Bassewitz

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Coat of arms of the von Bassewitz family

Bassewitz is the name of an old Mecklenburg noble family named after the Basse west of Gnoien (now part of Lühburg ). The Basse - in the hunter's language the name for an older boar  - is the heraldic animal of the family.

Origin of the family name

It is very likely a name of origin , formed for the place Basse (witz) Wendish origin, which today belongs to the Mecklenburg community of Lühburg . This place has been documented as the oldest ancestral seat of the family since the 14th century and was a family estate until 1945.

The name ending -witz , of Slavic origin , originally had a patronymic function, i.e. it referred to the parentage. It is not known whether the family belongs to the families who immigrated since the 12th century in the course of the German colonization in the east or to the West Slavic Abodrites who have lived there since the 7th century , because German immigrant families at that time took the name of the place, where they settled as their family name. At the same time, originally Wendish families began to adopt German baptismal names. Since the von Bassewitz family has already been documented in the early 14th century in possession of several estates in Mecklenburg, it seems more likely that the family is of Wendish origin.

The boar appearing in the coat of arms - Low German bass, Bassen - goes back to a folk etymological explanation of the originally Slavic name Bassewitz . In addition, the boar was a popular heraldic symbol for many noble families, because a defensive animal of the local forests was a symbol of courage and strength on the knightly armor.

history

Gravestone of Johann Bassewitz

First mentions

According to a document that is not verifiable today, the existence and content of which was still certified by Gotha in 1900 , the family appears for the first time with Bernhardus de Bassewicze , who is said to have testified in 1254 how Bishop Friedrich von Ratzeburg of the Holy Spirit Church in Wismar different Freedoms granted. The existence of the certificate is not scientifically recognized. In 1308, a Heinrich von Bassewitz is said to have lived - also not reliably verifiable. The appearance of the family is only guaranteed by a document dated October 3, 1341, which names a Gherardus Basseuitze .

From the first half of the 14th century several members of the family are documented. The existing documents mostly relate to legal transactions such as lending , purchase, leasing, division of inheritance or pledging of goods. Basse , Dalwitz , Hohen Luckow , Prebberede , Levetzow and Lühburg were among the first estates that had been in the family's possession since the late Middle Ages and were regarded by them as parent houses . These goods are located partly in the vicinity of Wismar, partly in the region between Rostock and Mecklenburg Switzerland.

Division of the family

The family was divided into two lines around 1355: the Mecklenburg line with possessions in the area of ​​the actual Duchy of Mecklenburg and the Wendish line in the area of ​​the Wendish principality further east around Güstrow and Waren, which were owned by Lühburg with Basse as well as in the 14th century Dalwitz (now part of Walkendorf ) and Prebberede counted. As progenitor of both kindreds applies Hans von Bassewitz († 1397), Lord of Hohenluckow . About 250 years later , Bernhardus Latomus wrote about the division of the family :

The Bassewitzen had their fiefdoms and knights' seats for over three hundred years, partly in Mecklenburg and partly in Wendish Kreiß. And although some have lived in the Duke of Mecklenburg and some in the Principality of Wenden, and still live, they are nevertheless shield-parents and one hand.

The siege of the Brandenburg town of Kyritz by the knight Kurt (or Gerd, a name often given in the family at the time) also fell during this time . His conquest by the citizens of Kyritz is celebrated there every two years with the Bassewitz Festival.

In 1506, the family and five documented relatives set up twenty horses and sticks in a feud between Mecklenburg and the city of Lübeck .

Participation in the constitution in Mecklenburg

The signing of the state union on August 1, 1523, to which the Mecklenburg territorial estates, namely noble knighthood, cities and clergy, united to protect their constitutional or conventional rights, is of historical importance . Eight family members took part in this. An extraordinary state parliament on June 20, 1549 in Sternberg decided to introduce the Reformation in Mecklenburg. Family members were also involved in this. At that time there were a little over 130 noble families in Mecklenburg who were henceforth called old-born. They enjoyed certain privileges over the noble families who later came into the country, a distinction that continued, albeit weakened, into the 19th century. Another important Mecklenburg constitutional document that was valid until 1918 was the Land Constitutional Constitutional Comparison (LGGEV). It was signed by nine family members on April 18, 1755 in Rostock. When this state constitution came about, there were still 80 old-born families in Mecklenburg who were wealthy and thus belonged to the knighthood.

