Salm-Salm

County (Principality) of Salm-Salm Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Salm-Salm (German) Principauté de Salm-Salm (French)
1574–1793 1802–1811
Flag Coat of arms
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire
Capital	Badonviller; Senones
Government	Principality
Historical era	Middle Ages, Modern Age
• Partitioned from Salm-Dhaun	1574
• Partitioned to create Salm-Neuweiler	1608
• Raised to principality	1739
• Annexed by France	→ 1793
• Granted territories from Münster, with S-Kyrburg, to create unified Salm	1802–03 ←
• Joined the Confederation of the Rhine	1806
• Annexed by France	1811
• Mediatised to Prussia	→ 1813
Preceded by Succeeded by Salm-Dhaun First French Empire

The Principality of Salm-Salm (German: Fürstentum Salm-Salm; French: Principauté de Salm-Salm) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the present-day French departments of Bas-Rhin and Vosges; it was one of a number of partitions of Salm.

Salm-Salm was created as a partition of Salm-Dhaun in 1574, and was raised from a County to a Principality in 1739 after being inherited and renamed by Count Nicholas Leopold of Salm-Hoogstraten. Salm-Salm was partitioned between itself and Salm-Neuweiler in 1608.

The last territorial partition occurred in 1751, when Salm-Salm reorganized its borders with the Duchy of Lorraine. Since 1743 the Princes were also Dukes of Hoogstraten.

In 1790, after the French Revolution, the princes of Salm fled the territory and moved to their castle in Anholt, Westphalia. Salm-Salm then was besieged by the revolutionary army, which blocked food supplies from reaching the state. As a consequence, the population was forced to surrender to France. On 2 March 1793, the French National Convention declared Salm-Salm to be a part of the French Republic and attached it to the Department of the Vosges. This was recognized by the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Lunéville of 1801.

Some years later, in 1802/1803, together with Salm-Kyrburg, the prince of Salm-Salm was granted new territories formerly belonging to the Bishops of Münster (Westphalia). The new territory was governed in union with Salm-Kyrburg and was known as the Principality of Salm.

In 1165, the original County of Salm was divided into the counties of Lower Salm, in the Ardennes, and the county of Upper Salm, situated in the Vosges mountains. In 1738, the County of Upper Salm was elevated to Principality of Salm-Salm.

The capital of Salm-Salm was first Badonviller, and from 1751 on, Senones. The second part of the name of Salm-Salm derives from Salm Castle near Salm (today La Broque).

At the end of its existence, Salm-Salm had an area of about 200 km² (77 sq mi) and 10,000 inhabitants. It was separated from the main part of the Holy Roman Empire when most of Alsace was ceded to France in the 17th century. Until 1766, it was bordered by the Duchy of Lorraine to the west and by France to the east. After Lorraine became a part of France on 24 February 1766, Salm-Salm formed an exclave of the Holy Roman Empire surrounded by French territory.

The economy of Salm-Salm was mainly based on an iron mine near Grandfontaine.

• 
  County of Upper Salm
  (Obere Grafschaft Salm)
• 
  Salm Castle in 1589

At Ludwig Otto's death, the male line became extinct, and the county of Salm-Salm passed to descendants of Friedrich I's youngest son, Friedrich I Magnus (1606-1673). Eventually, the title Prince of Salm was assumed by his descendants as well.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to House of Salm.

• House of Salm, at europeanheraldry.org
• (in French) History of the Principality of Salm at the Office de Tourisme Pays des Abbayes
• (in French) Salm Castle
• Flags of the Principality of Salm-Salm
• Information and symbols of the Principality of Salm
• Princely museum at Anholt Castle (in German)