the canton of Solothurn) to Neu-Thierstein. In 1330, a branch of the Thierstein family, known as Thierstein-Farnsburg, built Farnsburg castle near Ormalingen. They were given

Sisgau Veltheim is a municipality in the district of Brugg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Geography Veltheim has an area, , of . Of this area, or 47.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.3% is forested. Of the rest of the lan ...

as a fief from the bishop of Basel. Count Oswald von Thierstein in 1479 received Hohkönigsburg in the Alsace as fief from emperor Frederick III. The Thierstein family was extinct in 1517, after which Hohkönigsburg fell back to the House of Habsburg.

Counts of Thierstein and Homberg

House of Thierstein

See also

References

Bibliography