In the service of others

The Thirty Years' War as well as the Northern Wars and the associated passage of foreign troops weighed heavily on Mecklenburg economically. Agriculture was not very profitable at that time and many goods were in debt due to war contributions to be paid . In addition, Mecklenburg offered only a meager court life, had no standing army and was at times split into different rulers . As a result, from the second half of the 17th century onwards, many local aristocrats oriented themselves beyond the borders of Mecklenburg and increasingly entered the service of various sovereigns.

Several members of the von Bassewitz family entered the Swedish state and military service and were sometimes highly decorated there. This affects the Mecklenburg line , which was especially wealthy in the area of ​​Wismar. This region of Mecklenburg belonged to the Swedish sphere of activity until 1803 .

Around the same time as the services for the Swedish royal family, from around 1690 to 1760, many family members went to Bayreuth in the service of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach-Ansbach-Bayreuth . This princely house of Hohenzollern formed a glamorous evangelical court, the attraction of which worked far and wide and where several members of the von Bassewitz family found what they missed at home. However, they did not acquire any real estate there, but returned - sometimes after many years - back to their Mecklenburg homeland, after having held high positions in court, state and military service.

Government offices

The Wendish line came from Henning Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1680–1749), who was in the service of Duke Karl Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, was raised to the rank of count for his diplomatic services in 1726 and was enfeoffed with real estate in Estonia, Latvia and Holstein . Four of his descendants held the highest offices in the state of Mecklenburg as President of the Privy Council or Prime Minister: Carl Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1720–1783), Bernhard Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1756–1816) and Henning Karl Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1814–1885) were Mecklenburg Privy Council Presidents , Carl Graf von Bassewitz-Levetzow (1855-1921) was Mecklenburg Prime Minister from 1901 to 1914. Adolph Christian Ulrich Graf von Bassewitz is the progenitor of all Count von Bassewitz living today .

Members of the Mecklenburg line also held high state offices. This includes Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz (1773-1858), district president in Potsdam and high president of the province of Brandenburg, honorary citizen of the cities of Berlin and Potsdam. His great-nephew Hans Barthold von Bassewitz (1867–1949), Minister of State in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, should also be mentioned .

coat of arms

The family coat of arms shows a jumping black boar (Basse) in silver . On the helmet with black and silver blankets, a growing black boar between two facing silver tusks. This means that the family has a so-called speaking coat of arms .

The primeval nobility did not yet give coats of arms, as they later became customary for the post office nobility, but the knights freely chose the painting of their coats of arms as a sign of identification. In the case of the Bassewitz, the originally Slavic name "Basse witz " was based on folk etymology on the Low German-Mecklenburg bass for the "boar" or "boar" and then incorporated into the coat of arms. In his volume of poems Wappensagen (2nd edition, Halle 1881), George Hesekiel describes in the form of an explanatory legend how a knight Bernd von Bassewitz saved his Mecklenburg sovereign by following the trail of a boar and leading him out of the turmoil through a thicket to safety, for which he received the boar coat of arms from the prince.

The Count's coat of arms, awarded in 1726, shows a silver shield with a black jumping boar in the middle. Five fields are arranged around this ancestral coat of arms of the von Bassewitz family: at the top two columns standing side by side, on the left a bull's head with a nose ring ( Mecklenburg ), on the right a griffin ( Livonia ), on the lower left a crowned lion ( Estonia ) and on the lower right a laurel wreath over a palm tree (Family von Clausenheim). Above the shield are three helmets, one with a black and silver cover and a black growing boar between two tusks (ancestral coat of arms of the von Bassewitz family), in the middle one with a red and silver cover and two columns, and the third helmet with a blue and yellow cover and palm tree between open black eagle flight (family von Clausenheim ).

  • Coat of arms graphic by Otto Hupp in the Munich calendar of 1918

  • Coat of arms of the Counts of Bassewitz

Increases in rank and increases in coats of arms and names

  • Before 1720 - Barons von Bassewitz

Awarded twice by the Swedish royal family to the brothers Ulrich Carl von Bassewitz (1679–1715) and Adolf Friedrich von Bassewitz (1681–1740). Discontinued because both remained unmarried and childless.

  • 1720 - Leopards of the English royal coat of arms as shield bearers

Awarded by the English king to Adolf Friedrich von Bassewitz (1681–1740), who, as the royal British-Brunswick-Lüneburg envoyé extraordinaire, brought about the peace treaty between Great Britain and Sweden in 1719. The increase in coat of arms was not continued because Adolf Friedrich von Bassewitz remained unmarried and had no descendants.

