House of Fürstenberg (Swabia)

The House of Fürstenberg (German pronunciation: [ˈfʏʁstn̩ˌbɛʁk] ⓘ) was an influential Swabian noble family in Germany, based primarily in what is today southern Baden-Württemberg near the source of the Danube river.

Numerous members of the family have risen to prominence over the centuries as soldiers, churchmen, diplomats, and academics.

Fürstenberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in Swabia, present-day southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

In 1607, Count Frederick IV of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg acquired the fief of Weitra in Lower Austria by marriage.

After the Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg branch of the family became extinct in 1716, the counts Froben Ferdinand of Fürstenberg-Messkirch and Joseph Wilhelm Ernst of Fürstenberg-Stühlingen became princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

The first Fürst zu Fürstenberg of the Fürstenberg-Stühlingen branch, which mainly resided in Bohemia, Joseph Wilhelm Ernst, was born 12 January 1699.

He was the second son of Prosper Ferdinand, Count of Fürstenberg-Stühlingen, killed at the Landau on 21 November 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession, and his wife Sophia, Countess of Königsegg-Rothenfels (1674–1727).

After her death in 1756, he married in 1761 to Maria Anna countess von der Wahl (born 22 September 1736 – 21 March 1808).

They had three sons: Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg married his cousin Princess Elisabetha Alexandrina von Thurn und Taxis (30 November 1767  – 21 July 1822) in Prague.