The county of Löwenstein belonged to a branch of the family of the counts of Calw before 1281, when it was purchased by the German kingRudolph I of Habsburg, who presented it to his natural son Albert. In 1441 Henry, one of Albert's descendants, sold it to the Frederick I, Count Palatine of the Rhine, head of the Palatine branch of the house of Wittelsbach, and later it served as a portion for Louis, a son of the elector by a morganatic marriage, who became a count of the Empire in 1494. Louis obtained Löwenstein in Suabia and received from Emperor Maximilian I the title of Count of Löwenstein. The family lost Löwenstein to Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, but Louis III, Count of Löwenstein, through his marriage to Anna, heiress of the Count of Wertheim, obtained that territory. Louis III left two sons: Christopher Louis, a Lutheran, and John Dietrich, who remained a Catholic, so the family was divided in two: Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, a Lutheran branch, and Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, a Catholic one. The heads of the two branches, into which the older and Protestant line was afterwards divided, were made princes by the king of Bavaria in 1812 and by the king of Württemberg in 1813; the head of the younger, or Roman Catholic line, was made a prince of the Empire in 1711. With the dissolution of the German Empire in 1806, the county was disbanded and its territory was split among Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and Hesse. Under the protocol of Frankfurt on 20 July 1819 all the family lands were mediatised. The area of the county of Löwenstein was about. The current monarchs of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, as well as the pretenders to the thrones of Portugal, Italy, Bavaria, and Austria–Hungary are descended from the Rosenberg branch. Rupert zu Löwenstein, the longtime financial manager of the Rolling Stones, was a member of the Freudenberg branch.
Georg Ludwig survived his only son, with this line becoming extinct. His daughter and heiress Maria Christina of Löwenstein-Scharffeneck married Gabriel Oxenstierna, Count of Korsholm and Vaasa. The further Counts of Korsholm and Vaasa were their descendants.
Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim (1571–1636)
Ludwig III, Count 1571–1611, third surviving son of Friedrich I, Count of Löwenstein, married heiress of Wertheim am Main.
* Ludwig IV, Count 1611–1635, second son, co-heir with his brothers
* Wolfgang Ernst, Count 1611–1636, third son, co-heir with his brothers
Ludwig IV has no known descendants. Wolfgang Ernst only had one daughter, Dorothea Walpurga of Löwenstein-Wertheim who predeceased him. Their lines were extinct with their own deaths.
Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg (1611–1812)
Christof Ludwig, Count 1611–1618, eldest son of Ludwig III, Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim, co-heir with his brothers, married heiress of Virneburg
* Friedrich Ludwig, Count 1618–1657
** Ludwig Ernst, Count 1657–1681
*** Joachim Friedrich, Count 1681–1689
*** Eucharius Kasimir, Count 1689–1698
** Count Friedrich Eberhard of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Virneburg married Otillie, daughter of Otto, Count of Lippe-Brake
*** Heinrich Friedrich, Count 1698–1721
**** Johann Ludwig Vollrath, Count 1721–1790
***** Johann Karl Ludwig, Count 1790–1812, raised to Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg
Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (1611–1712)
Johann Dietrich, Count 1611–1644, fourth son of Ludwig III, Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim, co-heir with his brothers