  • 1726 - Counts of Bassewitz

Enrollment with the Estonian knighthood on January 29, 1725 and elevation to the imperial count status on June 9, 1726 in Vienna for Henning Friedrich von Bassewitz as Imperial Roman and Imperial Russian Privy Councilor , ducal Holstein-Gottorfer Privy Council President and High Court Marshal . Mecklenburg-Schwerin recognition on October 29, 1745 for the same as ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin privy councilor and regional president.

  • 1823 - Counts of Bassewitz-Schlitz

Mecklenburg-Schwerin name and coat of arms association with the Count von Schlitz, Baron von Labes, on June 20, 1823 in Schwerin for Heinrich Graf von Bassewitz, son-in-law and heir of the ducal Mecklenburg-Strelitz envoy Hans Graf von Schlitz, Baron von Labes, builder of the Schlitz Castle in Mecklenburg.

  • 1869 - Counts of Bassewitz-Levetzow

Prussian name and coat of arms association with that of Levetzow , connected with the property of Fideikommiss Kläden , on October 2, 1869 in Baden-Baden for Carl Graf von Bassewitz. Prussian diploma on November 7, 1884 in Berlin for his son and heir Bernhard Graf von Bassewitz. The last male bearer of the name was Georg Werner Graf von Bassewitz-Levetzow from the Kläden line (1925-2016). The Bristow estate belonged to the line's possession .

  • After 1860 - Count von Bassewitz-Behr

Name increase first appears in the case of Count Adolph von Bassewitz-Behr (* July 15, 1849 in Neustrelitz; † November 20/21, 1915 in Lützow), a son of Count Henning von Bassewitz (1814-1885) and his wife Marie von Behr (1822-1860). The last bearer of this name was the National Socialist war criminal Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr .

Historical possession

Regular goods since the Middle Ages

The Basse family estate, now part of Lühburg in the Rostock district, had belonged to the family since the 14th century at the latest and remained in their possession until 1945. The local village church Basse from the 13th and 14th centuries was first mentioned in 1364 and contains several historical Bassewitz grave slabs, the oldest from 1391, furthermore remains of medieval glass windows as well as two patronage chairs with Bassewitz coats of arms from 1542 and 1567 and a patronage box from 1711. Next to the church is the family cemetery with a burial chapel, which is still in use today.

  • Patronage stalls from 1542

  • Patronage box from 1711

  • Grave slab

  • Hereditary funeral

The Dalwitz estate in the Rostock district belonged to the family from 1349 until it was expropriated in 1945; After 1992, the farmer Heinrich Graf von Bassewitz (* 1954) bought it back and today cultivates 600 hectares of arable land, 700 hectares of forest and 300 hectares of grassland there in ecological agriculture. The manor house with its moat dates from 1726; it was rebuilt and expanded in Tudor style in 1855 and is now used as a residential and guest house. The entrance is flanked by two pillars with attached bronze tails ("Bassen").

The Lühburg estate was also owned by the family from the 14th century (with interruptions from 1782 to 1858) until 1945, the manor house was built around 1725/30. Since 2010 it has been inhabited again by a descendant of the family. In addition to Basse, Repnitz also belongs to the municipality of Lühburg, whose estate was owned by Bassewitz from before 1460 to 1782 and from 1901 to 1945.

The Hohen Luckow estate in the Rostock district had also been owned by the family since the late Middle Ages (until 1810). The Hohen Luckow mansion was built in 1707 by Christoph von Bassewitz . The Great Hall is decorated with the colored coats of arms of his 32 great, great, great-grandparents. After his death, his third cousin Detlof Hans von Bassewitz inherited Hohen Luckow and took over the payment of the debts on the estate as well as the payment to the relatives. Previously he had already learned from his first cousin Adolf Friedrich von Bassewitz a . a. inherited the Bibow , Jarchow , Holldorf and Neuhof estates .

One of the oldest family estates was also Prebberede , also located in the Rostock district; the estate was owned by the family from 1395 to 1945. From 1772 to 1778 by the architect Sidon from Güstrow for Graf von Bassewitz Carl Friedrich the castle Prebberede built including stables; like Hohen Luckow, it is one of the most important baroque mansions in Mecklenburg. The baroque park was transformed into a landscape park in 1800 , and in 1862 a neo-Gothic chapel was built in the park as a family crypt.

