House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
| County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg | ||||||||||
| Grafschaft Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg | ||||||||||
| State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Berleburg | |||||||||
| Languages | Westphalian | |||||||||
| Government | Principality | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Partitioned from Sayn-Wittgenstein |
1607 1607 |
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| • | Partitioned to create S-W-Homburg and S-W-Neumagen |
1631 |
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| • | Raised to Principality | 1792 | ||||||||
| • | Mediatised to Hesse | 1806 | ||||||||
| • | Annexed by Prussia | 1816 | ||||||||
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Coat of arms
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was one of several imperial counties ruled by the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Most of the former county is located in the present district of Siegen-Wittgenstein (in the modern state of North Rhine-Westphalia), Germany. Its seat was the town and palace in Berleburg (now Bad Berleburg).
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in the 16th century; the southern and more-developed portion was the County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein with its seat Laaspe (now Bad Laasphe). Wittgenstein-Berleburg was raised from a county to a principality (Reichsfürstentum) in 1792, and was mediatised to the Grand Duchy of Hesse in 1806 before being annexed to Prussia in 1816.
Four branches of the princely House of Sayn were extant at the beginning of the 20th century, each having inherited its own appanage while the family enjoyed Imperial immediacy as vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. In order of seniority of legitimate descent from their progenitor, Ludwig I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1532-1605), they were the:
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