the house of hohenzollern-sigmaringen is the cadet branch of the senior swabian branch of the hohenzollern dynasty, less known than the franconian branch which became burgraves of nuremberg and later ruled brandenburg-prussia and the german empire. the state which the cadet branch ruled was the county of hohenzollern-sigmaringen (), which later became a principality ("fürstentum hohenzollern-sigmaringen").