Reiss (noble family)

Reuss (lit. “Russian”) is a nickname worn in the 14th century by the founder of the younger line, Henry I of Russia ^[1] , who traveled to Carpathian Russia with his bride and future wife, Jutta Schwarzburg-Blankenburg , granddaughter of Daniil Galitsky . ^[2]

A feature of the Reuss dynasty was the system of naming and numbering their representatives: all men of the clan were named Henry , in addition, unlike other dynasties, which gave numbers only to their ruling members, the Reuss clan numbered all men, while boys in the same family did not have to be counted in order, since all members of the dynasty are part of the same numbering system. The sons of Henry LXVII of Reuss-Schleitz, for example, were named Henry V, Henry VIII, Henry XI, Henry XIV and Henry XVI.

In the older line, the numbering of male representatives resumed when their number reached one hundred (that is, Henry I followed Henry C), in the younger line, the numbering resumed with the beginning of each new century. The numbers of deceased members of the surname were reused.

Representatives of the Race House were rulers of various lands and states (mainly in the area known as Vogtland ). During the reign of the house of his land underwent many divisions and associations, which was a common occurrence in medieval Germany; at the end of the 17th century , ten independent counties were simultaneously controlled by members of the clan . In the end, two principalities were formed on the Reuss lands - Reuss of the senior line and Reiss of the younger line , which in 1871 became one of the founders of the German Empire . Their princes lost their thrones during the November Revolution of 1918 .

The first historically reliable representative of the dynasty is Erkenbert I, who in 1122 was appointed vogt (imperial governor) in Weida . His descendants retained this position, gradually making it hereditary. Erkenbert's grandson Henry II the Rich concentrated in his hands vast possessions, which included, in addition to Wade, also Hera , Plauen , Greitz and Ronneburg . After the death of Henry II in 1209, his three sons - Henry III, Henry IV and Henry V - shared their fatherly possessions. The eldest brother inherited the Vogt fogtstvo itself, the middle one received the plogtn and Hera fogtstvo, and the youngest got the Greitz fogtstage. From that moment, Wade was controlled by a separate branch of the Royce House. Its representatives continued to be called Vogt until 1404.

After the death of Henry V, who died childless, in 1239 , his possession of the Fogitz Greits passed to his nephews - the sons of Henry IV - the Vogts of Plauen and Hera.

In 1244, the sons of Henry IV, bearing the same name as Henry I, made a division of their father's possessions, as a result of which the older brother became a Vogt of Plauen, founding the branch of the Vogt and Viceroys of the Plauen, and the younger received Hera, becoming the ancestor of the branch of the Vogt and rulers of the Heroes, Shleitsky and Lobenshteins .

In 1404, Henry XVI received the title of ruler ( German Herr ; similar to the French title seigneur ), which finally confirmed the actual independence of Weida from the imperial crown. Having taken the title, Henry XVI divided Wade with his brothers, Henry XVII and Henry XVIII. Soon, the elder brother exchanged his part of Wade for Bumblebee , and the middle sold his lands to the Margraine of Meissen . In 1427, Henry XVIII also transferred his possessions to Meissen in exchange for Berg , and thus the entire territory of the Weid rule was in the hands of the Vettins . In 1454, Henry XVIII bought from the Meissen burgraph of Henry II, the representative of the Plauen branch of the Reuss house, the ownership of Wildenfels, where his descendants ruled for some time.

Henry XXIII did not leave male heirs, so after his death Wildenfels was transferred to Count Johann Heinrich von Schwarzburg-Leitenberg - the husband of his only daughter Margarita. With the death of Margarita in 1569, the line of the Wade rulers was cut short.

One of the members of the Plauen branch, Heinrich von Plauen from 1410 to 1413. was the 27th great master of the Teutonic Order . The other, Heinrich Reuss von Plauen, was the 32nd Grand Master (from 1469 to 1470).

In 1673, the rulers of the Upper and Lower Greitz were granted the title of imperial counts. After the death of the childless Henry III ( 1701 - 1768 ), Count of the Lower Greitz, the Lower Greek line ceased. Her possessions were inherited by the fourth cousin of the deceased - the head of the Upper Greek line, Count Henry XI ( 1722 - 1800 ). Thus Greitz was united.

In 1778, the counts of Upper and Lower Greitz received the title of princes and Henry XI became the first prince of the Principality of Reuss-Greitz . Before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Counts of Hera, Schleitz, Lobenstein , Kestrits and Ebersdorf were also mediated. In 1848, the counties united to form the single Principality of Reuss-Gera ( Fürstentum Reuß jüngerer Linie , lit. "Principality of Reuss of the younger line").

In 1928, the last representative of the older line, Henry XXIV, who had no children, died, after which the representative of the younger line, Henry XLV (1895-1945), became the head of the house. After his death on the eastern front, the head of the house, taking the title Prince Reuss , became the representative of the middle branch of the Reyss-Kestritsky princes Henry IV (born 1919).

• Reiss Residences
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  Upper Castle in Greiz

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  Princely Greenhouse in Gera

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  Ebersdorf Palace

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  Lower Castle in Greiz

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  Osterburg Castle in Wajda

In 1804, Princess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf married Marie Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saalfeld. Ten children were born from marriage, some of which played an important role in European history:

• Julianna-Henrietta-Ulrika , known in Russia as the Grand Duchess Anna Fedorovna, wife of Tsarevich Konstantin Pavlovich ;
• Ernst I Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, married to Louise Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , father of Prince Consort Albert
• Victoria , Duchess of Kent, mother of Alexandrina Victoria , Queen of Great Britain;
• Leopold I king of Belgium; ^[3] .

Princess Augusta Reiss-Schleitz-Kestritsky in 1849 married Frederick Franz II , Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerinsky. They had six children, of which:

• Friedrich Franz III is married to Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna ;
• Maria Pavlovna (in Orthodoxy) was married to Vladimir Alexandrovich ;

In 1898, Prince Henry XXX of Reuss-Kestritsky married Princess Theodore of Saxe-Meiningen , daughter of the granddaughter of German Emperor Frederick III , the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria .

In 1908, Princess Eleanor Reiss-Kestritskaya married King of Bulgaria Ferdinand I.

Great-great-grandfather of Prince Henry XXXIII of Roy was the Russian Emperor Paul I. In 1913, the prince married Victoria Margarita to the Princess of Prussia.

• List of Rulers of Reiss
• Royce - a river in Switzerland
• Reiss - last names

• Complete pedigree tables
• Reuß, das Fürstenhaus // Biographical Dictionary of the Austrian Empire (German) .