County of Nassau-Saarbrücken
The County of Saarbrücken was an Imperial State in the Upper Lorraine region, with its capital at Saarbrücken. From 1381 it belonged to the Walram branch of the Rhenish House of Nassau.
County of Nassau-SaarbrückenGrafschaft Nassau-Saarbrücken (German)
Philipp I ruled both Nassau-Saarbrücken and Nassau-Weilburg and in 1393 inherited through his wife Johanna of Hohenlohe the lordships of Kirchheimbolanden and Stauf. He also received half of Nassau-Ottweiler (Lordship of Ottweiler) in 1393 and other territories later during his reign. After his death in 1429 the territories around Saarbrücken and along the Lahn were kept united until 1442, when they were again divided among his sons into the lines Nassau-Saarbrücken (west of the Rhine) and Nassau-Weilburg (east of the Rhine), the so-called Younger line of Nassau-Weilburg.
In 1507 Count John Ludwig I significantly enlarged his territory by marrying Catharine, the daughter of the last Count of Moers-Saarwerden and in 1527 inherited the County of Saarwerden including the Lordship of Lahr. Though after his death in 1544 the county was split into three parts, the three lines (Ottweiler, Saarbrücken proper and Kirchheim) were all extinct in 1574 and all of Nassau-Saarbrücken was united with Nassau-Weilburg until 1629. This new division however was not executed until the Thirty Years' War was over and in 1651 three counties were established: Nassau-Idstein, Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Saarbrücken.
Only eight years later, Nassau-Saarbrücken was again divided into:
By 1728 Nassau-Saarbrücken was united with Nassau-Usingen which had inherited Nassau-Ottweiler and Nassau-Idstein. In 1735 Nassau-Usingen was divided again into Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Saarbrücken. In 1793 the territories of Nassau-Saarbrücken were occupied (along with the rest of the Left Bank of the Rhine) by the French First Republic; in 1797 Saarbrücken was annexed to the Sarre department.
In 1797 the Nassau-Saarbrücken title was inherited by Nassau-Usingen; it was (re-)unified with Nassau-Weilburg and raised to the Duchy of Nassau in 1806. The first Duke of Nassau was Frederick August of Nassau-Usingen who died in 1816. He was succeeded by Wilhelm, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg. In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, most of the former territory of Nassau-Saarbrücken became part of the Prussian Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, then the Rhine Province in 1822; it mostly corresponded to the Saarbrücken district.
The coat of arms combined the lion of the counts of the Saargau with the crosses of the house of Commercy, and was used when the coat of arms of Saarland was created.
House of Leiningen
House of Broyes-Commercy
House of Nassau