Ansbach

Ansbach was a Franconian seat of the Hohenzollern burgraves of Nuremberg, acquired from the counts of Oettingen in 1331. In 1337 Burgrave John II, called the Acquirer, ruled the family's lands.

After the partition of 1398, Frederick VI held Ansbach and became Elector of Brandenburg in 1415. Margrave George the Pious introduced the Reformation in 1528. The last margrave sold the principality to Prussia in 1791; under Napoleonic pressure Prussia ceded it to Bavaria in 1806.