Neuchatel

The House of Neuchâtel ruled the Swiss county of the same name from the twelfth century to 1395. It probably sprang from the lords of Fenis: around 1034 Emperor Conrad II enfeoffed Ulrich I of Fenis with the Neuchâtel lands, centred on the new castle that gave the dynasty its name.

In 1214 Ulrich III and his nephew Berthold granted Neuchâtel a charter modelled on the customs of Besançon. After the Zähringen dukes died out in 1218 the county became immediately subject to the Empire. The counts allied with Fribourg in 1290 and Bern in 1308.

Count Rudolf IV ruled from 1288 to 1343 and was followed by his son Louis I, who died in 1373. The last of the line, Countess Elisabeth, died childless in 1395 and bequeathed the county to her nephew Conrad IV of Freiburg, ending the native dynasty's rule.