Stadion was a small state 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 ...

, located around

Thannhausen Thannhausen () is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Mindel, southeast of Günzburg, and west of Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_Germa ...

in the present-day

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n administrative region of

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

According to the legend this Swabian Stadion dynasty was first mentioned in the area of

Oberstadion Oberstadion is a town in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russ ...

in 1197 when "Heinricus de Lapide" was mentioned as descendant of Lords of Stein who have similar

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

as those of Stadion family. However, the first certain documented ancestor of the family can be traced back to the knight "Waltherus de Stadegun" who was mentioned first on 13 May in 1270. His descendants later built the castle in

which served as the family seat and bears the name after the family which built it.

Titles and status

Johann Philipp of Stadion (1652–1741), high steward of the

archbishops of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

, was elevated to the rank of a ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

'' (Baron) in 1686. In 1705, he acquired the immediate lordship of Thannhausen and thereby was raised to a ''

Count of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

''. Upon his death in 1741, the estates were partitioned between the lines of Stadion-Thannhausen and Stadion-Warthausen. After the dissolution of the

, their immediate territories lost its sovereignty. Stadion-Thannhausen became

mediatized Mediatization or mediatisation may refer to: * German mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by ...

by the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

in 1806 and Stadion-Warthausen was mediatised to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

in 1806. After that, as all other German mediatized houses, they kept some of its privileges, among most important ones being their equal status to all reigning families for marriage purposes. At the beginning of the 20th century, Stadions became extinct upon the death of the last male representative, Count Philipp Franz Joseph von Stadion-Thannhausen (1847-1908).

Lords of Stadion

Lords of Stadion (c. 1200–1686)

* Walter I (died c. 1230) * Walter II (died c. 1260) ''with...'' * Louis I (died c. 1260) * Louis II (died 1328) ''with...'' * Conrad (died 1309) * Walter III (died 1352) * Louis III (died 1364) * Eitel (1364–1392) * Conrad I (1392–1439) * Walter (1439–1457) ''with...'' * Pancratius (1439–1479) * Nicholas (1479–1507) * John (1507–1530) * John Ulrich (1530–1600) * John Christopher II (1600–1629) * John Christopher III (1629–1666) * John Philip (1666–1741), Baron from 1686, Count from 1705

References

Principalities of the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-hist-stub