Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern was a German family that ruled Brandenburg from 1415 to 1918, ruled Prussia from 1525 to 1918, ruled Germany from 1871 to 1918 and ruled Romania from 1866 to as late as 1947 The Prussian province of Hohenzollern is a long, narrow strip of territory bordered on the lower soutwest by Baden and the remainder bordered by Wurttemberg. Two of Germany's rivers flow through Hohenzollern. In the the northwestern tip of Honenzollern runs the Neckar river that starts at Schwenningen in the Black Forest of Wurttemberg and empties into the Rhine at Mannheim in Baden. In the Southern end of Hohenzollern runs the Danube river. It also starts in the Black Forest near the town of Villingen about 12 and a half miles from the springs of the Neckar river. The Danube is 1,795 miles long and empties into the Black Sea. Up until 1850 it was made up of two principalities, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Hohenzollern-Hechingen. After which time these were reunited to form the government of Sigmaringen. The Hohenzollern Castle The Burg Hohenzollern is said to have been built early in the 9th century by Burkhard and Werner of Zollern. Later, originating in south Germany and traceable to the 11th century, it is believed that the family took its name from the German word zöller, meaning "watchtower" or "castle". Hohenzollern was the name of a castle which stood on the hill of Zollern south of Hechingen. The Swabian castle of Hohenzollern was the ancestral seat in the Black Forest. About 1170 Conrad of Hohenzollern was appointed as an "Imperial Representative", known as a Burgrave, of Nuremberg by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. Conrad was succeeded in 1192 by Frederick of Hohenzollern who died about 1200. His sons founded the Swabian and Franconian lines of the family. Described as the strongest castle in Swabia, it never the less was conquered and completely destroyed in 1423 after a 10 month siege caused by a family dispute amoung 18 Swabian imperial cities. The king at that time, Sigmund, forbade the castle ever to be reconstructed. However, thirty years later in 1453, his successor, Emperor Friedrich III, annulled this interdiction. Count Jos Niklas of Zollern began to rebuild the castle in 1454. It was finished by his son Eitel Friedrich II around 1500. The existing branches of the Hohenzollerns are descended from Burkhard and his son Frederick. His eldest son, Frederick II was in great favour with the German kings, Lothair the Saxon and Conrad III. Frederick II died about 1145. His son and successor was Frederick III. This count married Sophia, daughter and heiress of Conrad, burgrave of Nuremberg. About 1192 he succeeded his father-in-law as burgrave, and obtained some lands in Austria and Franconia. He died about 1200 and his sons, Conrad and Frederick, ruled their lands in common until 1227. Frederick who receiving the county of Zollern, was the ancestor of the Swabian branch. Early in the 12th century Burkhard, a younger son of Frederick I, secured the county of Hohenberg, and this district remained in the possession of the Hohenzollerns until the death of Count Sigismund in 1486. Its rulers, with the exception of Count Albert II, played an unimportant part in German history. Albert supported his brother-in-law, Rudolph of Habsburg, in his efforts to obtain the German throne. Albert II shared in the campaigns of Rudolph and fell in battle in 1298, during the struggle between Adolph of Nassau and Albert of Habsburg, who later became King Albert I. When this family became extinct in 1486 Hohenberg passed to the Habsburgs. The Franconian branch of the Hohenzollerns was represented in 1227 by Conrad, burgrave of Nuremberg, whom the emperor Frederick II appointed administrator of Austria. After a short apostasy, during which he supported Henry Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia, Conrad returned to the side of the Hohenstaufen and aided Conrad IV. He died in 1261. His son and successor, the burgrave Frederick III, had already obtained Bayreuth through his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Otto of Meran. Frederick III took a leading part in German affairs and had a considerable share in securing the election of his uncle, Rudolph of Habsburg, as German king in 1273. He died in 1297 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick IV. He fought for King Albert I in Thuringia, and supported Henry VII in his efforts to secure Bohemia, but in 1314 he favoured Louis, duke of Austria, and by his excellent conduct at the battle of Miihldorf in 1322 and elsewhere earned the designation of " saviour of the empire." Louis later became Emperor Louis IV of Austria. Frederick, however, did not neglect his hereditary lands. He did something for the maintenance of peace and the security of traders, gave corporate privileges to villages, and took the Jews under his protection. His services to Louis were rewarded and he used part of his wealth