Middle Ages The Lords of Ems were, alongside the Counts of Montfort, the most important noble family in Vorarlberg. The family can be traced back to the year 1170. In 1160, a Hainricus de Amedes (Amides, Ems) is mentioned as a witness in a document. The brothers "Rudolfus et Goswinus de Amides" appear after 1170 as ministeriales of the Hohenstaufen Frederick of Swabia. First
Welf, then
Hohenstaufen ministeriales, they controlled the Rhine Valley from Vaduz to
Lake Constance. The blinded, castrated
William III of Sicily, the last Norman king from the
House of Hauteville, was held prisoner in Alt-Ems Castle by the Lords of Ems from 1195 until his death at the age of 13. Between 1206 and 1207, the
Archbishop of Cologne,
Bruno IV of Sayn, was also held prisoner in Alt-Ems Castle. The activities of the members of the Ems family in Austrian service led to a rapid rise of the family. Furthermore, the Emsians succeeded in gaining sovereign rights through loans to various emperors and the imperial pledges granted in return. In 1333, Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian granted the town of Ems the rights and freedoms of the
Imperial City of
Lindau, but the Lords of Ems were never able to implement this. In 1453, the title von Ems was supplemented by the addition of Hohenems.
16th to 18th centuries (early 17th century) Contrary to the general decline of the knightly nobility in the 16th century, the Lords of Ems succeeded in expanding their rule and rising to the imperial
nobility. Marx Sittich I von Ems (1466–1533) became a Colonel and General of the
Swabian League. During campaigns in Italy, around 1530, he succeeded in marrying one of his sons, Wolf-Dietrich (1507–1538), to Clara of the Milanese Medici di Marignano family, whose brother, Gian Giacomo "Il Mendeghino" (d. 1555), was a condottiere and whose other brother, Giovanni Angelo, was a cardinal. The latter adopted the name and coat of arms of the (unrelated) Florentine Medici family and was elected Pope Pius IV in 1559. He immediately endowed his numerous Italian and German nephews with benefices to secure his power. As early as 27 April 1560, Wolf-Dietrich's sons (Jakob Hannibal, the later Cardinal Marx Sittich III and Gabriel) and their cousin Marx Sittich II were elevated to the rank of
Imperial Count by the Emperor.
Markus Sittikus von Hohenems was created a
Cardinal by his papal uncle in 1561 and promoted to Governor of the
March of Ancona. From 1561 to 1589 he served as
Bishop of Constance and then at the Curia in Rome. Markus Sittikus' brother Jakob Hannibal von Hohenems became general in the troops of
Charles V and
Philip II. His cousins were the Milanese Cardinal
Charles Borromeo and Cardinal
Federico Borromeo, and his nephews were
Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, who later became
Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1587 to 1612, and
Markus Sittikus IV von Hohenems (youngest son of Jakob Hannibal), who also rose to become Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1612 to 1619.
Altemps in Rome The Prince-Bishop of Constance and, later, Cardinal of the
Curia,
Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, acquired the Palazzo Riario (afterwards called
Palazzo Altemps) in
Rome in 1568 and housed his collection of antiquities there, which later came to be housed in the Vatican Museums. One of the cardinal's natural sons, Roberto Altemps (–1586), who Latinized the name Hohenems to Altemps, was appointed commander of the papal troops in Avignon and Duke of Gallese under
Pope Sixtus V at a young age. However, when he married Cornelia
Orsini, whose family was one of the Pope's fiercest enemies, the Pope had him beheaded at the age of only 20 for alleged adultery. His descendants formed the Italian Princely House of Altemps (not to be confused with the Austrian
Counts of Attems, who were of Italian descent). The Italian line only died out in the male line in 1964 with
Don Duke Alessandro Altemps. The titles
Duke of Altemps (
Duca di Altemps),
Marquess of Soriano (
Marchese di Soriano),
Count of Meduraca (
Conte di Meduraca), and
Lord of Tassignano (
Signore di Tassignano) passed to his grandson, Prince
Don Alessandro
Boncompagni-
Ludovisi-
Rondinelli-
Vitelli-Altemps (b. 1972). ==Notable members==