Emilie Carolina Henriette (1745–1754) offers plums to her younger brother Heinrich XXXVII (1747–1774). They were two of nine children of Heinrich IX, Reuss of Köstritz (1711–1780) and Amalie von Wartensleben und Flodroff (1715–1787). The German noble House of Reuss, specifically its Younger Line, was centred at Gera in Thuringia. All male Reuss children were named Heinrich (in honour of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, who elevated the family's status in the XII century) and were assigned a number, which began with I for the first male born in a given century and continually increased throughout that century, then started with I again the following century. The numbers would not necessarily be consecutive for male siblings, since numbering was based on chronological order of birth within the entire family line, not just nuclear family.