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The House of Schwarzenberg

The Schwarzenbergs came from the Franconian family of Seinsheim and named themselves, some six hundred years ago, after a castle they acquired in the Steigerwald, which the family still owns [2]. They rose to become one of the great landowning families of Bohemia and Austria, princes of the Empire from 1670, and gave the Habsburg monarchy statesmen, commanders and churchmen [1][2]. This page follows the Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) article on the family and the family history published by the Schwarzenberg forestry administration at Murau.

From Seinsheim to Schwarzenberg

The first written mentions of the family's ancestors, then named after the castle of Seinsheim in Lower Franconia, date from the mid-twelfth century [1]. Erkinger (1362–1437), a supporter of Emperor Sigismund who fought against the Hussites, acquired the lordship of Schwarzenberg between 1405 and 1421 [1][2]. In 1429 he was made a free baron of the Empire [1][2]. The family's history adds that his grandchildren dropped the name Seinsheim and kept only Schwarzenberg [2].

His sons founded two lines: the Hohenlandsberg line, which died out in the seventeenth century, and the Stefansberg line, which continues today [1]. The best-known member of the older line was the lawyer and humanist Johann "the Strong" (1463–1528), author of the Constitutio Criminalis Bambergensis, the basis of the first general German criminal code, and an early supporter of Luther [1][2].

Counts and princes

Adolf (1551–1600), an imperial field marshal, won fame by recapturing the fortress of Raab (Győr) from the Ottomans in 1598, and was made a count of the Empire in 1599 [1][2]. The family's arms still show a raven pecking at a Turk's head, an addition in memory of Raab [2].

The family's rise among the great houses of Europe came with Johann Adolf I (1615–1683) [1]. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm gave him the lordship of Třeboň (Wittingau), the basis of the family's fortune in Bohemia [1]. In 1670 he was raised to the rank of prince of the Empire [1][2], and he also became president of the Imperial Aulic Council [1]. The heir of his son Ferdinand, Adam Franz (1680–1732) inherited a vast Eggenberg estate in southern Bohemia in 1719, part of which was raised to the duchy of Krumau (Český Krumlov) in 1723 [1]; the family's website says it came from his aunt, Princess Ernestine of Eggenberg [2]. In 1746 Josef Adam obtained the extension of the princely title to all members of the family [1].

Two lines from 1802

In 1802 the family divided into two lines, a primogeniture and a secondogeniture [1][2]. The family's history explains that the two entails had been set up in the will of Prince Ferdinand (1652–1703), but only took effect when two brothers, Joseph II (1769–1833) and Karl I Philipp (1771–1820), were available to hold them [2].

• The elder line (Frauenberg/Hluboká) produced Prince Felix (1800–1852), Austrian prime minister from 1848 to 1852, and Cardinal Friedrich (1809–1885), archbishop of Salzburg and then of Prague [1][2].
• The younger line (Orlík) was founded by Field Marshal Karl I Philipp (1771–1820), Austrian ambassador in St Petersburg and Paris, who as commander-in-chief of the allied armies defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 [1][2]. The family's history adds that, as ambassador in Paris, he negotiated Napoleon's marriage to Archduchess Marie-Louise in 1810 [2]. All living Schwarzenbergs descend from him [2].

The twentieth century

After 1918 most of the family's estates lay in Czechoslovakia, where a land reform of 1919 expropriated two-thirds of them [2]. Adolph (1890–1950), head of the elder line and an opponent of National Socialism, emigrated to Italy in 1939 and then to the United States; his property was confiscated by the Nazis [1][2]. His cousin Heinrich (1903–1965) was arrested in 1943 on Himmler's orders and held in Buchenwald [1][2]. In 1947 a special Czechoslovak law, the "Lex Schwarzenberg", nationalised the elder line's property, which the family's website says remains in state hands [1][2]. Johannes (1903–1978), an Austrian diplomat, organised food aid for concentration-camp prisoners through the International Committee of the Red Cross during the war [2].

Heinrich had no son. In 1960 he adopted Karl (1937–2023), heir of the younger line, so that the two lines were reunited [1][2].

Note on sources. The NDB says Heinrich managed the elder line's remaining property after Adolph's death [1]. The family's website adds that Adolph had adopted Heinrich, and that Karl took over the leadership of the house on the death of Prince Joseph in 1979 [2]. GOTHA reports both accounts.

Karl and Johannes

Karl VII (Karel Schwarzenberg) supported Czechoslovak dissidents during the communist era, was president of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights from 1984 to 1991, and headed President Václav Havel's office from 1990 to 1992 [1][2]. After 1989 the younger line's castles of Orlík and Čimelice and about 12,000 hectares were returned to him [2]. He was twice Czech foreign minister between 2007 and 2013 [2]. He died in November 2023, aged 86 [3].

His son, Prince Johannes (born 1967), married to Donna Francesca dei Duchi Riario Sforza, is now head of the house, which still lives in Bohemia, Franconia and Austria [2][3].

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.