Princely count (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

William IV of Henneberg-Schleusingen (29 January 1478 – 24 January 1559), a member of the

House of Henneberg The House of Henneberg was a medieval German Graf, comital family (''Grafen'') which from the 11th century onwards held large territories in the Duchy of Franconia. Their county was raised to a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, princely county ( ...

, was a ruler of the Principality of Henneberg, within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The son of William III of Henneberg, William inherited the Principality of Henneberg on 26 May 1480, when his father died, and reigned until his own death nearly eighty years later, on 24 January 1559. William married Anastasia of Brandenburg, a daughter of Albert Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg. In 1543–1544, William embraced the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

.Johannes A. Mol, Klaus Militzer, Helen J. Nicholson, ''The Military Orders and the Reformation'' (2006), p. 108 In 1554, he signed a treaty of inheritance with John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony. William died in Salorno five years later. However, when his successor George Ernest, the last Prince of Henneberg, died, both the Ernestine and the Albertine branches of the

Wettin dynasty The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest ...

claimed his estates. In 1660, they were finally divided between the Ernestine duchies of

Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Weimar () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the House of W ...

and

Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha (town), Gotha. History The duch ...

and the Albertine

Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz (28 March 1619 – 4 December 1681) was a duke of Saxe-Zeitz and member of the House of Wettin. Born in Dresden, he was the youngest surviving son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife Magdalene Sibylle of ...

, while the lordship of

Schmalkalden Schmalkalden () is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district, in the southwest of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is on the southern slope of the Thuringian Forest at the Schmalkalde river, a tributary to the Werra. , the town had a popul ...

went to

William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel William IV of Hesse-Kassel (24 June 153225 August 1592), also called ''William the Wise'', was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day. Life L ...

, honouring an inheritance treaty of 1360.

Notes

Counts of Henneberg William 04 1470s births 1559 deaths 15th-century German people 16th-century German nobility 15th-century counts in Europe 16th-century monarchs in Europe People from Salurn {{Germany-noble-stub