House of Reuss

Reuss (German: Reuß) was the name of several historical states located in present-day Thuringia, Germany. Its rulers, the Reuss family, named all of their male children Heinrich (English: Henry) since the end of the 12th century in honour of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1190–97), to whom they owed the estates of Weida and Gera. The head of each branch of the family bore the German title Fürst (Prince) as did their children.

Several different principalities of the House of Reuss which had previously existed had by the time of the formation of the German Confederation become part of the two remaining lines (the Elder and the Younger lines). Before then, they had been part first of the Holy Roman Empire, and then the Confederation of the Rhine.

Erkenbert I (1122) is proved by documentary evidence to have been their ancestor. His successors acquired almost the whole Vogtland by feuds or marriage settlement, although in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they lost the greater part of their possessions, most of which fell to the Electorate of Saxony. .... more

• A1 -- Erkenbert I von Weida, lvd:1112/1120, m. Jordana, heiress of Gleissberg;
  • B1 -- Heinrich I, d:1193, m. Juliane von Schwarzburg;
    • C1 -- Heinrich II, 1st Vogt von Weida;
      • D1 -- Heinrich IV, Vogt von Gera, Teutonic Knight, lvd:1209/1245, m. Jutta von Altenburg;
        • E1 -- Heinrich I, Vogt von Plauen, lvd:1250/1295, m. Adelheid von Lobdeburg-Leuchtenberg;
          • F1 -- Heinrich I, Vogt von Plauen, d:1295, m. Jutta von Schwarzburg;  ==>  Schwarzburg
            • G1 -- Heinrich II, Vogt von Plauen, d:1350, m. Salome of Glogau;  ==>  Piast
              • H1 -- Salome Reuss, lvd:1340/1400, m. Duke Hanus I of Auschwitz;  <==  Piast Dynasty