Barony of Westerburg

After this older branch died out, the lords of Westerburg inherited most of the estate rights of their Runkel cousins.

By around 1250 family disputes arose that, under Siegfried' grandchildren, finally led to the separation of the baronies of Runkel and Westerburg, at the latest in 1288.

He underlined the enmity by building the Schadeck Castle, first recorded in 1288, on the north bank of the Lahn opposite Runkel.

For example, they married into the houses of Isenburg Limburg, Solms, Merenberg, Sayn, Virneburg, Leiningen, Wied, Cronberg, Diez, Weilnau, Runkel and even Nassau-Wiesbaden.

When Countess Margareta died in 1470, her entire Westerburg and Leiningen estate fell to her grandson Reinhard IV who, with the imperial permission, named himself Count Reinhard I of Leiningen-Westerburg from 1475 onwards and moved his seat to the County of Leiningen.

It was not until 1557 that Westerburg was once again the seat of secondary lines of the House of Leiningen, which was repeatedly divided.