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Fürstenberg was a county (German: Grafschaft), and later a principality (Fürstentum), of the Holy Roman Empire in Swabia, which was located in present-day southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its ruling family was the House of Fürstenberg.
The county emerged when Egino IV, Count of Urach by marriage, inherited large parts of the Duchy of Zähringen upon the death of Duke Berthold V in 1218, and it was originally called the county of Freiburg. Egino's grandson, Count Henry, started naming himself after his residence at Fürstenberg Castle around 1250.
The county was partitioned in 1284 between itself and the lower county of Villingen, and then again in 1408 between Fürstenberg-Fürstenberg and Fürstenberg-Wolfach.
Over the centuries, the various rulers expanded their territories to include the Landgraviate of Baar, the County of Heiligenberg, the Lordships of Gundelfingen, Hausen, Höwen, and Meßkirch, and the Landgraviate of Stühlingen in Germany, as well as domains around Křivoklát Castle (German: Pürglitz), Bohemia, Tavíkovice (German: Taikowitz) in Moravia and Weitra in Austria.
In 1664, Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg was raised to a principality and received a vote at the Reichstag. In 1744, various Fürstenberg territories were reunified to the Principality of Fürstenberg-Fürstenberg, as all lines except one had become extinct.
The Rheinbundakte of 1806 dissolved the state of Fürstenberg. Most of its territory was given to Baden, and smaller parts were given to Württemberg, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and Bavaria.
As of 1789, the territory consisted of five larger, isolated parts as well as several smaller exclaves. The five larger parts were:
The smaller exclaves included the towns of Ennabeuren, Salmendingen, Neufra, Trochtelfingen, Hayingen, and others.
As of 1806, Fürstenberg had an area of 2,000 km2 and a population of 100,000. Its capital was Donaueschingen.
(Note: The analysis given here will go further back to the origins of the Counts of Urach/Freiburg, from which the Fürstenbergs descended in direct line, and with which shared the coats of arms and still exchanged property in the 13th century. After the fall of the main Freiburg line in 1458, the Fürstenberg branch (separated in 1236) emerged as the main line of the dynasty.)
Weitra line extinct, possessions fell back to Prince Maximilian Egon II as head of the House of Fürstenberg.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Principality of Fürstenberg”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.