The County of Löwenstein belonged to a branch of the family of the counts of Calw before 1281, when it was purchased by the German King Rudolph I of Habsburg, who presented it to his natural son Albert.

[1] With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806,[1] the county was mediatized and its territory was split among Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and Hesse.

[1] The current monarchs of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, as well as the pretenders to the thrones of Portugal, the Two Sicilies, Bavaria, and Austria-Hungary are descended (not in the male line) from the Rosenberg branch.

Rupert zu Löwenstein, the longtime financial manager of the Rolling Stones, was a member of the Freudenberg branch.

His daughter and heiress Maria Christina of Löwenstein-Scharffeneck (1625–1673) married Gabriel Oxenstierna, Count of Korsholm and Vaasa (1619–1673).