The County of Königstein was an

imperially immediate 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 prin ...

territory of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

within the

Upper Rhenish Circle The Upper Rhenish Circle (german: Oberrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former Duchy of Upper Lorraine and large parts of Rhenish Franconia including the Swabi ...

House of Eppstein

On 6 August 1505 Maximilian I granted the titles of lords of Königstein, Eppstein and Munzenberg to the brothers Eberhard, George and Philip, all from the house of Eppstein. However, all three of them remained without male issue and so their sister Anna's son was made heir to all three of them - Anna had married Botho of Stolberg. After the imperial register of 1521, the counts of Königstein were to provide four cavalrymen and thirteen foot soldiers in case of war.

House of Stolberg

After Eberhard IV of Eppstein died on 25 May 1535, the county was inherited by his heir Louis of Stolberg, who had served as co-ruler with his uncle Eberhard as early as 1527. He introduced the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

to the county, reorganizing the church along the same lines as

Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Count Palatine Wolfgang of Zweibrücken (german: Pfalzgraf Wolfgang von Zweibrücken; 26 September 1526 – 11 June 1569) was member of the Wittelsbach family of the Counts Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken from 1532. With the support of his re ...

, although Marienschloss Abbey successfully held out against it. Louis died without male issue and so his brother Christoph of Stolberg inherited the county but he was its last lord, dying on 5 August 1581. After this

Daniel Brendel von Homburg Daniel Brendel of Homburg (german: Daniel Brendel von Homburg) (22 March 1522 – 22 March 1582) was the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1555 to 1582. Biography Daniel Brendel of Homburg was born in Aschaffenburg on March 22, 1522. The cathed ...

, Elector of Mainz, stated that his brother Albrecht Georg of Stolberg was considered the county as his fiefdom, as a proxy of

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–160 ...

and that

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

should act as imperial commissary for the lordship of Königstein. This promoted Königstein into an 'oberamt'. The

counts of Stolberg The County of Stolberg (german: Grafschaft Stolberg) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz mountain range in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg. The town of Stolberg was pro ...

complained to the

Reichskammergericht The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

over the issue and although it ceased to be a separately-ruled entity, it nominally existed until 1806 and the Act of Confederation, which abolished it and assigned it and

Gedern Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe. Neighboring towns Gedern ...

to the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) 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 ...

Bibliography

*Jörg Brückner: Zwischen Reichsstandschaft und Standesherrschaft (PDF-Datei; 3,89 MB). Die Grafen zu Stolberg und ihr Verhältnis zu den Landgrafen von Thüringen und späteren Herzögen, Kurfürsten bzw. Königen von Sachsen (1210 bis 1815), Dissertation TU Chemnitz 2003. *Karl Wolf: Die Besitzergreifung der Grafschaft Königstein durch Kurmainz i. J. 1581 und der Wetterauer Grafenverein, in: Jahrbuch des Vereins für nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung 74, 1963, S. 70 ff. *Beate Großmann-Hofmann, Hans-Curt Köster: Königstein im Taunus: Geschichte und Kunst; Königstein (Verlag Langewiesche), 2010;

External links

* http://www.kur-koenigstein.de/de/koenigstein-entdecken/geschichte-und-tradition/stadtgeschichte.html {{Authority control Königstein Upper Rhenish Circle Taunus 1505 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1806 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire

House of Eppstein

House of Stolberg

See also

Bibliography

External links