The Swabian Counts of Montfort were a German noble dynasty. The influential and wealthy counts of Montfort have their name from an ancestral castle, Montfort, which was situated quite close to today's Swiss border near Götzis in Vorarlberg. They had the lordships of Feldkirch (until 1390), Bregenz (until 1523) and Tettnang (until 1779) and had territorial impact in Upper Swabia and particularly Vorarlberg, most of which they ruled. The counts of Montfort were until the 18th century a remarkable family of high nobility, the most important in the region of Lake Constance, but went finally extinct. In a number of places, including Feldkirch, Bregenz or Langenargen there are signs of their history. The Montfort counts derive from rulers of the county palatine of Tübingen and had Bregenz and Tettnang as their main seats. In 1780 the county was sold to Austria in order to pay debts. The dynasty became extinct in 1787 upon the death of Count Anton IV. The Minnesinger Hugo of Montfort was count of the Bregenz branch.
Sources
- Karl Heinz Burmeister: Montfort, von (Grafen von Montfort), Familienartikel in: Neue Deutsche Biographie, Bd. 18, S. 51-54
- Karl Heinz Burmeister: Die Grafen von Montfort. Geschichte, Recht, Kultur. Festgabe zum 60. Geburtstag, hrsg. von Alois Niederstätter (= Forschungen zur Geschichte Vorarlbergs; NF 2). Universitätsverlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1996, ISBN 3-87940-560-3
- Karl Heinz Burmeister, Elmar L. Kuhn, Eva Moser u.a.: Die Grafen von Montfort. Geschichte und Kultur. (= Kunst am See; Band 8). Gessler, Friedrichshafen 1982, ISBN 3-922137-16-4
