Reußian Germany

The House of Reuß was actually a branch of the Vogt family, which established Lordships in Weida-Ronneburg, Plauen-Gera, and Greiz-Reichenbach beginning in the early 13th century. By 1306, Greiz and Plauen found themselves in personal union and decided to split up. The Greiz line adopted the Reuß name. The Weida and Plauen lines either died out or were absorbed into the Electorate of Saxony before 1500. The Gera line died out in 1550, and it entered into a personal union with by Greiz.

 

In 1564, the territory of the Lordships of Greiz and Gera were partitioned among three sons of the ruler. Their territories came to be identified with the birth order of their founding lord rather than with the seat of the lordships. That does not conform to my naming conventions, so although I use the birth order in the fully-specified country names, I substitute the seat of each lordship in the simplified country names. I also omit “Reuß” from the simplified names because it is redundant with the nation name. Thus “Reuß (elder line)” is replaced by “Untergreiz”, Reuß (middle line) is replaced by “Obergreiz”, and Reuß (younger line) is replaced by “Gera”.

 

The middle line died out in 1616 and its territory was distributed among the other two lines. The elder line partitioned itself several times beginning in 1596 and was not reunited until 1768. The younger line partitioned itself in 1647 and was not reunited (except for one nonsovereign spinoff) until 1848. Both reunited lines survived until the end of the German Empire in 1918.

 

Non-Reußian countries of Vogteian ancestry

• Lordship of Weida-Ronneburg (1209-1427)
• Lordship of Plauen-Gera (1209-1250)
  • Lordship of Plauen (1250-1482)
  • Lordship of Gera (1250-1550)
• Lordship of Greiz-Reichenbach (1209-1306)
  • in personal union with Plauen (1240-1306)

 

Reußian Germany

• Lordship of Greiz (1306-1564)
• Lordship of Gera (in personal union with Greiz) (1550-1564)
• Lordship/County/Principality of Reuß (elder line) (1564-1596; 1768-1848-1918)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (elder line)-Untergreiz (1596-1768)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (elder line)-Burgk (1596-1640; 1668-1697)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (elder line)-Dölau (1616-1636; 1694-1698)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (elder line)-Obergreiz (1625-1768)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (elder line)-Rothenthal (1668-1698)
• Lordship of Reuß (middle line—Obergreiz) (1564-1616)
• Lordship/County/Principality of Reuß (younger line) (1564-1647; 1848-1918)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (younger line)-Gera (1647-1802)
  • Lordship/County/Principality of Reuß (younger line)-Schleiz (1647-1848)
    • County/Principality of Reuß (younger line)-Schleiz-Köstritz (1693-1848-1918)
  • Lordship of Reuß (younger line)-Saalburg (1647-1666)
  • Lordship/County of Reuß (younger line)-Lobenstein (1647-1678)
    • County/Principality of Reuß (younger line)-Lobenstein-Lobenstein (1678-1824)
    • County/Principality of Reuß (younger line)-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf (1678-1848)
    • County of Reuß (younger line)-Lobenstein-Hirschfeld (1678-1711)