to increase the area of his possessions. He bought the town and district of Ansbach in 1331. Dying in 1332, Frederick III was succeeded by his son, John II, who, after one of his brothers had died and two others had entered the church, ruled his lands in common with his brother Albert. About 1338 John bought Culmbach and Plassenburg. later, on the strength of a privilege granted to him in 1347, he seized many fortresses and held the surrounding lands as imperial fiefs. In general he continued his father's policy, and when he died in 1357 was succeeded by his son, Frederick V. After the death of his uncle Albert in 1361 Frederick V became sole ruler of Nuremberg, Ansbach and Bayreuth. Frederick lived in close friendship with the emperor Charles IV, who formally invested him with Ansbach and Bayreuth and made him a prince of the empire in 1363. Frederick was a successful ruler, and introduced a regular system of public finance into his lands. In 1397 he divided his territories between his sons John and Frederick, and died in the following year. His elder son, John III, who had married Margaret, a daughter of the emperor Charles IV, was frequently in the company of his brothers-in-law, the German kings Wenceslaus and Sigismund. He died without sons in 1420. Since 1397 the office of burgrave of Nuremberg had been held by Frederick, who in 1417 received Brandenburg from King Sigismund, and became Fredrick I, Elector of Brandenburg. Brandenburg was one of seven Electorships of the Holy Roman Empire, and, along with Prussia, formed the original core of the German Empire, the first unified German state. It contained the future German capital Berlin and since 1618 both Brandenburg and Prussia, then Brandenburg-Prussia, were ruled by Hohenzollern dukes who later became kings of Prussia. The subsequent history of this branch of the Hohenzollerns is identified with that of Elector Brandenburg in 1417 until that of Prussia in 1701 when the Elector Frederick III became Frederick I, king of Prussia. In 1871 William, the seventh king, took the title of German emperor. The Franconian possessions of the Hohenzollerns, Ansbach and Bayreuth, were given as appanages to younger sons. These principalities were ruled by the sons and descendants of the elector Albert Achilles from 1486 to 1603 and, after reverting to the elector of Brandenburg, by the descendants of the elector John George from 1603 to 1791. In 1791 Prince Charles Alexander, who had inherited both districts, sold his lands to Prussia. The influence of the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollerns was weakened by several partitions of its lands but early in the 16th century it rose to some eminence through Count Eitel Frederick II. He was a friend and adviser of the emperor Maximilian I. Count Eitel received from this emperor the district of Haigerloch, and in 1534 his grandson Charles was granted the counties of Sigmaringen and Viihringen by the emperor Charles V. In 1576 the sons of Charles divided their lands, and founded three branches of the family. Eitel Frederick IV took Hohenzollern with the title of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. Charles II took Sigmaringen and Viihringen and the title of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Christopher took Haigerloch. Christopher's family died out in 1634, but the remaining lines are of some importance. Count John George of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was made a prince in 1623, and John of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen soon received the same honor. In 1695 these two branches of the family entered conjointly into an agreement with Brandenburg. This provided that, in case of the extinction of either of the Swabian branches, the remaining branch should inherit its lands and if both branches became extinct the principalities should revert to Brandenburg. In consequence of the political troubles of 1848 Princes Frederick William of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Charles Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen resigned their principalities which fell to the king of Prussia, Prussia took possession of them on the 12th of March 1850. The proposal to raise Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the Spanish throne in 1870 was one of the causes of the war between France and Germany. In 1908 the head of this branch of the Hohenzollerns, the only one existing besides the imperial house, was Leopold's son William, who, owing to the extinction of the family of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in 1869, was called prince of Hohenzollern. Hohenzollern consisted of a single governmental district "Regierungsbezirk" Sigmaringen. The last census conducted in in 1939 indicated there were 74,000 inhabitants. In 1946, the French military administration made it a part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Since 1952 Hohenzollern has been part of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg.