Schwarzburg-rudolstadt

Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt County (Principality) of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt State of the Holy Roman Empire, State of the Confederation of the Rhine, State of the German Confederation, State of the North German Confederation, State of the German Empire, State of the Weimar Republic ← 1599 – 1920 → Flag Coat of arms Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt within Thuringia Capital Rudolstadt Government Principality Historical era Middle Ages  - Partitioned from     Schwarzburg   1599  - Raised to Principality 1711  - German Revolution 1920  - Merged into Thuringia 1920 Area  - 1905 940 km² (363 sq mi) Population  - 1905 est. 97,000       Density 103.2 /km²  (267.3 /sq mi)

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small state in Germany, in the present-day state of Thuringia formed in a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty family lands, with its capital (and the Guenther (German: Günther) family seat) originally in the castle at Schwarzburg, but later, for most of its existence as a polity having the capital at the larger town of Rudolstadt. It was founded after the partition of the schwarzburger possessions in 1599. A sovereign county under the Holy Roman Empire until 1711, in that year it became a principality under the same entity.

The ruins of the Guenther family castle at Schwarzburg.

The castle in 1900 AD.

Aerial view at Schwarzburg.

In late 1918, and during the German Revolution, resulting in the fall of all the German monarchies, the prince abdicated, and in 1920 the former principality became a part of the new state of Thuringia. Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt had an area of 940 km² (362.9 sq mi) and a population of 97,000 (1905).

Rulers of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Counts of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

• 1574–1605: Count Albrecht VII (1537–1605), son of Count Günther XL of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg, founder of the county (state) of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
  
  
• 1605–30: Count Karl Günther, also known as Charles Guenther (1576–1630, succeeded by younger brother Ludwig I)
  
  
• 1630–46: Count Ludwig Günther I, also known as Louis Guenther (1581–1646)
     Graf Ludwig Guenther plays a pivotal fictionalized historical character role in the popular alternative history Ring of Fire series.  (See "The Rudolstadt Colloquy" in the anthology Grantville Gazette I.)  He would have been the first nobleman of Germany aware of the Ring of Fire and the existence of a town from the future as is told in the short story "Schwaraza Falls" in the anthology Grantville Gazette V. In that tale, part of the territory of Schwarzburg travels to the year 2000 AD in the exchange of mass and territory that deposited Grantville in 1631 AD Thuringia.  
  
  
• 1646–62: Regent Emilie of Delmenhorst (1614–70)
  
  
• 1662–1710: Count Albrecht Anton (1641–1710)

Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

• 1710–18: Prince Louis Frederick I (1667–1718)
• 1718–44: Prince Frederick Anton (1692–1744)
• 1744–67: Prince John Frederick (1721–67)
• 1767–1790: Prince Louis Günther II (1708–90)
• 1790–93: Prince Frederick Charles (1736–93)
• 1793–1807: Prince Louis Frederick II (1767–1807)
• 1807–14: Regent Caroline Luise of Hessen-Homburg (1771–1854)
• 1814–67: Prince Frederick Günther (1793–1867)
• 1867–69: Prince Albert (1798–1869)
• 1869–90: Prince Georg Albert (1838–90)
• 1890–1918: Prince Günther (1852–1925) succeeded as Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen in 1909 on the death of Prince Karl Günther.

Heads of the princely house of Schwarzburg post-monarchy

On the death of the childless Prince Günther Victor in 1925 he was succeeded by Prince Sizzo (1860–1926) who was the son of Prince Friedrich Günther (1793–1867) from his second, morganatic marriage. Prince Sizzo was recognised as a full member of the House of Schwarzburg in 1896.

