The Lords of Eppstein () were a family of German nobility in the Middle Ages.
From the 12th century they ruled extensive territories in the Rhine Main area from their
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in
Eppstein, northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.
History
Between 1180 and 1190, the
Archbishop 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 ...
enfeoffed Eppstein Castle, along with neighboring district courts and villages to Gerhard III of
Hainhausen.
Gerhard changed his name to Eppstein and already having control of the present-day
district of Offenbach, became the first in the line which was soon to become one of the most influential families in the Rhine Main area.
Four of the seven
Archbishops of Mainz and Electoral Princes in the 13th century were of the house of Eppstein.
They raised the Electorate to considerable power and played a significant role in the politics of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
. In the struggle between the Emperor and the Pope, Archbishop
Siegfried III took sides with the anti-
Staufer group which played an important part in the beginnings of German federalism. The secular Eppsteiners, by purchase, marriage and enfeoffment, acquired extensive territories and rights between
Middle Rhine to the
Vogelsberg
The is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley.
Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Europe's largest ...
hills and between the
Lahn
The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).
It has its source i ...
River to the
Odenwald
The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...
.
The realm of the Lords of Eppstein was divided in 1433 between brothers Gottfried VII (Eppstein-Münzenberg) and Eberhard II (Eppstein-Königstein). The last of these branches became extinct in 1535 and Eppstein was passed mostly to the
Landgraves of Hesse and the
Ecclesiastical Principality of Mainz.
See also
*
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...
Further reading
* Walter Pietsch: ''Die Entwicklung des Territoriums der Herren von Eppstein im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert, vornehmlich aufgrund ihrer Lehensverzeichnisse''. In: ''HJL''. 12, 1962, S. 15–50.
* Regina Schäfer: ''Die Herren von Eppstein. Herrschaftsausübung, Verwaltung und Besitz eines Hochadelsgeschlechts im Spätmittelalter''. Historische Kommission für Nassau, Wiesbaden 2000, (''Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Nassau''. Band 68).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eppstein
Lordships of the Holy Roman Empire
Taunus