Charles II, Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Charles II, Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Charles II, Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (German: Karl II, Graf von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) (1547 – 8 April 1606) became Count of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in 1576 and remained so until his death. He was the fifth but second surviving son of Charles I, Count of Hohenzollern and Anna, daughter of Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach.

Life

Initially, he was educated in Vienna, and later in Freiburg im Breisgau jointly with his older brother Eitel Friedrich. Later, he assisted to the Aulic Council in Vienna, where his father served as president; there, he gained the trust and friendship of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria (son of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I) and went into his service to Tyrol, being able to established good connections with the Holy Roman Empire, which was seen in 1570 when he was appointed Supreme Captain and Governor in Alsace. Two years later, Charles II took over the guardianship of Count Jakob of Geroldseck.

Under the rule of his father Charles I the possessions of the county of Zollern (who in the narrow sense where the districts of Sigmaringen, Böhringen, Haigerloch and Wehrstein) was still united. The three oldest sons were entitled to jointly inherit, but in 1576 they decided to contract a pact of inheritance, where they received each of them an economically equivalent part of the County, founding the three lines of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Haigerloch, and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Charles II received the district of Sigmaringen with the monasteries of Hedingen and Inzigkofen and the County of Veringen.[1] However, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had high inheritance taxes to paid to the Holy Roman Empire. A judgment of the Reichskammergericht in 1588 stated that the County of Sigmaringen was an imperial fief. However, this assessment was until 1806 called into question.

Charles II chose Sigmaringen as his main residence and rebuild Sigmaringen Castle. Between 1576 and 1606 he ordened the construction of the vault in the castle and a church next. In 1589 he acquired the Ratzenhofen Castle in the village of Sigmaringendorf. In 1595 he bought the district of Krauchenwies, which remained closely connected with the County of Sigmaringen until 1850, when was annexed by Prussia.

Marriages and Issue

In Munich on 18 January 1569 Charles II married firstly with Euphrosyne (1552 – 5 October 1590), a daughter of Frederick V, Count of Oettingen-Wallerstein. They had fifteen children:

In Sigmaringen on 13 May 1591, Charles II married secondly with Elisabeth (1567 – 8 May 1620), a daughter of Floris, Freiherr of Palant and Count of Cuylenburg and widow of James III, Margrave of Baden-Hachberg. They had ten children:

Notes

  1. ↑ Gerhard Köbler: Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder. Die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. 7. vollständig überarbeitete Auflage. C. H. Beck, München 2007, p. 293.

References

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