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The Liechtenstein Family is one of the oldest noble families of Austria. With Hugo von Liechtenstein, a bearer of this name is first mentioned in 1136. He was of free noble descent and called himself after Liechtenstein Castle, situated to the south of Vienna. Various hypotheses exist concerning his ancestors: descent from the Lords of Donauwürth is assumed on the one hand and, on the other, in more recent times, a line of descent from the Lords of Machland, the so-called Haderichs.
Hugo von Liechtenstein and, somewhat later, Albrecht von Liechtenstein, owned property to the south of Vienna, they probably already owned estates on the Northeast border of Lower Austria. Filation of the Liechtensteiners began with certainty in the next generation, although relationship of this generation to Hugo and Albrecht cannot be established. The year 1249 was important for the family; in that year Heinrich von Liechtenstein obtained the Lordship of Nikolsburg in South Moravia as free property, an acquisition of great political significance. Resulting from this, the family acquired a substantial possession within the territory of the Wenzel crown.
The
importance of that acquisition was demonstrated in 1392, when Johann I von
Liechtenstein, Chamberlain of the Royal Household of the Hapsburg Duke Albrecht
III, after nearly 30 years of government leadership on the Duke's behalf,
lost, together with his family, virtually all the family's possessions south
of the Danube, probably as the result of the Hapsburg's power political aspirations.
During the following decades the family strove, by means of new acquisitions,
to consolidate the possessions in Lower Austria, and in particular in South
Moravia.
In the thirteenth century the family divided into three lines, the Liechtenstein, the Rohrauer and the Petroneller. The two last named lines became extinct already in the next generation and in consequence a great deal of family property was lost. A similar course of events took place at the beginning of the sixteenth century when, with the Family Covenant of 1504, three lines were formed, a Steyregger, a Feldsberger and a Nikolsburger line. Only the Feldsberger line survived longer than a few generations, but this time, well considered family laws ensured that the property of the lines becoming extinct devolved upon the survivors.
In the sixteenth century the family turned to the new faith and entered as ardent supporters into the Anabaptism movement of the so-called "Moravian Brothers." Around the turn of the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, the three sons of Hartmann of Liechtenstein, Karl, Maximilian and Gundaker initiated a new period of family history in which they converted to the Roman Catholic faith.
In the year 1606 Karl received the appointment of the Grand Count Palatinate, in 1608 the rank of Hereditary Prince, in 1623 his brothers were elevated to the rank of Hereditary Imperial Prince. The brothers Karl, Maximilian and Gundaker succeeded in enlarging the Liechtenstein property many times over.
In
the critical hours of the history of the Hapsburgs, during the second decade
of the seventeenth century, the House of Liechtenstein stood by the Hapsburgs
and the decisive victory against the Bohemian rebels in 1620 was achieved
with the intervention of the brothers Karl and Maximilian. From the time of
the attainment of the title of Imperial Prince, the House of Liechtenstein
strove to acquire territory having imperial immediacy; however, it was nearly
one hundred years before Karl's grandson, Prince Johann Adam (1657- 1712)
purchased the territories of Schellenberg in 1699 and Vaduz in 1712 which,
with a document dated the 23 January 1799, were joined and raised to rank
of Imperial Principality of Liechtenstein.
After the male line of Prince Karl I ceased in 1712, Anton Florian, a descendant of Gundaker, became the Ruling Prince. Whereas in the eighteenth century the country tended to be rather of peripheral interest - as the family continued to reside in Austria - it occupied an increasingly central position following its attainment of sovereignty in 1806 and in the twentieth century it became the residence of the ruling Princes.
All the living members of the present ruling family are descended from Prince Johannes I (1760 - 1836). Prince Franz Josef II (1906 - 1989), the father of the present ruling Prince, moved his permanent domicile to Vaduz in 1938.
Prince Hans Adam II started remanaging the family assets prior the death of his father as in 1984, he assumed control as deputy of the ruling succession. The Prince, Hans Adam II and his wife, Princess Marie (née Countess Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) have four children.
Karl
I - Karl
Eusebius - Hans
Adam I - Anton
Florian - Josef
Johann - Johann
Nepomuk - Josef
Wenzel - Franz
Josef I - Alois
I - Johann
I - Alois
II - Johann
II - Franz
- Franz
Josef II - Hans
Adam II - The
Future - Alois