Reuss
Reuss names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Reuss the name of two former sovereign principalities of Germany
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of two former sovereign principalities of Germany; between the kingdom of Saxony on the E., the Prussian an duchy duchy of that name on the N., and Bavaria on the S. From 1666 the possessions of the House of Reuss were divided between the Elder and the Younger lines. The principality of Reuss-Greiz (the Elder line) was 122 square miles in extent, and had about 75,000 inhabitants. The chief town is Greiz. The principality of the Younger Line was Reuss- Schleiz-Gera. Area, 319 square miles; pop. about 150,000. Capital, Schleiz. Of both portions the surface is hilly, being traversed by the Frankenwald (Thüringer Wald), whose summits reach upward of 2,000 feet in height. The chief rivers are the Saale and the White Elster, the valleys of which are well cultivated. More than a third of each state is covered with forests; cattle are fattened on the extensive meadows; and woolen, cotton and silk goods are woven. The reigning prince of each state was a hereditary sovereign, and in each state always bore the name of Heinrich. He was the executive. Reuss-Greiz had a legislative assembly of 12 members, of whom nine were chosen by the people for six years; Reuss-Schleiz-Gera had an assembly of 16 members, of whom 12 were chosen for three years by the people. The two principalities became republics in 1918, and on Apr. 4, 1919, were merged into the People's State of Reuss. In December, 1919, the new state joined with six other smaller states to form the Federated State of Thüringia.
Reuss a tributary of the Aar in Switzerland
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a tributary of the Aar in Switzerland, rising on the N. face of the St. Gothard, flowing N. past Andermatt and Amsteg, between which places its bed lies at the bottom of a wild and narrow gorge, spanned by the Devil's Bridge and other wonders of Swiss roadmaking, and entering the S. end of the Lake of Lucerne. This it leaves again at its N. end, at the town of Lucerne, and, still going nearly due N., reaches the Aar near Windisch (Aargau). Its length is 90 miles; its basin, 1,317 square miles.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught the two principalities at the exact moment of their disappearance: written in 1921, it records that they became republics in 1918, merged as the People's State of Reuss in 1919, and then joined the new Federated State of Thuringia. That absorption was completed on 1 May 1920, and Reuss has never reappeared as a state ",in the German Land of Thuringia, where Greiz and Gera remain ordinary towns. The House of Reuss, whose princes were all named Heinrich, still exists as a private family and returned to the news in December 2022 when Heinrich XIII, Prince Reuss, was arrested in Germany as the alleged figurehead of a Reichsb"The river Reuss is where it always was, though modern measurement gives it about 164 km (102 miles) rather than Collier's 90, and the wild Sch"llenen gorge below the Devil's Bridge is now bypassed by road and rail tunnels through the Gotthard.
Written for this edition, 2026.