principality · Germany and Central Europe

Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf

1678 CE – 1848 CE · capital Ebersdorf

Tiny Reuss lordship in Thuringia that became a stronghold of Pietism and the Moravian Brethren.

Origins

Ebersdorf was separated from Reuss-Lobenstein in 1678 for Heinrich X, a younger son of the Lobenstein line, creating a small county within the Younger Line of the House of Reuss in the Thuringian Highlands.

The counts of Ebersdorf were devout Pietists who turned their small residence into a religious centre. Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, founder of the renewed Moravian Church at Herrnhut, married Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf in 1722, and a Moravian congregation settled in Ebersdorf. Queen Victoria's maternal grandmother came from the family. The rulers became princes in 1806.

Ebersdorf inherited Reuss-Lobenstein in 1824. Prince Heinrich LXXII, an eccentric absolutist, abdicated during the revolution of 1848, and his lands passed to Reuss-Schleiz, forming the Principality of Reuss Younger Line.

Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-reuss-ebersdorf
MLA: “Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-reuss-ebersdorf. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-reuss-ebersdorf.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-reuss-ebersdorf (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