Steinian Germany

The County of Stein emerged in the early 12th century and by the end of the century had acquired the so-called Rheingraviate (on the right bank of the Rhein west of Wiesbaden). That was a unique entity, where the name of the geographic entity was indistinguishable from the title associated with it. It was not “County of Rheingraviate” nor was it “Rheingraviate of Rheingau”—it was just “Rheingraviate” and the associated dynasty was “Rheingrafian”. Although the geographic territory was lost to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1281, the title and the dynasty name remained in common usage by the Steinians until the end of the Empire. Nevertheless, I recognize only the title and use “Steinian Germany” as the nation name to clearly distinguish it from its Emichonen predecessors, who also used the Rheingraviate title.

 

Over the next two centuries, the Steinians acquired two “Wildgraviates”–Dhaun (not related to Daunian Germany) in 1350 and Kyrburg in 1419. Those proved to be attractive titles as well and the Steinians added them to become the “Wild- und Rheingraviate.” Many sources use that name alone to identify all Steinian territory within modern Germany, but I continue using it as a title to describe the underlying geographic entity (e.g., the Wild- und Rheingraviates of Dhaun and Kyburg). An additional naming complication arose in 1475, when the Steinians acquired the County of Upper Salm (located in modern France). Thereafter, their lineages always incorporated “Salm” into their names, even though they (like the Reifferscheidians, who did the same after inheriting Lower Salm) were not Salmian.

 

In 1499, the Wild- und Rheingraviate lands were partitioned, with subpartitions occuring on several occasions. My country naming convention keeps track of all of those lineage-based entities and identifies which geographic countries they ruled. I characterize those as personal unions between the geographic entity and the lineage-based entity. Eventually, Kyburg and (Upper) Salm were promoted to principalities and I recognize those as countries without referencing any personal unions.

 

In the following list of countries in Steinian Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics. Entities in blue-gray fall outside the geographic scope of the database.

 

Lineage-based Steinian entities
  • County/Rheingraviate of Stein (1126-1220; 1306-1574-1794)
    • Rheingraviate of Stein-Rheinberg (1220-1306)
    • Rheingraviate of Stein-Rheingrafenstein (1220-1306)
    • in personal union with Upper Salm (1475-1499)
    • in personal union with Salm-Dhaun-Neufviller (1499-1574)
    • in personal union with Salm-Grumbach (1574-1668; 1750-1794)
    • in personal union with Salm-Grumbach-Grehweiler (1668-1750)
  • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Upper Salm (1475-1499)
    • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Dhaun-Neufviller (1499-1574)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Salm-Neufviller (1574-1610)
        • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Salm (1610-1623)
        • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Neufviller (1610-1696)
          • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Neufviller-Hoogstraten (1696-1738)*
          • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Neufviller-Leuze (1696-1743)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Grumbach (1574-1794)
        • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Grumbach-Grehweiler (1668-1750)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Dhaun (1574-1754)
        • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Dhaun-Püttlingen* (1697-1748)
    • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Kyrburg (1499-1574-1607)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Kyrburg-Kyrburg (1607-1688)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Kyrburg-Tronecken (1607-1637)
      • Wild- und Rheingraviate of Salm-Kyrburg-Mörchingen (1607-1681)*
    • Principality of Salm-Salm (1623-1793)
    • Principality of Salm-Kyrburg (1743-1794)

 

Countries acquired by lineage-based Steinian entities
  • Rheingraviate (1194-1281)
    • in personal union with Stein (1194-1220)
    • in personal union with Stein-Rheingrafenstein (1220-1281)
  • Wildgraviate of Dhaun (1350-1754)
    • in personal union with Stein (1350-1475)
    • in personal union with Upper Salm (1475-1499)
    • in personal union with Salm-Dhaun-Neufville (1499-1574)
    • in personal union with Salm-Dhaun (1574-1754)
    • in personal union with Salm-Grumbach (1754-1794)
  • Wildgraviate of Kyrburg (1419-1794)
    • in personal union with Stein (1419-1475)
    • in personal union with Upper Salm (1475-1499)
    • in personal union with Salm-Kyrburg (1499-1574-1607)
    • in personal union with Salm-Kyrburg-Kyrburg (1607-1688)
    • in personal union with Salm-Neufviller (adm. Salm-Grumbach) (1688-1696)
    • in personal union with Salm-Neufviller-Leuze (adm. Salm-Grumbach) (1696-1743)
    • administered by Salm-Grumbach (1743-1779)
    • self-governing (1779-1794)
  • County of Upper Salm (1475-1794)
    • self-governing (1475-1499)
    • in personal union with Salm-Dhaun-Neufviller (1499-1574)
    • in personal union with Salm-Salm-Neufviller (1574-1610)
    • in personal union with Salm-Salm (1610-1794)
  • Lordship of Anholt
    • in personal union with Salm-Neufviller (1649-1696)
    • in personal union with Salm-Neufviller-Hoogstraten (1696-1738)
    • in personal union with Salm-Salm (1738-1806)