Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small state in Germany, in the present-day state of Thuringia formed in a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty family lands, with its capital (and the Guenther (German: Günther) family seat) originally in the castle at Schwarzburg, but later, for most of its existence as a polity having the capital at the larger town of Rudolstadt. It was founded after the partition of the schwarzburger possessions in 1599. A sovereign county under the Holy Roman Empire until 1711, in that year it became a principality under the same entity.

1 Rulers of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
2 External links

Image:Schwarzburg new.jpg

The ruins of the Guenther family castle at Schwarzburg.

Image:Schloss Schwarzburg 1900.jpg

The castle in 1900 AD.

Image:Treppsteinblick 1900.jpg

Aerial view at Schwarzburg.

In late 1918, and during the German Revolution, resulting in the fall of all the German monarchies, the prince abdicated, and in 1920 the former principality became a part of the new state of Thuringia. Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt had an area of 940 km² (362.9 sq mi) and a population of 97,000 (1905).

[edit] Rulers of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

[edit] Counts of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

1574–1605: Count Albrecht VII (1537–1605), son of Count Günther XL of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg, founder of the county (state) of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
1605–30: Count Karl Günther, also known as Charles Guenther (1576–1630, succeeded by younger brother Ludwig I)
1630–46: Count Ludwig Günther I, also known as Louis Guenther (1581–1646)
Graf Ludwig Guenther plays a pivotal fictionalized historical character role in the popular alternative history Ring of Fire series. (See "The Rudolstadt Colloquy" in the anthology Grantville Gazette I.) He would have been the first nobleman of Germany aware of the Ring of Fire and the existence of a town from the future as is told in the short story "Schwaraza Falls" in the anthology Grantville Gazette V. In that tale, part of the territory of Schwarzburg travels to the year 2000 AD in the exchange of mass and territory that deposited Grantville in 1631 AD Thuringia.
1646–62: Regent Emilie of Delmenhorst (1614–70)
1662–1710: Count Albrecht Anton (1641–1710)

[edit] Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

1710–18: Prince Louis Frederick I (1667–1718)
1718–44: Prince Frederick Anton (1692–1744)
1744–67: Prince John Frederick (1721–67)
1767–1790: Prince Louis Günther II (1708–90)
1790–93: Prince Frederick Charles (1736–93)
1793–1807: Prince Louis Frederick II (1767–1807)
1807–14: Regent Caroline Luise of Hessen-Homburg (1771–1854)
1814–67: Prince Frederick Günther (1793–1867)
1867–69: Prince Albert (1798–1869)
1869–90: Prince Georg Albert (1838–90)
1890–1918: Prince Günther (1852–1925) succeeded as Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in 1909 on the death of Prince Karl Günther.

[edit] Heads of the princely house of Schwarzburg post-monarchy

On the death of the childless Prince Günther Victor in 1925 he was succeeded by Prince Sizzo (1860–1926) who was the son of Prince Friedrich Günther (1793–1867) from his second, morganatic marriage. Prince Sizzo was recognised as a full member of the House of Schwarzburg in 1896.

1918–25: Prince Günther (1852–1925)
1925–26: Prince Sizzo (1860–1926)
1926–1971 Prince Friedrich Günther (1901–71)

[edit] External links

v • d • e Image:Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg Holy Roman Empire — Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806)
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Ecclesiastical princes	Cammin
Secular princes	Anhalt \| Barby \| Hatzfeld \| Pomerania: Further, Hither \| Querfurt \| Reuss: Elder, Junior \| Saxe-Weimar \| Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen
Prelates	Gernrode \| Quedlinburg \| Walkenried
Counts and Lords	Hohnstein \| Lohra and Klettenberg \| Mansfeld \| Schönburg \| Stolberg: Stolberg, Wernigerode

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Pre-existing states	Duchies: Anhalt: Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen \| Arenberg \| Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz \| Nassau \| Oldenburg \| Saxony: Coburg-Saalfeld, Gotha-Altenburg, Hildburghausen, Meiningen, Weimar, Eisenach, Weimar-Eisenach Principalities: Hohenzollern: Hechingen, Sigmaringen \| Isenburg-Birstein \| Liechtenstein \| Lippe-Detmold \| Reuß: Ebersdorf, Greiz, Lobenstein, Schleiz \| Salm: Kyrburg, Salm \| Schaumburg-Lippe \| Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt**, Sondershausen \| Waldeck
* until 1809 ** from 1809 † until 1810 ‡ from 1810

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Principalities	Hesse-Homburg \| Hohenzollern: Hechingen⁵, Sigmaringen⁵ \| Liechtenstein \| Lippe \| Reuß: Elder, Junior \| Schaumburg-Lippe \| Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen \| Waldeck and Pyrmont
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1: Merged to Anhalt from 1863; 2: until 1847; 3: from 1826; 4: until 1826; 5: until 1850

v • d • e Image:Flag of the German Empire.svg States of the North German Confederation (1866–71)
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Duchies	Anhalt \| Brunswick \| Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg and Gotha, Meiningen
Principalities	Schaumburg-Lippe \| Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen \| Lippe \| Reuss: Elder, Junior \| Waldeck-Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen \| Hamburg \| Lübeck

v • d • e Image:Flag of the German Empire.svg States of the German Empire (1871–1918)
Kingdoms	Prussia \| Bavaria \| Saxony \| Württemberg	Image:Wappen Deutsches Reich - Reichsadler.png
Grand Duchies	Baden \| Hesse \| Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz \| Oldenburg \| Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt \| Brunswick \| Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg and Gotha, Meiningen
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