• 1918–25: Prince Günther (1852–1925)
• 1925–26: Prince Sizzo (1860–1926)
• 1926–1971 Prince Friedrich Günther (1901–71)

External links

• House laws of Schwarzburg
• Genealogy of the Princes of Schwarzburg

v • d • e Holy Roman Empire — Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806)
Electorates	Brandenburg | Saxony
Ecclesiastical princes	Cammin
Secular princes	Anhalt | Barby | Hatzfeld | Pomerania: Further, Hither | Querfurt | Reuss: Elder, Junior | Saxe-Weimar | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen
Prelates	Gernrode | Quedlinburg | Walkenried
Counts and Lords	Hohnstein | Lohra and Klettenberg | Mansfeld | Schönburg | Stolberg: Stolberg, Wernigerode

v • d • e States of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–13)
Rank elevated by Napoleon	Kingdoms: Bavaria | Saxony | Württemberg Grand Duchies: Baden | Hesse
States created	Kingdoms: Westphalia Grand Duchies: Berg | Frankfurt‡ | Würzburg Principalities: Aschaffenburg† | Leyen | Regensburg†
Pre-existing states	Duchies: Anhalt: Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen | Arenberg | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Nassau | Oldenburg | Saxony: Coburg-Saalfeld, Gotha-Altenburg, Hildburghausen, Meiningen, Weimar*, Eisenach*, Weimar-Eisenach** Principalities: Hohenzollern: Hechingen, Sigmaringen | Isenburg-Birstein | Liechtenstein | Lippe-Detmold | Reuß: Ebersdorf, Greiz, Lobenstein, Schleiz | Salm: Kyrburg, Salm | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Waldeck
* until 1809     ** from 1809       † until 1810     ‡ from 1810

v • d • e States of the German Confederation (1815–66)
Empires	Austria
Kingdoms	Prussia | Bavaria | Saxony | Hanover | Württemberg
Electorates	Hesse
Grand Duchies	Baden | Hesse | Luxembourg | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt: Bernburg¹, Dessau¹, Köthen² | Brunswick | Holstein | Limburg | Nassau | Saxony: Altenburg³, Coburg-Saalfeld4, Coburg-Gotha³, Gotha-Altenburg4, Hildburghausen4, Lauenburg, Meiningen
Principalities	Hesse-Homburg | Hohenzollern-Hechingen5| Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen5 | Liechtenstein | Lippe | Reuss: Elder, Junior | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Waldeck and Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Frankfurt | Hamburg | Lübeck
1: Merged to Anhalt from 1863;     2: until 1847;     3: from 1826;     4: until 1826;     5: until 1850

v • d • e States of the North German Confederation (1866–71)
Kingdoms	Prussia | Saxony
Grand Duchies	Hesse | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt | Brunswick | Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg and Gotha, Meiningen
Principalities	Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Lippe | Reuss: Elder, Junior | Waldeck-Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Hamburg | Lübeck

v • d • e States of the German Empire (1871–1918)
Kingdoms	Prussia | Bavaria | Saxony | Württemberg
Grand Duchies	Baden | Hesse | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Oldenburg | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Duchies	Anhalt | Brunswick | Saxony: Altenburg, Coburg and Gotha, Meiningen
Principalities	Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Lippe | Reuss: Elder, Junior | Waldeck-Pyrmont
City-states	Bremen | Hamburg | Lübeck
Other	Alsace-Lorraine | Colonial possessions

v • d • e States of Germany during the Weimar Republic (1919–33)
States	Anhalt · Baden · Bavaria · Brunswick · Hesse · Lippe · Mecklenburg-Schwerin · Mecklenburg-Strelitz · Oldenburg · Prussia · Saxony · Schaumburg-Lippe · Thuringia (from 1920) · Waldeck (until 1929) · Württemberg
City-states	Bremen · Hamburg · Lübeck
Until 1920	Saxony Altenburg · Coburg–Gotha · Meiningen · Weimar-Eisenach Reuß Elder · Junior Schwarzburg Rudolstadt · Sondershausen
Unofficial states	Bavarian Soviet Republic · Bottleneck · Rhenish Republic

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