Background
He was the younger son of Count Friedrich II of Zollern, and became Count of Zollern as Friedrich III after the death of his other male relatives.
He was the younger son of Count Friedrich II of Zollern, and became Count of Zollern as Friedrich III after the death of his other male relatives.
Especially significant would prove the marriage of Friedrich, whose possessions at this time lay in the Duchy of Swabia, to Sophie of Raabs around 1184, the only daughter of Conrad II of Raabs, and heiress of the Burgraviate of Nuremberg.
When he was granted the burgraviate by Henry VI after Conrad"s death around 1191, he became the founder of both the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern family, and of the Franconian line of the (later imperial) House of Hohenzollern, which he renamed Hohenzollern at this time to distinguish it from the House of Zollern.
