Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (20 February 1785 – 11 March 1853) was the
reigning Prince of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 1831 to 1848.
In 1833, Karl summoned a
constitutional assembly (''
Landtag'') 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 (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, which developed ...
dom and various other
medieval laws.
During the
German revolutions of 1848–1849 Karl abdicated in favor of his son,
Karl Anton, on 27 August 1848.
His marriage as
hereditary 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 who was then
Grand Duke of Berg
Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.
The name of the county lives on in the modern ...
, constituted a union between extended family members of the previously warring French imperial and
Prussian 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.
He died on 11 March 1853 in
Bologna,
while traveling to
Rome.
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)
*
Karl Anton (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
{{Germany-noble-stub