Schwarzburg

The House of Schwarzburg was a high noble family of Thuringia, named after Schwarzburg Castle in the Schwarza valley, first recorded in 1071. Its first reliably documented member was Count Sizzo III of Kafernburg, who founded Georgenthal Abbey around 1142 and accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on his Polish campaign of 1157.

In 1197 Henry II and Gunther III divided the lands, and Schwarzburg Castle and Blankenburg became the family seat. Gunther XXI was elected German king in 1349, only to renounce the crown and die soon afterwards. Repeated partitions followed until Gunther XL the Rich reunited the family lands in 1538.

The Treaty of Stadtilm in 1599 fixed the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen lines. Sondershausen became a principality in 1697 and Rudolstadt in 1711. Both escaped mediatisation in 1806, joined the Confederation of the Rhine and entered the German Confederation in 1815.