county · Germany and Central Europe
County of Helfenstein
Origins
The lords of Helfenstein appear around 1100 with a castle on the Swabian Jura above Geislingen an der Steige. The family rose under the Staufer and by the 14th century held a sizeable territory on the Alb and the Fils valley, controlling the main road from Stuttgart to Ulm.
Rule and society
In 1396 the counts, deep in debt, sold most of their lands, including Geislingen, to the imperial city of Ulm. They kept a smaller territory around Wiesensteig and became a modest family of Swabian counts who served the Habsburgs. Count Ludwig Helferich of Helfenstein was killed in the Weinsberg massacre of the Peasants' War in 1525.
Decline and legacy
The last count, Rudolf, died in 1627. His territory around Wiesensteig passed through heiresses to the Fürstenberg family and, in 1642, partly to Bavaria. The ruins of Helfenstein castle still stand above Geislingen.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- County of Helfenstein was part of Holy Roman Empire1100 CE – 1627 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Helfenstein. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-helfenstein
- MLA
- “County of Helfenstein.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-helfenstein. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “County of Helfenstein.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-helfenstein.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Helfenstein’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-helfenstein (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