This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2019) |
County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn Grafschaft Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn | |||||||||||
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Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
Capital | Sayn (in German) | ||||||||||
Government | Principality | ||||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Partitioned from Sayn-Wittgenstein | 1607 | ||||||||||
• Annexed by Archbishop of Cologne | 1623 | ||||||||||
• Succession resolved: partitioned in twain | 1648 | ||||||||||
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Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the Countship of Sayn. The succession was never clear, leading to the annexation of the county in 1623 by the Archbishop of Cologne. It was not until a treaty in 1648 (at the end of the Thirty Years' War) that it was decided the county would pass to the sisters Ernestine and Johanette of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, under the regency of their mother, Countess Louise Juliane von Erbach (1603–1670). They partitioned the county into Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hachenburg soon after.[1]
Count William III's sons from his second marriage with Countess Anna Ottilie of Nassau-Weilburg (1582-1635) became Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. The branch became extinct in 1846 with the death of Count Gustaf zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (1811-1846).
Count Ludwig Franz II of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg (1694–1750) founded a branch which in 1834[2] became Prussian princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg and in 1861 princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. The present head of this branch is Alexander, Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (born 1943), the 7th prince.[3][4]