The Limpurg Inheritance


The castle of Limpurg (near Schwäbisch Hall) at the limit between Wurttemberg and Franconia was built by a family of ministerial origin who exercised the royal office of butler (Schenken).  It is first named around 1230 or 1240, and the family itself appears as early as 1144.  Over the course of time they increased their holdings, in particular with the lordship of Welzheim, a fief of Wurttemberg (1335), Speckfeld (1411, by marriage with the heiress countess Elisabeth von Hohenlohe-Speckfeld), Sommerhausen and Mainfranken (1435), Gröningen (1436), Schmiedelfeld (before 1437), Sontheim (1441).   From 1356 the family held the hereditary office (Erbamt) of Imperial butler in fief from Bohemia. 

In 1441, the family divided itself into two branches: Limpurg-Gaildorf-Schmiedelfeld (ext. 1690) and Limpurg-Speckfeld-Obersontheim (ext. 1705 and 1713).   They belonged to the imperial knighthood, but from the mid-17th c. they took the title of count and belonged to the bench of the counts of Franconia in the Imperial Diet.   At the extinction of the family in 1713 the fiefs returned to the various overlords (Bavaria, Wurttemberg, the Empire) but the allodial goods, collectively known as the county of Limpurg (6.8 square miles, 11,000 inhabitants) were divided between many heirs. 

The eldest line of Gaildorf ruled over half of the county of Limpurg, and resided at Gaildorf.  The junior line ruled over the other half and over the lordship of Speckfeld in Franconia (5 villages, 5000 inhabitants), and resided at Obersontheim and Sommershausen.  When the eldest line became extinct in male line in 1690, its possessions were divided between the last count's daughters and the junior line; the portion of Limpurg that went to the junior line was the lordship of Schmiedelfeld.  Then, in 1693, the remaining junior line, consisting of two brothers who jointly ruled, partitioned their inheritance, forming (however briefly) two lines, namely Limpurg-Sontheim-Schmiedelfeld and Limpurg-Speckfeld.  The eldest brother died in 1713, the younger brother in 1705.  At their deaths their possessions were divided between their daughters.  Further partitions, intermarriages, sales and cancellations of sales in the ensuing 120 years resulted in considerable confusion.  The following table (taken from Allemagne dynastique, vol. 2, p. 464-66) summarizes what happened.

Wilhelm Heinrich von Limpurg-Gaildorf (d. 1690)

Vollrath von Limpurg-Speckfeld zu Obersontheim (d. 1713)

Georg Eberhard von Limpurg-Speckfeld (d. 1705)