Hohenzollern DynastyA dynasty prominent in European history, chiefly as the ruling house of Brandenburg-Prussia (1415-1918) and of imperial Germany (1871-1918). Originating in South Germany and traceable to the 11th century, the family probably took its name from the German word zöller, meaning "watchtower" or "castle," and in particular from the Swabian castle of Hohenzollern, the ancestral seat in the Black Forest. Burchard I, the first recorded ancestor of the dynasty, was count of Zollern in the 11th century. In the third and fourth generation from him two lines were formed: that of Zollern-Hohenberg, extinct in all its branches by 1486, and that of the burgraves of Nürnberg, from which all the branches surviving into modern times derived. Frederick III of Zollern, husband of the heiress of the former burgraves of Nürnberg, himself became burgrave in 1192 as Frederick I. Between his two sons, Conrad and Frederick, the first dynastic division of lasting consequence took place: that between the line later known as Franconian (burgraves of Nürnberg, later electors of Brandenburg, kings in Prussia, kings of Prussia, German emperors) and the Swabian line (counts of Zollern, of Hohenzollern, of Zollern-Schalksburg, of Haigerloch, etc.; princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, princes of Hohenzollern, princes and then kings of Romania). .... more |
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