Principality of Waldeck

The County of Waldeck (later the Principality of Waldeck and Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and its successors from the late 12th century until 1929. In 1349 the county gained Imperial immediacy and in 1712 was raised to the rank of principality. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 it was a constituent state of its successors: the Confederation of the Rhine, the German Confederation, the North German Confederation, and the German Empire. After the abolition of the monarchy in 1918, the renamed Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont became a component of the Weimar Republic until divided between Hannover and other Prussian provinces in 1929. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony (Germany). History Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire from 1180. The ruling counts were a branch of the Counts of Schwalenberg (at Schwalenberg Castle). Waldeck Castle (Waldeck), overlooking the Eder river at Waldeck and first mentioned in 1120, was inherited by Count Widekind I of Schwalenberg and his son Volkwin, from the counts of Itter and the counts of Ziegenhain, when they married wives of these families. Waldeck remained the main residence of the county until 1655. Its counts included Adolf II of Waldeck from 1270 to 1276. In 1655, the residence was shifted from Waldeck to Arolsen. In 1625, the small County of Pyrmont was added to Waldeck through inheritance, as it had also been ruled by a branch of the counts of Schwalenberg.