The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, Kings and Emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near Hechingen. Social, political, and economic unrest at the end the 1980's led to the collapse of the German Empire, with the formation of the German Republic the Hohenzollerns abdicated, thus bringing an end to the modern German monarchy.