Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (sometimes called Sayn-Altenkirchen) was a German

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in what is now

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 ...

, near the river

Sieg The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length. The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From here th ...

. When Count William III of

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the ...

died in 1623 without clear heirs, the

Archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...

occupied the vacant County until the succession was settled. It was settled by treaty in 1648, when the County was given jointly to Princesses Ernestine and Johanette, two sisters who were granddaughters of Count William, and their mother Dowager Countess Louise Juliane made regent. But shortly after the treaty, the County was split between the two. Ernestine's portion was called Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg (or Sayn-Hachenburg for short), a title which descended through the female line and is now a title of the Grand Duke of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

. Johanette's was Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen. Their mother remained regent for both Counties until 1652, when Johanette and Ernestine separately ruled their respective Counties. Sayn-Altenkirchen was inherited by Duke Johann William of

Saxe-Eisenach Saxe-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Eisenach) was an Ernestine duchy ruled by the Saxon House of Wettin. The state intermittently existed at three different times in the Thuringian region of the Holy Roman Empire. The chief town and capital of all ...

— Johanette's son — and secondly by Duke William Henry of Saxe-Eisenach — Johanette's grandson. William Henry died childless and Sayn-Altenkirchen was inherited by Charles,

Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach (german: Fürstentum Ansbach or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margrav ...

, Johanette's great-grandson. The County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen ended when it was mediatised to

Nassau-Weilburg The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...

in 1803. Queen Caroline, wife of

George II of the United Kingdom , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...

, was co-heiress to this County, but she never inherited it and her grandson

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

was compensated for his loss of inheritance to it.

Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (1648–1803)

* Johanette (1648–1701) * ''Louise Juliane (Regent, 1648–52)'' * William Henry, Duke of

(1701–41) * Charles, ''

Burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

'' (1741–1803) '' Mediatised to

1803

References

* Matthias Dahlhoff: ''Geschichte der Grafschaft Sayn'', Dillenburg 1874. * Daniel Schneider: ''Das Mühlengewerbe in der Grafschaft Sayn-Altenkirchen'', in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreises Altenkirchen, 59. Jahrgang, 2016, p. 219-237. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Entwicklung der Konfessionen in der Grafschaft Sayn im Grundriss'', in: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreises Altenkirchen, 58. Jahrgang, 2015, p. 74-80. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Landstände in der Grafschaft Sayn sowie in Sayn-Altenkirchen und Sayn-Hachenburg'', in: Jahrbuch für westdeutsche Landesgeschichte, 33. Jahrgang, 2007, p. 213-229. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Städtepolitik der Grafen von Sayn im Spätmittelalter'', in: Jahrbuch für westdeutsche Landesgeschichte, 41. Jahrgang, 2015, pp. 33-49. * M. Spindler, A. Kraus: ''Geschichte Frankens bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts'', München 1997. . * Gerhard Taddey: '' Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte'', Stuttgart 1998. . * Kreisverwaltung Altenkirchen (Hrsg.): ''Land an Sieg und Wied. Heimatkunde des Kreises Altenkirchen'', Wissen 1987. * Daniel Schneider: ''Die Geschichte der Ortsgemeinde Obererbach (Westerwald). Die Ortschaften Hacksen, Niedererbach, Obererbach und Koberstein vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart'', 2 Bände, Obererbach 2009, (mit Zusammenfassung der Entwicklung der Grafschaft Sayn-Altenkirchen). {{Coord missing, Rhineland-Palatinate 1803 disestablishments States and territories established in 1648 Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate 1648 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire History of the Westerwald