Leiningen

The counts of Leiningen took their name from Leiningen Castle in the Palatinate Forest. Count Emich II is the first securely documented member, appearing as a witness in 1128.

When the old line died out in the male branch between 1212 and 1214, the inheritance passed through Liutgard to her son Frederick II, who took the name and arms and founded the Saarbrücken-Leiningen house. His son Frederick III added the County of Dagsburg in 1241. In 1317 his grandsons divided the house into Leiningen-Dagsburg and Leiningen-Hardenburg.

The Dagsburg branch died out in 1467, its lands passing to the counts of Westerburg. The counts introduced the Reformation in 1569. The Hardenburg branch was raised to princely rank in 1779; after losing its Rhenish lands to France it received the Amorbach abbey estates in 1803 and was mediatized to Baden in 1806.