Several different principalities of the House of Reuss which had previously existed had by the time of the formation of the
German Confederation become part of the two remaining lines (the
Elder and the
Younger lines). Before then, they had been part first of the
Holy Roman Empire, and then the
Confederation of the Rhine.
Origins The region including what would become the Principality of Reuss was inhabited in early medieval times by
Slavic people who were converted to Christianity by the
German Emperor Otto I (936–973). In church matters the region was under the
Diocese of Zeitz (founded in 968), which became a suffragan of
Magdeburg. On account of the frequent inroads of the Slavs, the residence of the Bishop of
Zeitz was removed to
Naumburg in 1028, after which the
See was called
Naumburg-Zeitz. Since the childless Heinrich XXIV was the last of his line, it was to be expected that the principality of the elder line would fall to the younger line after his death, and that a united state of Reuss would emerge as a result. However, both lines lost their thrones in the
German Revolution of 1918–19 and a united, albeit republican state, the
People's State of Reuss, emerged in 1919, only to merge with the larger state of
Thuringia in 1920. The unified state of Reuss had a non-contiguous area of 1,143 square kilometers and 211,324 inhabitants (1919). The historical state of Reuss, originally the ancient county, was thus slightly smaller than the City of
Los Angeles and, at 441 square miles, was almost the same size as
Coweta County, Georgia. It still comprised about a third of the historical
Vogtland, which had been ruled in the Middle Ages by the
vogts (bailiffs), the ancestors of the Reuss family. A (non-governing) side branch of the younger line had emerged in 1692 when
Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Köstritz, a younger son of the ruling count Heinrich I. Reuss of Schleiz, received a number of landed estates as a
paréage within his eldest brother's county, with his main seat at
Köstritz Castle. This branch connected through marriages with important ruling houses, did, however, not govern their own territory, but lived as landowners in the county of the Schleiz Line. Henry XLIII., count Reuss of Köstritz, was elevated to hereditary
Fürst (prince) by
Emperor Francis II in 1806 (however, without governmental power); the paréage of Köstritz remained within the principality of the younger line. When the elder line died out with Heinrich XXIV in 1927 and the younger one when Heinrich XLV, son of the last ruler, died childless in 1945 as a prisoner of the communists, thus both main branches having become extinct, the dynastic succession (and the theoretical claims to their thrones) passed to the princely House
Reuss of Köstritz. This side line of the Younger Line is therefore the only branch of the entire house that still exists today, but has over 30 male members, all named Heinrich. The family council decided on 5 June 1930 that all members of the remaining family should henceforth omit any line addition (Younger Line or Köstritz) from their names and call themselves
Prince or
Princess Reuss. This name (as well as the Heinrichs' count) was retained by a court order even in the
Weimar republic. The current head of the family, Heinrich XIV, dynastic actually
the Fürst (Prince) Reuss of Köstritz (b. 1952), is also styled
The Fürst (Prince) Reuss, as Köstritz is no longer a side line but the only branch of the house. His main seat is
Ernstbrunn Castle in Austria which his family had inherited in 1822, while Köstritz Castle was expropriated by communist
East Germany in 1945 and demolished in the 1970s. In 1945, the Princes Reuss lost all of their extended possessions and castles in their ancestral homeland through expropriation. Heinrich XIV and some of his relatives regained some properties in the former Reuss states following
German Reunification in 1990.
Aftermath After
World War I, the Reuss territories were unified in 1919 as the
People's State of Reuss, which was incorporated into the new state of
Thuringia in 1920. File:Blick zum "Oberen Schloß" vom "Weißen Kreuz".jpg|The Upper Castle at
Greiz File:Unteres Schloss Greiz.JPG|The Lower Castle at Greiz File:Gera - Orangerie 01.jpg|Orangery at
Gera File:Schloss Burgk vom Saaleturm.jpg|
Burgk Castle ==Rulers of Reuss==