House of Lenzburg (Merveilles des Morte)

House of Lenzburg Haus von Lenzburg
Swiss noble family
Coat of arms adopted by the House of Lenzburg in the 15th century.
Country	Swiss Confederacy County of Württemberg
Etymology	From Lenzburg Castle in Aargau, Switzerland
Founded	1330s
Founder	Ulrich V von Lenzburg (?-1355)
Dissolution	1489
Cadet branches	Frankstein

The House of Lenzburg is a Swiss noble family that claims descendant from the original Counts of Lenzburg. The Counts of Lenzburg (also Counts of Baden by the early 12th century) were a comital family in the Duchy of Swabia in the 11th and 12th centuries, controlling substantial portions of the pagi of Aargau and Zürichgau. After the extinction of their male line in 1173, their lands were distributed between the houses of Kyburg, Zähringen and Hohenstaufen. Subsequent Habsburg expansion into former Lenzburg territories were one of several factors that led to the formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the late 13th century. Over a century after the house went extinct, a new family in the Swiss Confederacy claimed the lineage of the Lenzburg counts, establishing a house of the same name.

This house managed to retake the title Count of Lenzburg in 1382, later elevated to Duke in 1473, and after 1450 the holder of this title became de facto ruler of the Central Council of the Swiss Confederacy, a controversial position often compared to that of a monarch. The Lenzburgs soon became one of Europe's most successful albeit scheming dynasties, seizing control over large portions of Germany, marrying into houses across Europe, and accruing great prestige and influence for the family and the Swiss as a whole. This would directly lead to the Lenzburg-Premsylid War, in which numerous German states joined in a war to curtail this influence. Due to his unpopular leadership and refusal to end the war, Duke Eberhard of Lenzburg would be deposed by the Swiss and declared an outlaw by his own people, eventually forcing the Duke to flee into exile. Although the Lenzburg titles were officially dissolved, numerous figures would claim to maintain the title from exile.

Especially during the reign of Duke Engelbert, the Lenzburgs were suspected of many crimes, including adultery, incest, simony, theft, bribery, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning). Because of their grasping for power, they made enemies of numerous other nobles houses and were the subject of scorn by religious thinkers and scholars, especially Jungists during the reformation. The Lenzburg family stands out in history as being infamously steeped in sin and immorality, yet there is evidence to suggest that this one-dimensional characterization is a result of undeserved contemporary critiques.

Family Tree

• Frederick I (1403-1451) - Count of Lenzburg (1440-1451)
  • Gottfried I (1422-1457) - Count of Lenzburg (1451-1457)
  • Eberhard I (1424-1492) - Duke of Lenzburg (1473-1489; 1457-1473 as Count)
    --Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut (1419-1451)
    • Engelbert I (1448-1506) - Count of Württemberg jure uxoris (1477-1489)
      --Marianne, Countess of Württemberg (1443-1511)
      • Ulrich von Lenzburg (1470-1489)
        --Maria de la Marck
        • Ottoline von Lenzburg (1489)
      • Ida von Lenzburg (1472-1492)
        --Thin White Duke
        • See House of Jenagotha
      • Sabina von Lenzburg (1475-1495)
        --Thin White Duke
        • See House of Jenagotha
      • Burkhard von Lenzburg (1478-1489)
        • Eberhard II (1490-1539)
          --Girolama Farnese (1488-1524)
          • Engelbert von Lenzburg (1519-1530)
          • Maria von Lenzburg (1521)
          • Ulrich VIII (1524)
          • Sophia von Lenzburg (1530)
          • Catherine von Lenzburg (1531)
            --Cristoforo Borromeo (later Pope Francis II) (1515-1589)
            • Lucrezia Borromeo (1563)
            • Goffredo Borromeo (1570)
            • Giacomo Borromeo (1579)
        • --Illegitimate children
          • Konrad (1512)
          • Agnes (1513)
          • Hermann (1516)
          • Gottfried (1520)
          • Burkhard (1524)
          • Kunigunde (1529)
          • Anna (1533)
    • Maria von Lenzburg (1450-1480)
      --Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (1447-1510)
      • See House of Wittelsbach
  • Constance von Lenzburg (1428-1472)
  • Aymon von Lenzburg (1431-1489) - Bishop of Lausanne (1468-1489)

Footnotes