The 670 hectare estate Poggelow in the Rostock district also belonged to the old family estates; it was owned by Bassewitz from the 14th century until 1891. The manor house in a landscaped park with a lake was built in Tudor style in 1848 according to plans by Friedrich Hitzig .

Wohrenstorf in the Rostock district was owned by the family from 1402 to 1945 (with an interruption from 1732 to 1771), most recently by Count Gerd von Bassewitz.

Modern possession

In the early modern period, in addition to Hohen Luckow, the goods Bülow , Kahlenberg , Levetzow , Wendorf (called Schönhof from 1789) and Thorstorf were owned by Heinrich Vicke von Bassewitz (1469–1517). His sons, including Achim von Bassewitz , carried out a large general division of property in 1512, which was confirmed again as an inheritance comparison in 1521, when all the brothers were of legal age, in which some cousins ​​were also involved.

From 1734 to 1890 the Gneven estate was owned by the family.

In 1764 Ulrich Carl Adolph von Bassewitz (1729–1798) inherited the Wendorf estate (from 1789 Schönhof) and around 1770 bought the Schimm and Tarzow estates near Wismar .

Bristow in the Rostock district was owned by the Counts of Bassewitz-Levetzow from 1845 to 1945. The manor house with stables in Tudor style dates from 1866, next to the village church of Bristow there is a Bassewitz'sche grave chapel.

The Dersentin estate in the Rostock district came into family ownership in 1841 through the marriage of Heinrich von Bassewitz and Helene Krüger, who rebuilt the mansion in the classicism style; the property remained in the family until the expropriation in 1945.

Diekhof in the Rostock district was owned by the family from 1845 until the expropriation in 1945; the three-winged castle with a courtyard and cavalier houses (built around 1732–1739) burned down in 1945, a side wing and the chapel from 1768 have been preserved.

Fuchshöfen in East Prussia came into the family through Christiane von Wangenheim (1791–1873), who married Oberforstmeister Barthold Johann von Bassewitz (1782–1827). The last landowner was Friedrich von Bassewitz (1898–1945).

Kladen with Darnewitz in the Altmark came from the Levetzow family to Carl Graf von Bassewitz-Levetzow in the 19th century . The Mecklenburg estate Bristow also belonged to this line .

Lützow in northwest Mecklenburg came by marriage in 1866 from the von Behr family to the Counts of Bassewitz-Behr, who owned it until 1945.

Schwiessel came to the Chamberlain Adolph Christian Ulrich Graf von Bassewitz auf Prebberede in 1838 , who considerably enlarged his inherited property and finally the Mecklenburg estates Prebberede, Jahmen, Grieve, Dalwitz, Stierow, Stechow, Poggelow , Schwiessel, Gr. and Kl. Bützin, Neuheinde, Wohrenstorf, Vietow, Horst and Weitendorf . In the 1860s, his son, Count Henning von Bassewitz- Schwiessel, Lord of Schwiessel, Walkendorf and Dorotheenwalde, had the New Castle in Schwiessel built in the Tudor style, which is now in ruins; the stylish old half-timbered manor house from the baroque period was then used as an estate manager's house. Schwiessel remained in the family until it was expropriated in 1945.

The so-called Burg Schlitz , a classicist mansion built from 1806 in Mecklenburg Switzerland , came to her husband Heinrich Graf von Bassewitz-Schlitz through the marriage of the daughter of the client Hans von Labes (1763–1831), adopted Count von Schlitz called Görtz ( 1799–1861), owner of Perlin (in the family since 1795). Schlitz Castle had to be sold in 1931 and Perlin in 1934 in bankruptcy. From 1929 to 1945 the Bassewitz-Schlitz line owned Ulrichshusen Castle .

In 1864 the Counts Bassewitz purchased the Wesselstorf estate on Prebberede , which remained in the family until 1945.

The Bassewitz built two of the most beautiful baroque mansions in Mecklenburg, Hohen Luckow (from 1707) and Prebberede (from 1772), with Diekhof they owned a third (from 1845).

