House of Alvensleben

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of Alvensleben

The House of Alvensleben[1] is an ancient, Low German (niederdeutsch) noble family from the Altmark region, whose earliest known member, Wichard de Alvensleve, is first mentioned in 1163 as a ministerialis of the Bishopric of Halberstadt. The family name derives from (today Bebertal, district of Börde in Saxony-Anhalt). They are one of the oldest extant German aristocratic families.

History[]

Alvensleben Castle

The family line begins with Gebhard von Alvensleben, probably Wichard's son, mentioned between 1190 and 1216. The Alvenslebens were hereditary seneschals (Erbtruchsessen) of the Bishopric and Principality of Halberstadt from the 12th century. In the beginning, they served as Burgmannen in the bishop's castle of Alvensleben. Around 1270 they acquired their own family estate, Erxleben Castle, and, around 1324, Kalbe Castle.

Friedrich von Alvensleben (c 1265-1313) was master of the Knights Templar in their German and Slavic districts. His elder brothers founded two branches, the white and the black Alvenslebens, whereas the red branch died out in 1553.

The family acquired many further estates, some located in the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Brunswick. Gebhard XIV. von Alvensleben (mentioned 1393–1425) was part of the noblemen's opposition against Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, the first Hohenzollern to rule Brandenburg, but was later subdued by him.

The family generated two catholic bishops of Havelberg in the 15th and 16th centuries, but then became Lutheran Protestants. Joachim I. von Alvensleben (1514-1588) promoted the reformation in the Altmark region. The family provided many heads of government in this province, as well as a number of ministers, generals and diplomats in different Northern German states. Several lines of the family were made Prussian counts, beginning in 1798,[2] and the family received a hereditary seat in the Prussian House of Lords. Most of their properties were expropriated in 1945 in communist East Germany. Their main family estates were:

Coat of arms[]

The family coat of arms shows in gold two red fesses, the upper one emblazoned with two, the lower one with one silver . On the helmet with its red and gold mantling there is an upright, gnarled branch in red and gold, two branches to the right and one to the left, crowned with a silver rose.

Personalities[]

  • (1716–1777), Prussian general
  • (1794–1858), Prussian minister of finance
  • (1848–1928), member of the Prussian House of Lords
  • (1841–1898), lieutenant general and commandant of Breslau
  • (1874–1946), German doctor
  • (died 1565), castellan
  • (1659–1724), eldest daughter of Gebhard Christopher of Alvensleben at Erxleben I
  • (1893–1970), abbess of Heiligengrabe Abbey and managing director of the German Evangelical Railway Mission
  • , Bishop of Hildesheim
  • Christian of Alvensleben (born 1941), German photographer
  • Constantine of Alvensleben (1809–1892), Prussian general
  • (1787–1876), Landrat
  • , née von Klinglin (1749–1799), actress
  • (urk. 1301–1308), last Master of the Order of the Templers in Alemannia and Slavonia
  • (1833–1912), Landrat
  • (1836–1913), ambassador
  • (1803–1889), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
  • (erw. 1393–1425), castellan at Gardelegen and governor (‚‘Landeshauptmann‘‘)
  • (died 1541), governor (Landeshauptmann)
  • (1584–1627), Governor (‚‘Landeshauptmann‘‘) Beeskow uns Storkow
  • (1618–1681), statesman and historian
  • (1576–1631), lord of the manor and builder of an observatory
  • (1798–1867), Prussian general
  • (1764–1840), landowner
  • (1824–1909), senior master forester
  • Gustav of Alvensleben (1803–1881), Prussian general
  • (1827–1905), Prussian general
  • Gustav Constantine of Alvensleben (1879–1965), businessman in Vancouver, Canada
  • (1882–1961), landowner and President of the German Gentleman's Club
  • (1809–1887), Prussian general
  • (1514–1588), scholar and reformer
  • (1758–1827), cathedral dean and Brunswick minister
  • (1657–1728), Hanoverian minister, builder of Hundisburg Castle
  • (1714–1795), British-Hanoverian minister
  • (1778−1831), Prussian general
  • (1816–1895), lord of the manor and musician
  • (1661–1697), privy councillor in Hanover and Canon of Magdeburg
  • Kathleen King von Alvensleben, architect
  • (1588–1638), Canon of Magdeburg
  • (1844–1912), Prussian major general and lord of the manor
  • (1511–1596), statesman
  • (1743–1822), royal Prussian major general, commandant of Glaz Fortress and Inspector of the Silesian Army
  • Ludolf-Hermann of Alvensleben (1901–1970), Nazi Reichstag MP and lieutenant general in the Waffen SS
  • (1852–1923), county deputy and Prussian politician
  • Ludwig von Alvensleben (1800-1868), author
  • (1778–1842), Prussian officer and literary figure in Theodor Fontane's novel Schach von Wuthenow
  • (1805–1869), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
  • (1800–1868), German playwright
  • (1840–1899), abbess of Heiligengrabe Abbey
  • (1831–1903), German landscape artist
  • (1745–1802), Prussian state and cabinet minister
  • Professor (born 1940), agrarian economist
  • (1688–1737), Hanoverian minister
  • (1814–1879), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
  • (1823–1910), landowner and author
  • Udo von Alvensleben from Wittenmoor (1897–1962), German art historian
  • (1516–1590), abbess of Althaldensleben Abbey
  • (1529–1594), castellan at Gardelegen and Erxleben
  • (erw. 1428–1472), castellan at Gardelegen, Electoral Brandenburg councillor and court marshal (Oberhofmarschall)
  • (1802–1877), Prussian general
  • (1840–1929), landowner and businessman
  • Werner von Alvensleben (1875–1947), merchant and politician
  • Wichard von Alvensleben (1902–1982), farmer and forester, officer
  • (1937–2016), lawyer, Go player, Chess player

Sources[]

  • Siegmund Wilhelm Wohlbrück: Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben und dessen Gütern. 3 Bände, Berlin 1819–1829. Band I, Band II, Band III
  • George Adalbert von Mülverstedt: Codex Diplomaticus Alvenslebianus. Urkundensammlung des Geschlechts von Alvensleben. 4 Bände, Magdeburg 1879, 1882, 1885, 1900.
  • : Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben seit 1800. Burg 1930
  • Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: Alvenslebensche Burgen und Landsitze. Dortmund 1960.
  • Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Vol. 53, 1972,

See also[]

  • List of German nobility

References[]

  1. ^ Williams, Gerhild Scholz. Ways of Knowing in Early Modern Germany. Oxford: Routledge, 2017. p. 44.
  2. ^ „Alvensleben, Johann August Ernst Graf von“ from Ferdinand Spehr in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 1 (1875), pp. 377–378.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""