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Rhinegravcs.] GERMANY. 12
Of the Wild ^;^^ Rhine-graves in general.
§. I. '"T^HE county and lordHiips of the Wild and Rbitte-graves are to he
* feen in the fecond and a part on the firft leaf of Hamann'^ map
of the courfe of the Rh'nic, betwixt Bafcl and Bonn^ lying difpcrfed.
§.2. The number o{ JVahi, or irUd, or Rnu-graves, in Lafin called
C0T}::fes faltiuirii, foreßarü, ßheßf-es & hirfuti, was formerly greater than
at prefent, and they were fo called from their rude and woody territories :
See Baron Setikenberg\ Meditat. jcijcx. page 6. Conrad, the founder of the
Wtldgraves in queftion here, lived in the twelfth century, and his brother
was Emich, Raugrave of Bojnenburg, from whom are defcencled the Rüu~
graves, whofe eftates were Oid and Neiv-Ba^nberg, or Bmimberg, Slolzetiuag,
Simmcrn, Stromberg, Sec. which are now in different hands. Gerhard, fon
to the Wild-grave Conrad, had a fon named Conrad, who alfo had two fons,
Emich and Gcdjrey. In the former of thefe commenced the ancient line
of the WUdgraves of Kirburg, and Godjrey was the founder of that of
Dhaiin ; but in the year 1349 or 1350, the latter failed in the perfon of the
IVi/d-grave jfobn j on which, agreeably to a convention and the confent of
the Wi/d-graves of Kirburg, in the year 1 1^^^, the effeds, lands, titles and
arms belonging to it devolved to the Rhi/ic-gravc houfe, Hedwig, filler of
John, the laft IVild-grave, being married to the Rhine-grave John I. The
Kirburg line came to a period in the year 1409, by the deceafe of the
Wild-grave Otho, and his father Frederick having, in the year 1355, entered
into a compacft relating to the fucceffion with John III. who was alio
married to Adelheida, daughter to the Wild-grave Gerhard II. the whole
eftate of the WUdgraves, whether property or fiefs, fell to the Rhine-grave
family, whofe origin is deduced from the Rhine-grave Adelheim, who lived
in the eighth century ; but its genealogical regifter, which begins with the
Rhinegrave Sigfrid, who lived in the twelfth century, is the mod authentic
voucher. John VI, now both ,. Wild and Rhine-grave, who died in the
year 1499, ^^^^ ^^° ^"^''^> '^^ whom the eldeft gave origin to the fecond line
o( Hanau, and John, the youngeflr, was the patriarch of the fecond Kirburg
line. The latter, in the year 1688, failed in the fifth degree, in the perfon
of John X. but the former, which was propagated by Philip Francis,
fon to Philip, became, by his three fons, divided into three other lines,
Frederick the eldefl: founding Salm ; John Chriftopher, the fecond, that of
Grumbach ; and the third fon, Adolphus Henry, the particular line of
Dbaun. Of the Salm line, which, by Philip Otho and Frederick Magnus,
fons to Frederick, became divided into the princely line of Salm and the
collateral one of Flanders ; the latter of which now enjoys the cflate and
title of the former^ and is fubdivided into thofe of Hoogjlraat and Loes ; an
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account