Trotha (noble family)

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Coat of arms of the von Trotha family

Trotha is the name of an old Saxon noble family from the Saalkreis with the parent house of the same name Burg Trotha in today's Halle - Trotha , which is first mentioned in 1291 with Willibertus and Tilo de Trote near Halle and with Nicolaus von Trotha (mentioned 1376-1412) direct stem row begins.

Possessions

Schkopau Castle

The Trotha headquarters was destroyed by troops from Halle in 1427; In 1445 the family ceded it to the Neuwerk monastery .

In the period up to 1500 she acquired seven new main properties , five of them in the wider area of ​​Halle: Krosigk Castle (owned by the family until 1813), the upper castle of Wettin Castle (owned until 1663), Würdenburg Castle in Teutschenthal (until 1832 ), Rittergut Bennstedt (until the end of the 17th century) and from 1477 Schkopau Castle , which remained in the family's possession until the land reform expropriation in September 1945. Also in Anhalt in 1461 Gänsefurth Castle (sold in 1919; the manor house reacquired in 2010) and in 1571 the secularized Augustinian convent in Hecklingen , which could also be held until the expropriation in 1945.

coat of arms

The family coat of arms shows a raven in gold on a green three-mountain with a gold ring in its beak; on the helmet with black and gold blankets a seated silver wolf.

The raven legend

Trotha coat of arms in Merseburg Cathedral

Although the coat of arms of the von Trotha family showed a raven even before the time of the Merseburg bishop Thilo von Trotha (1443–1514) , the golden ring in the beak of the heraldic animal probably stems from a legend that has been handed down in various modifications. The Merseburg high school director Georg Möbius (1616–1697) referred in his chronicle the oldest version of the Merseburg raven legend to Bishop Thilo. According to this, the bishop had his long-time loyal valet Johann executed for the loss of a golden Pitzschier ring (signet ring), which could not be explained otherwise than by theft, although the latter protested his innocence and without the valuable ring having been found. A few years later, however, the ring was found in the eyrie of a raven near a tower of the cathedral by a slater who repaired the roof after a storm. Distraught by his unforgivable mistake, Thilo is said to have ordered the erection of a bird cage in the courtyard of Merseburg Castle and the eternal imprisonment of a raven there, as a warning against hasty judgments . The cage, which has been retained over the centuries, was replaced again and again and in 2006 a spacious aviary was added, in which a pair of ravens still lives today.

Coats of arms association with those of Trott

United coat of arms Trotha- Trott from 1586

On February 28, 1586, the emperor's coat of arms was united in Prague with the Hessian noble family Trott zu Solz , without any relationship or even a tribal community; the similarity of names was based on chance. The two families therefore no longer use this combined coat of arms. The Baltic family Trotta called Treyden also carried this coat of arms, although there was no proven tribal relationship with either of the two aforementioned sexes.

Known family members

Thilo von Trotha (1443–1514), Bishop of Merseburg

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Trotha (noble family)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The history of the Trothas in Hecklingen and Gänsefurth