House of Hohenzollern
From Metapedia
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings, and emperors of Prussia, Germany, and Romania.
It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near the forementioned town.
The family uses the motto NIHIL SINE DEO (English: Nothing Without God). The family coat of arms, first adopted in 1192, began as a simple shield quarterly sable and argent.
The head and shoulders of a hound were added in 1317 by Frederick IV. Later quartering incorporated other branches of the family.
The family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and Protestant Franconian branch.
The Swabian branch ruled the area of Hechingen until their eventual extinction in 1869. The Franconian branch was comparatively more successful. Branches within the Franconian branch ascended the throne of Margravate of Brandenburg in 1415 and of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525.
The union of these two Franconian branches in 1618 allowed the creation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, the state which led the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871.
Social unrest at the end of World War I led to the German Revolution of 1918, with the subsequent formation of the Weimar Republic forcing the Hohenzollerns to abdicate, thus bringing an end to the modern German monarchy. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 set the final terms for the dismantling of the German Empire.
