The Princely House of Liechtenstein is one of the oldest noble families. A bearer of this name, Hugo of Liechtenstein, is first mentioned in 1136.

He named himself after Liechtenstein Castle, situated to the south of Vienna. The early Liechtenstein family owned estates in the vicinity of their family castle and on the northeastern border of Lower Austria. The uninterrupted Liechtenstein line of descent began with Heinrich I of Liechtenstein (died 1265/66), who obtained the Lordship of Nikolsburg in South Moravia as free property. The acquisition was of great political significance, since the family thereby obtained a substantial possession within the territory of the Wenceslas Crown.
The importance of this acquisition was demonstrated in 1394, when Johann I of Liechtenstein, Chamberlain of the Royal Household of the Habsburg Duke Albrecht III, after nearly 30 years of conducting government business on the Duke's behalf, became a victim of the power-political efforts of the Habsburgs and fell from favor. Together with his family, he was forced to renounce a part of the family's possessions, especially those south of the Danube. During the following decades, the family strove, by means of new acquisitions, to consolidate its possessions in Lower Austria. The domain was also further extended in South Moravia in particular.

In the thirteenth century the family divided into three lines, the Liechtenstein, the Rohrauer and the Petroneller. The two last named lines became extinct already in the next generation and in consequence a great deal of the family property was lost. A further division of the family line took place at the beginning of the 16th century when the Family Covenant of 1504 formed three lines, a Steyregger, a Feldsberger and a Nikolsburger line. Only the Feldsberger line survived longer than a few generations, but this time, well-considered family laws ensured that the property of the lines becoming extinct devolved upon the surviving line.

At the turn of the 16th to the 17th century, the three brothers Karl, Maximilian, and Gundaker initiated a new period in the history of the family. They converted to Catholicism. Karl acquired the Count Palatinate in 1606 and the hereditary rank of Prince in 1608. His brothers were given the hereditary rank of Imperial Prince in 1623. The three brothers, Karl , Maximilian and Gundaker succeeded in enlarging the properties of the Liechtenstein family many times over. They signed a new Family Covenant in 1606, which contained the stipulation that the first-born son of the oldest line of descent should have the right to the hereditary title and should represent the family as the Regent of the House.

The provisions of this covenant as well as other provisions were consolidated in the new Law on the Princely House in 1993, which forms the basis of the right to succession to the throne in the Principality of Liechtenstein. In the critical hours of the history of the early 17th century, the House of Liechtenstein stood by the Habsburgs. The decisive victory against the Bohemian rebels in 1620 was achieved through the intervention of the brothers Karl and Maximilian.

Since attaining the rank of Imperial Prince, the House of Liechtenstein strove to acquire territory with Imperial immediacy; however, it was nearly one hundred years before Karl's grandson, Prince Hans-Adam I (1657-1712) seized the opportunity to purchase the territories of Schellenberg and Vaduz in 1699 and 1712. Through an Imperial diploma dated 23 January 1719, the two territories were united and raised to the rank of Imperial Principality of Liechtenstein. After the male line of Prince Karl became extinct in 1712, Anton Florian , a descendant of Gundaker, became the Reigning Prince.

While the country tended to be of rather peripheral interest in the 18th century – at that time the family was still residing in Feldsberg (now in the Czech Republic) and Vienna –, it occupied an increasingly central position following its attainment of sovereignty in 1806, and in the 20th century it became the residence of the Reigning Princes. Prince Franz Josef II (1906-1989) moved his permanent residence to Vaduz in 1938. All the members of the family now living descend from Prince Johann I. (1760-1836).

The geometer and cartographer
Johann Jacob Heber (1667-1725)
drew the first map of
Liechtenstein in 1721.
(Click to enlarge)

Contract of purchase of the
Lordship of Schellenberg