Lippe-Weissenfeld


Lippe-Weissenfeld is one of the junior branches of the House of Lippe, a dynasty ruling the Principality of Lippe until the German Revolution of 1918–19.
The Lippe-Weissenfeld branch split from the non-ruling comital branch of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1734.. Another side branch of the House of Lippe was the House of Schaumburg-Lippe, which from 1647 ruled the county, and from 1807, principality of Schaumburg-Lippe until 1918.

Counts

Lippe-Weissenfeld is the name of a cadet branch of the formerly ruling House of Lippe. The branch split from the branch Lippe-Biesterfeld when Ferdinand I, count of Lippe-Biesterfeld, received Weissenfeld manor house in the forest near Schieder-Schwalenberg as his seat in 1734. Both, Biesterfeld and Weissenfeld were so-called paragiums within the County of Lippe, the later Principality of Lippe which existed until 1918. The :de:Grafschaft Schwalenberg|County of Schwalenberg was inherited by the Counts of Lippe in 1365, and the estates of Biesterfeld and Weissenfeld were parts of it.
Simon VII, Count of Lippe begat a younger son, Count Jobst Hermann who founded the line of Counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld, and whose grandson, Count Ferdinand founded a cadet branch of the family that became Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld.

Princes

The brothers count Ferdinand and count Christian founded two branches of the line of Lippe-Weissenfeld. On 24 February 1916 the members of the elder branch, namely the family of Count Klemens zur Lippe-Weissenfeld and his legitimate descendants, were granted the title of Prince/Princess with the style of Serene Highness.
On 9 November 1918, all other legitimate cadet male/female members of the younger Lippe-Weissenfeld branch were upgraded from the title of Count/Countess with the style Illustrious Highness and granted the title of Prince/Princess with the style of Serene Highness by Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe.

Counts of Lippe-Weißenfeld (1762)

During the 18th century, the branch continued to live at the rather modest Weissenfeld manor house and also owned the Weissenfelder Hof in Lemgo, which both no longer exist. Towards the end of the 18th century, the family inherited considerable estates in the Electorate of Saxony, and moved there. Friedrich Ludwig, 2nd Count of Lippe-Weissenfeld, received the lordship of Baruth from his wife's family, the counts von Gersdorff, in 1797, and later also acquired the smaller estates of Dauban and Sornitz..
His elder son Ferdinand inherited the Baruth lordship, while the latter's younger half-brother Christian founded the younger line and received the estate of Teichnitz near Bautzen from the counts von Hohenthal, the family of his mother as well as of his wife. Later some smaller estates such as Lubachau, Gersdorf and Döberkitz were added. His grandson Clemens, 1st Prince of Lippe-Weißenfeld, acquired Schloss Proschwitz near Meissen by marriage in 1910. All properties were expropriated in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945.
After the German reunification of 1990, Prince Georg of Lippe-Weissenfeld, a younger son of Christian, 4th Prince of Lippe-Weissenfeld, re-purchased the estate and castle of Proschwitz and established the renowned wine estate Prinz zur Lippe. Besides the wine production, he opens the castle for concerts, balls, banquets, conferences and weddings.