Regents of Hohenzollern

The county of Hohenzollern, or Zollern as it was first called, was during its entire existence an insignificant principality in Swabia. More famous is the dynasty with the same name which ruled Hohenzollern and was from 1192 also burgraves of Nuremberg. The brothers Konrad and Friedrich IV partitioned the Hohenzollern lands so that Konrad got Nuremberg and Friedrich got the county of Hohenzollern. It was from Konrad the electors of Brandenburg and kings of Prussia descended.

After the 1192 partition the county of Hohenzollern would not play any significant part of German history at all. Continuous partitions contributed to this. Already in 1125 had the Hohenzollern lands been partitioned so that a collateral line ruled over the county of Hohenberg to 1468. Another early partition occurred 1288 when the collateral line became counts of Schalksburg to 1403.

The county of Hohenzollern was elevated to a principality 1623 and ceded to Prussia 1849. However the princely branch of the house of Hohenzollern lived on and they became later princes (1866-1881) and kings (1881-1947) of Romania.