county · Germany and Central Europe
Lordship of Plauen
Origins
The advocates of Weida, imperial officials whose men were all named Henry, governed lands on the upper Elster and Saale for the Hohenstaufen emperors. From about 1209 a branch ruled Plauen, and the whole region came to be called the Vogtland after their title. Over time they treated the office as a hereditary lordship.
Rule and society
The lords ruled a hilly district of farms, forests and small towns from Plauen. Family members served as knights and administrators, and Heinrich von Plauen defended Marienburg after the Battle of Grunwald and became Grand Master of the State of the Teutonic Order. The Wettins and Bohemian kings steadily eroded their power; in 1466 the Wettins took Plauen.
Decline and legacy
Henry IV of Plauen, Burgrave of Meissen and Bohemian chancellor, recovered Plauen in 1547. His line died out in 1572 and the lands passed to Saxony. Another branch of the family survived as the princes of Reuss, rulers in eastern Thuringia until 1918.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Lordship of Plauen was part of Holy Roman Empire1209 CE – 1572 CE
- Lordship of Plauen was a vassal of Kingdom of Bohemia1327 CE – 1466 CE
More states of Germany and Central Europe →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lordship of Plauen. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-plauen
- MLA
- “Lordship of Plauen.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-plauen. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Lordship of Plauen.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-plauen.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lordship of Plauen’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lordship-of-plauen (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