Schönburg

The lords of Schönburg were a noble house of southwestern Saxony, first documented in 1130 with Ulricus de Schunenberg. Around 1170 they built a castle at Glauchau as an imperial fief and acquired the town in 1256; it remained the seat of their Glauchau line.

They later acquired Waldenburg in 1378, Hartenstein in 1406 and Penig and Wechselburg in 1543, holding lands across Saxony, Bohemia and Thuringia under direct imperial jurisdiction. The lordship split into Upper and Lower Schönburg in 1569, and in 1700 the house became imperial counts.

From 1740 Saxony took the estates under its guardianship and integrated them into its judicial structure. The Waldenburg and Hartenstein branches became princely houses in 1790; mediatised to Saxony in 1803 and 1806, the family received two seats in the Upper House of Saxony in 1831.