The family originates from
Liechtenstein Castle in
Lower Austria (near
Vienna), which the family possessed from at least 1136 to the 13th century, and from 1807 onwards. The progenitor Hugo von Liechtenstein (d. 1156) built Liechtenstein Castle around 1122-36 on a
fief that he received from the
Babenberg margraves of Austria. He also received
Petronell on the Danube and
Rohrau Castle, near the then border with the
Kingdom of Hungary, at first as a fief, from 1142 as a free property (
allod). Heinrich I (d. 1265), lord of Liechtenstein and Petronell, was given the lordship of
Nikolsburg in southern Moravia as free property from
Ottokar II of Bohemia, whom he supported politically, in 1249. It remained one of the most important seats until it was sold in 1560. In 1394, John I of Liechtenstein, lord of Nikolsburg (d. 1397), acquired the Feldsberg estate (then Lower Austria, today
Valtice, Czech Republic). When he fell out of favor with
Albert III, Duke of Austria, for whom he had long conducted government business, he lost his lands south of the Danube, but could keep Nikolsburg because Bohemia and Moravia did not come to the Habsburgs until 1526. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in
Moravia,
Lower Austria,
Silesia and
Styria, though in all cases, these territories were parts of countries that were ruled by other dynasties, particularly the
House of Habsburg, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisers. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, the three brothers
Karl,
Maximilian and
Gundakar initiated a new period in the family history. The nobility and population in Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia had predominantly converted to Protestantism during the
Reformation period of the 16th century; however, the three brothers converted back to the Catholic faith at the right time before the outbreak of the mainly religiously motivated
Thirty Years' War. The Habsburgs, who ruled the
Holy Roman Empire almost continuously until 1806 as
Holy Roman Emperors, had always preserved their Catholic faith. The three brothers supported the ultra-catholic
Emperor Ferdinand II in crushing the
Bohemian Revolt. Maximilian, as Field Marshal, won the
Battle of White Mountain. On diplomatic missions, Gundaker prepared the
Catholic League, which fought for the Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War. Karl restored order as Viceroy of Bohemia and oversaw the arrests and executions of the 27 Protestant leaders of the uprising. For this they were all three made
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In addition, they were able to cheaply acquire huge lands from expelled and dispossessed Protestant nobles in Bohemia and Moravia, especially since Karl himself, as the Emperor's representative, carried out these confiscations. He also received the
Duchy of Troppau and the
Duchy of Krnov (Jägerndorf) in Silesia from the Emperor. The respective
Fürst still holds these two ducal titles to this day. The Moravian and Bohemian possessions acquired at the time included:
Bučovice,
Moravská Třebová,
Moravský Krumlov,
Uherský Ostroh (with
Kunovice and
Hluk),
Šternberk and a palace in Prague (on
Malostranské náměstí). In 1802
Velké Losiny was added. Most of these estates remained in the possession of the princely house until
Czechoslovakia expropriated them in 1945. In 1622, Maximilian founded a monastery in
Vranov, in whose family crypt almost all Liechtenstein princes were buried, until a new crypt was built in
Vaduz in 1960. Despite all the extensive land acquisitions, the rise of the House of Liechtenstein was still missing the decisive factor: Although they bore the title of Princes in the Empire, this was only an
honorary title, because the family did not yet possess any territory with semi-
sovereignty (Landeshoheit) within the Empire. All their lands were
fiefs (feudal grants) granted to them by the Habsburg emperor in his capacity as both Bohemian king and Austrian archduke, but none of them depended directly on the Imperial crown, the group of so-called
immediate territories that formed the apex of the fief pyramid and enjoyed the highest prestige and, more importantly, were represented with hereditary seats in the
Imperial Diet (
Reichstag). The then head of the family,
Prince Hans-Adam I, was able to arrange the purchase from the
Hohenems family of the minuscule
Lordship of Schellenberg in 1699, and the
County of Vaduz in 1712. Schellenberg and Vaduz were indeed a lordship and a county respectively, which were directly subordinate to the emperor as feudal lord. , Austria On 23 January 1719, after the purchase had been made,
Charles VI as
Holy Roman Emperor decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg to be united and raised to the dignity of a Principality by the name of "Liechtenstein", in honour of "[his] true servant,
Anton Florian of Liechtenstein", the successor of Hans-Adam I. On this date, the brand new principality of Liechtenstein became a member state of the Holy Roman Empire whereby the ruling princes became the
monarchs of Liechtenstein and they finally received the longed-for hereditary seat in the Reichstag. However, the ruling princes did not set foot in their new principality for several decades, a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases. Since the small country, far away from Vienna and Bohemia, consisted only of farming villages, the administration was installed in the nearest town,
Feldkirch in Austria, where the prince had an office building built for his governor.
Vaduz Castle, the center of the medieval county of that name, remained unused and was rented out as a restaurant for hikers until the late 19th century. With the end of the
Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the
Principality of Liechtenstein became sovereign and was recognized in this status by the
Congress of Vienna in 1814/1815.
Johann I became the first sovereign ruler. He acquired a number of castles and estates in Austria for his numerous sons, which are still mostly inhabited by their descendants today. The reigning princes continued to live in their magnificent
Vienna residences,
Liechtenstein City Palace and
Liechtenstein Garden Palace, and on their Moravian and Bohemian estates, with
Lednice and Valtice (German names: Eisgrub and Feldsberg) as their main residence. The border between Austria and Bohemia-Moravia, both member states of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire under the
Habsburg rule, ran through the park between the two castles. The local administration of the Principality of Liechtenstein was overseen by a governor, and the government office was located at the prince's seat. It was not until the
Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) by
Nazi Germany at the beginning of
World War II that the residence was moved from Valtice to
Vaduz. The prince had opposed the annexation of Czech territory, including Valtice and Lednice, into
Sudetenland, and as a consequence his properties were confiscated by the Nazis, and the family then relocated to Vaduz in 1939. Austria had also been annexed by Germany through the
Anschluss in 1938. After the Second World War, not only were the family's Czechoslovak properties expropriated, but in
Allied-occupied Austria most of their properties were also located in the Soviet occupation zone and were therefore inaccessible until the end of the occupation in 1955. Due to the expropriations in Czechoslovakia as a result of the
Beneš decrees in 1945, the family lost a large part of their land holdings, with about 1,200 square kilometers (463 square miles), 7.5 times the total area of the Principality itself. It was only able to restore its prosperity, including the upkeep of numerous castles in Austria and of the world-famous art collections, in the last quarter of the 20th century by expanding its small Liechtenstein bank into the internationally operating financial company
LGT Group. According to the
Constitution of the Princely House of Liechtenstein of 26 October 1993, all members other than the reigning prince shall bear the titles of Prince or Princess of Liechtenstein and Count or Countess of
Rietberg. File:Prince Karl I of Liechtenstein.jpg|
Karl I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1569–1627), created
Prince in 1608,
Viceroy of
Bohemia 1622 File:Johann Adam Andreas v Liechtenstein.jpg|
Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1662–1712), acquired the territory of the
Principality File:Johann Josef I von Liechtenstein.jpg|
Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein (1760–1836), the last prince to rule under the
Holy Roman Empire and the first ruler of a sovereign state from 1806 File:JohannesII.jpg|
Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1840–1929), allied the principality with Switzerland after the downfall of the
Habsburg monarchy in 1918 File:Fürst Franz Josef II..jpg|
Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906–1989), remained neutral throughout
World War II ==Rulers==