Known family members

Chronologically per line, for alphabetical listing see Bassewitz

Mecklenburg main line (Lords of Bassewitz)

Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz
Auguste Elenore von Bassewitz

Wendish main line (since 1726 Count of Bassewitz )

Henning Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1680–1749), Holstein-Gottorp President of the Privy Council, 1726 Reich Count
Carl Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz (1720–1783), Mecklenburg-Schwerin's privy council president, builder of Prebberede Castle

literature

  • Leopold von Ledebur : Nobility Lexicon of the Prussian Monarchy . Berlin 1854, Volume 1, Page 37
  • Adolph Graf von Bassewitz: From the life of the Reich Count Henning Friedrich von Bassewitz with some news about the Wendish line of the Bassewitz family. o. O., 1859
  • Genealogical manual of the nobility - Adelslexikon Volume I. Volume 53 of the complete series. C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1972, ISSN  0435-2408
  • Genealogical manual of the nobility - noble houses A Volume XXVI. P. 40, Volume 126 of the complete series, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 2001, ISSN  0435-2408 , ISBN 3-7980-0826-4 .
  • Henning Graf von Bassewitz: The von Bassewitz family in Mecklenburg. Landlords, builders, politicians. In: Castles, palaces, manor houses in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Theiss 1992.
  • Hubertus Neuschäffer: Henning Friedrich Graf von Bassewitz 1680–1749. (separate chapter on the whole family). Thomas Helms Verlag, Schwerin 1999, ISBN 978-3-931185-47-3 .
  • Genealogical paperback of the noble and count family von Bassewitz, digitized
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses 1901. First volume, p. 47 ff.

Web links

Commons : Bassewitz family  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the article Basse in: Duden. Surnames. Origin and meaning of 20,000 surnames. Edited by Rosa and Volker Kohlheim. Dudenverlag, Berlin 2005, p. 111, which is declared as the “name of origin for the place names Bass (North Rhine-Westphalia), Basse (Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Bassen (Lower Saxony)”.
  2. ↑ Adolph Graf von Bassewitz: From the life of Count Henning Friedrich von Bassewitz with some news about the Wendish line of the Bassewitz family, (with reference to a family table in the "von Oertzen-Roggowschen" archive, with mention of two of his sons Johann and Claus) . o. O. 1859, p. 22.23 .
  3. ↑ Bernhardus Latomus (actually stonemason): Genealochronicon Mecklenburgicum. Old Szczecin 1619.
  4. ↑ Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knighthoods Part 2, Volume 3: Estonia, Görlitz 1930 p. 288.
  5. ^ Margarete von Bassewitz-Levetzow: Life picture of the Minister of State Carl Graf Bassewitz-Lewetzow on Bristow . o. O. (presumably Teterow) 1924
  6. ↑ Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, Count's Houses, 1973
  7. ↑ Siebmacher's book of arms. III. Volume, 6th department of the Mecklenburg nobility, Nuremberg 1858.
  8. ^ Gottlieb Matthias Carl Masch : Mecklenburgisches Wappenbuch.
  9. ↑ The nobility of Mecklenburg. Lehsten, Rostock 1864.
  10. ↑ Munich calendar. Otto Hupp '1918.
  11. ^ Ludwig Fromm:  Bassewitz, Henning Friedrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 127-129.
  12. ^ Olaf Klose :  Bassewitz, Henning Friedrich Graf v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 625 ( digitized version ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Théodore de Resnesse counts in his Dictionnaire des Figures héraldiques II, Brussels 1895, hundreds of noble families who bear the whole boar or wild boar head in the crest.
  2. ↑ Otto Höfler treats in his contribution On the Origin of Heraldry in the Festschrift for Hans Sedlmayr , CH Beck Verlag, Munich 1962, in particular the boar as a coat of arms symbol and describes that this was already used in pre-aldic times, such as the excavation of a helmet from the 7th century with a boar figure in Sweden proves. There was a similar find from the same period in Derbyshire, England. He names a total of 913 European aristocratic families with corresponding coats of arms, even wild boar tusks alone occur.
  3. ↑ damaged original in the Schwerin State Archives
  4. ↑ A fresco by Prof. Fritz Greve in the Sternberg town church shows the state parliament at the Sagsdorf bridge near Sternberg. In the crown of an oak above the prince's tent, in a Gothic arched niche, the painting shows the coats of arms of the Mecklenburg native families, etc. a. also that of the von Bassewitz family.
  5. ↑ The word Basse , borrowed from Danish into Low German , denotes a boar in the hunter's language. H. a male wild boar. See also the Mecklenburg Dictionary , Volume 1, p. 649, Lemma Bass 5 .