County of Hohenzollern

Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Its ruling dynasty was the House of Hohenzollern, a Swabian noble family first mentioned in 1061. They named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle at the Swabian Alb; its capital was Hechingen. Its coat of arms was that of the ruling house.According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, the nobleman Burkhard I, Count of Zollern (de Zolorin) was born before 1025 and died in 1061. By his name, an affiliation with the Alamannic dynasty of the Burchardings is possible, though not proven. The Zollerns received the comital title from Emperor Henry V in 1111. As loyal liensmen of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to significantly enlarge their territory. Count Frederick III (c. 1139 – c. 1200) accompanied Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa against Henry the Lion in 1180, and through his marriage was granted the Burgraviate of Nuremberg by Emperor Henry VI of Hohenstaufen in 1191. In 1218 the burgraviate passed to Frederick's younger son Conrad I, he thereby became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch, which acquired the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1415.