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The House of Fürstenberg

The Fürstenbergs are a Swabian family of counts, later princes, whose seat has been Donaueschingen, at the source of the Danube, since the eighteenth century. They ruled a principality of their own until 1806, when it was mediatized and divided between Baden, Württemberg and Hohenzollern [1][2]. This page follows the family's own history and the Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) article on the house.

Origins: the counts of Urach

The family's own history says the counts and later princes of Fürstenberg can be traced "with some probability" to the Unruochings, a Frankish family of counts in inner Swabia around 800, and are clearly documented in the eleventh century as counts of Urach [2]. The NDB likewise describes them as descending from a "probably Frankish" family of counts that settled in inner Swabia in Carolingian times [1].

Egino IV of Urach, known as the Bearded (d. 1230), married Agnes of Zähringen, daughter of Duke Berthold IV, around 1180. When the dukes of Zähringen died out in 1218, he became one of the main heirs of their lands east of the Rhine [1]. The family's arms still combine the Zähringen eagle with the fur (vair) of the counts of Urach [2]. His son Egino V called himself count of Freiburg and is the common ancestor of the counts of Freiburg and of Fürstenberg [1].

The name Fürstenberg and the Baar

After a division between the brothers Konrad (lands in the Breisgau) and Heinrich I (the Baar and the Black Forest), Heinrich took his name from Fürstenberg Castle, on the "foremost hill" of a ridge near Neudingen [2]. The family dates this to 1248; the NDB says "around 1250" [1][2]. In 1283 King Rudolf of Habsburg, Heinrich's cousin, enfeoffed him with the landgraviate of the Baar, which became the core of the Fürstenberg state and stayed with the family until 1806 [1][2]. The NDB sees in this the beginning of the house's close friendship with the Habsburgs [1].

Growth in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

In 1488 the counts Heinrich and Wolfgang bought the castle and village of Donaueschingen [2]. Through his marriage to Countess Anna of Werdenberg, Friedrich II (d. 1559) inherited the county of Heiligenberg, north of Lake Constance, in 1534, and founded the Heiligenberg line [1][2]. Further inheritances brought Messkirch, Stühlingen and Engen [1]. By another marriage, Countess Maria of Arco brought the lordship of Weitra, in Lower Austria, which has belonged to the family ever since [2].

Many members served the Emperor, and the house was regarded as firmly pro-Habsburg [1]. The exception was part of the Heiligenberg line: the brothers Franz Egon (d. 1682) and Wilhelm Egon (d. 1704), both bishops of Strasbourg, sided with France and Louis XIV [1][2].

Princes of the Empire

In 1664 the brothers Franz Egon, Hermann Egon and Wilhelm Egon of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg received the hereditary dignity of princes of the Empire [2]. The NDB adds that the whole house was raised to the princely rank in 1716 [1].

Prince Joseph Wilhelm Ernst (1699–1762), of the Stühlingen line, reunited all the family's lands and created the Principality of Fürstenberg [1][2]. In 1723 he moved his seat to Donaueschingen and built a new palace there [2].

Note on sources. The two sources disagree on the order in which the other lines died out. The NDB gives the Heiligenberg line in 1716 and the Messkirch line in 1744 [1]; the family's website gives Messkirch in 1716 and Heiligenberg in 1744 [2]. GOTHA reports both and does not choose.

1806: mediatization

The principality lasted until 1806, when it was mediatized and divided between Baden, Württemberg and Hohenzollern [1][2]. Shortly before, the young Prince Karl Egon II (d. 1854), of the Bohemian line, had inherited the Swabian lands after the princely line died out in 1804 [1][2]. With the help of his mother, Princess Elisabeth, born a princess of Thurn und Taxis, and through his marriage to Princess Amalie of Baden, the house kept its large estates and some rights as a mediatized house until 1918 [1].

Patrons of the arts

Karl Egon III built up the princely collections and opened the Fürstenberg archive to research [2]. Karl Egon IV gave Donaueschingen Palace its present appearance; the family's website credits his wife, Princess Dorothea, of the Talleyrand-Périgord family, with much of the design [2]. In 1896 the Swabian estates passed to Max Egon II (1863–1941) of the Bohemian line, a close friend of Emperor Wilhelm II [1]. He founded the chamber-music performances that became the Donaueschingen Music Days, where composers such as Hindemith, Schoenberg and Webern had their international breakthrough [2]. Prince Max Egon (1869–1959), who took over the Swabian estates in 1941, was a noted patron of art and modern music [1][2].

The family today

Prince Joachim Egon (1923–2002) took over the leadership of the house in 1973; the Weitra estates passed by adoption to his youngest son, Prince Johannes [2]. His son Heinrich, born on 17 July 1950, the eldest son of Joachim Egon and Paula, née Countess of Königsegg-Aulendorf,, succeeded him in 2002 and died on 11 July 2024 [2][3]. He left two sons, Christian and Antonius [3]. Christian is now head of the house. The family's website calls him the 12th Prince of Fürstenberg; he has been a board member of the house since 2003 and President and CEO of the Haus Fürstenberg Family Office since 2022 [2][3]. The family still lives at Donaueschingen and Heiligenberg [2].

Key dates

Licence: this article is original GOTHA text, released under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Its sources are summarised or briefly quoted.