Herman Egon, Prince of Fürstenberg
Herman Egon, Prince of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg was Hofmeister, Chamberlain, Privy Councillor and Hofmarschall to Elector Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria. With his brothers Francis Egon and William Egon, he played an important role in the imperial election of 1658 in Frankfurt. In 1664, Herman Egon and his brothers were elevated to Imperial Princes.Life and career
Herman Egon was the fourth son of Egon VIII of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg and Countess Anna Maria of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. He studied in Cologne from 1639 to 1643, then spent two years at the University of Leuven. In 1651, he became a secret councillor at the court of Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria.
In 1655, his brothers Francis Egon and William Egon, who were both bishops, left Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg to him, in exchange for monetary compensation. In 1657, he made a similar arrangement with his older brother, Ferdinand Frederick Egon.
The members of the Fürstenberg family were Imperial Counts. In 1664, Emperor Leopold raised Herman Egon and his brothers Franz Egon and William Egon to the rank of Imperial Prince.
In 1672, he advised the Elector of Bavaria against entering the Franco-Dutch war. This made him fall from grace with Emperor Leopold I. He died on 22 September 1674 in Munich and was buried in the chapel of the family castle in Heiligenberg.Marriage and issue
In 1655, Herman Egon was married in Stühlingen with Maria Franziska of Fürstenberg-Stühlingen. With her, he had eight children:
