{{Short description|German noble family (c. 1185–1535)}} [[Image:COA family de von Eppstein.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|The coat of arms of the Lords of Eppstein]] The '''Lords of Eppstein''' ({{Langx|de|'''Herren von Eppstein'''}}) were a family of German nobility in the Middle Ages.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Schick of Homburg |first=Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqBYAAAAcAAJ |title=Schick's Guide to Homburg and its environs. ... Second edition. Translated by F. Steinhäusser |date=1859 |pages=151 |language=en}}</ref> From the 12th century they ruled extensive territories in the Rhine Main area from their [[castle]] in [[Eppstein]], northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.
==History== Between 1180 and 1190, the [[Archbishop of Mainz]] [[Fiefdom|enfeoffed]] Eppstein Castle, along with neighboring district courts and villages to Gerhard III of [[Hainhausen]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=SCHUDT |first=Georg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNJZAAAAcAAJ |title=New Guide to Homburg and its environs. Chiefly after the German of G. Schudt arranged by F. Kofler |date=1865 |pages=172–178 |language=en}}</ref> Gerhard changed his name to Eppstein and already having control of the present-day [[Offenbach (district)|district of Offenbach]], became the first in the line which was soon to become one of the most influential families in the Rhine Main area.
[[Image:Burg Eppstein.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The castle of the Eppsteins by [[Matthäus Merian]] in 1646]] Four of the seven [[Archbishopric of Mainz|Archbishops of Mainz and Electoral Princes]] in the 13th century were of the house of Eppstein.<ref name=":0" /> They raised the Electorate to considerable power and played a significant role in the politics of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In the struggle between the Emperor and the Pope, Archbishop [[Siegfried III (archbishop of Mainz)|Siegfried III]] took sides with the anti-[[Staufer]] group which played an important part in the beginnings of German federalism. The secular Eppsteiners, by purchase, marriage and enfeoffment, acquired extensive territories and rights from the [[Middle Rhine]] to the [[Vogelsberg Mountains|Vogelsberg]] hills and from the [[Lahn]] River to the [[Odenwald]].
The realm of the Lords of Eppstein was divided in 1433 between brothers Gottfried VII (Eppstein-Münzenberg) and Eberhard II (Eppstein-Königstein). The last of these branches became extinct in 1535 and Eppstein was passed mostly to the [[Rulers of Hesse|Landgraves of Hesse]] and the [[Electorate of Mainz|Ecclesiastical Principality of Mainz]].
==See also== * [[Bad Homburg vor der Höhe]]
==Further reading== * Walter Pietsch: ''Die Entwicklung des Territoriums der Herren von Eppstein im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert, vornehmlich aufgrund ihrer Lehensverzeichnisse''. In: ''HJL''. 12, 1962, S. 15–50. * Regina Schäfer: ''Die Herren von Eppstein. Herrschaftsausübung, Verwaltung und Besitz eines Hochadelsgeschlechts im Spätmittelalter''. Historische Kommission für Nassau, Wiesbaden 2000, {{ISBN|3-930221-08-X}} (''Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Nassau''. Band 68).
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eppstein}} [[Category:Lordships of the Holy Roman Empire]] [[Category:Taunus]]