Benckendorff (noble family)

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Coat of arms of those von Benckendorff (Estonia)

Benckendorff is the name of an Estonian-Swedish aristocratic family whose origin was in the Hanseatic city of Salzwedel ( Altmark ). The original Benckendorffs were accepted into the Baltic knighthoods in the 18th century . They lived as Germans in Estonia, were honored with the Swedish title of nobility "von Benckendorff", received the title of count and they were distinguished by their skill and ability at the Russian tsarist court . They provided several respected mayors , councilors , burgraves in Riga , generals in the Imperial Russian Army and made a decisive contribution to the development in the Baltic States .

Nevertheless, there were and are other families with the same or similar name, for example: Benkendorf , Benckendorf, von Benckendorff or Von Beneckendorff and von Hindenburg . The Estonian family von Benckendorff is still one of the 179 living Estonian noble families.

history

The headquarters of the Benckendorffs was in Salzwedel, in the Altmark. Since the city was ruined economically as a result of the Reformation (1517–1648) and the subsequent armed conflicts, many citizens left it. In the second half of the 16th century, around 1550–1590, Andreas Benckendorff , who was the Polish war commissioner in Riga, was one of them. had settled. His son Johann I. Benckendorff became councilor in Riga in 1606, his grandson Johann III. Benckendorff was mayor and ambassador to the court in Stockholm , he was raised to the Swedish nobility on November 17, 1674. Johann IV von Benckendorff was also mayor and in 1702 envoy for King Karl XII. in Warsaw . Prince Alexander Danilowitsch Menshikov recommended him to Tsar Peter the Elder. Great and thus Johann IV accompanied the tsar to Reval and Saint Petersburg . In 1712 he was appointed mayor of Sankt Peterburg by the tsar. At the end of his political activities he was burgrave of Riga.

His son Johann Michael von Benckendorff was Lieutenant General in the Imperial Russian Army and Commander-in-Chief of Reval , he bought the estates of Aß-Schloss and Sternhof in Estonia and was accepted into the Livonian Knighthood in 1765 and into the Estonian Knighthood in 1773 . Two family members became knight captains : Paul Friedrich von Benckendorff auf Warrang from 1824 to 1827, he was also Governor General of Estonia from 1833 to 1841 and his son Hermann von Benckendorff from 1851 to 1854.

Johann Michael's great son Alexander von Benckendorff was the almighty chief of the gendarmerie in Russia , he was raised to the rank of count on November 8, 1832 . In 1827 he bought Fall Castle near Reval near Keila-Joa and donated the property for his daughter Maria, who was married to Prince Grigori Petrovich Volkonsky (1808–1882). The title of count passed to his nephew Konstantin, who was the Russian ambassador to the Württemberg court in 1856. The Estonian von Benckendorff family owned Aß, Sternhof, Schloss Fall, Merremois, Kechtel , Kappel, Warrang, Löwenwolde and Jendel in Estonia . In addition, she had large holdings of land in Russia, which fell to the later Russian branch. With Constantine, the ambassador in Württemberg, a Württemberg branch was also founded.

  • Paul von Benckendorff (1748–1841)

  • Alexander von Benckendorff (1781–1844)

  • Konstantin von Benckendorff (1784–1828)

  • Alexander Konstantinowitsch von Benckendorff (1849–1917)

Trunk line

  • Andreas Benckendorff * in Salzwedel between 1450 and 1570, Polish war commissioner; married to Maria Stopius * between 1450 and 1570
    • Johann I. (Hans) Benckendorff * between 1471 and 1591 in Riga; 1606 councilor in Riga, 1610 chief judge in Riga, † 1615; married to Ilseke Spenkhusen * between 1478 and 1598 in Riga
      • Johann II Benckendorff. * 1561 to 1621 in Riga 12 † June 1636 in Riga, 1622 councilor in Riga, 1625 Governor in Riga; married to Anna Ida Ringenberg * between 1561 and 1621
        • Johann III. von Benckendorff * March 11, 1626 in Riga † February 27, 1680 in Riga, 1656 and 1659 councilor in Riga, 1669–1680 mayor of Riga, 1674 Swedish nobility; married to Anna Rigemann * 1640 † 1710
          • Katharina (Catharina) von Benckendorff * around 1660 † 1710; married I. to Christoph von Löwenstern and II. to Paul Rigemann (district judge )
          • Johann IV von Benckendorff * 1659 in Riga † June 17, 1727 in Riga, 1693 councilor in Riga, 1710–1719 mayor of Riga, burgrave of Riga; married I. to Gesine Elisabeth von Buchhorst * 1655 in Gröningen im Harz † October 29, 1693 in Riga and II. Klara von Schultzen * between 1642 and 1702 † August 1731 in Moscow
            • Johann Michael Iwanowitsch von Benckendorff * April 3, 1720 in Riga, † November 18, 1775 in Reval , he is the progenitor of the Livonian and Estonian noble family "von Benckendorff" . He was married to Sophie Elisabeth von Löwenstern (* 1724 † 1783 in St. Petersburg). Johann Michael was Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of Reval in 1771 and received Estonian citizenship in 1773.

List of the Counts of Benckendorff

In 1882 Konstantin Alexander Karl Wilhelm Christoph von Benckendorff was raised to the status of Russian count. Since Alexander had no descendants of his own, the count's succession passed to the son of his brother Constantine; followed him:

  • Konstantin Alexander Karl Wilhelm Maximilian Graf von Benckendorff (* October 22, 1816 in Berlin , † January 29, 1858 in Paris ), married to Louise Constantine Nathalie Johanne Princess von Croÿ (* June 2, 1825 in Anholt , † January 8, 1890 in Meran )
    • Alexander Philipp Constantin Ludwig Graf von Benckendorff (* July 20, 1849 in Berlin, † January 11, 1917 in London ), married to Countess Sophia Shuvalova (* October 16, 1857 in Saint Petersburg, † June 1, 1928 in Ipswich )
      • Constantin Graf von Benckendorff (born September 15, 1880 in Karlsruhe , † September 25, 1959 in London), married to the harpist Maria Alexandrowna Korchinska (born February 17, 1895 in Moscow , † April 17, 1979 in London)
        • Nathalie Countess von Benckendorff (born September 8, 1923 in Moscow), married to the art historian Thomas Humphrey Brooke (born January 31, 1914, † December 24, 1988)
          • Thomas Brooke
          • Sofie Brooke
          • Helen Brooke
        • Alexander Graf von Benckendorff (born July 19, 1925 in Ipswich), married to Esther Norma Capadose (born July 8, 1924 in London)
          • Constantine Graf von Benckendorff (born August 30, 1953 in London), married to Lynne Ellen Leitmann
          • Alexander Graf von Benckendorff (born September 11, 1957 in Aberdeen )
      • Peter Graf von Benckendorff (* January 13, 1882 in St. Petersburg, † May 27, 1915), married to Helene Dimitrievna Narychkina (* December 8, 1879, † December 25, 1965 in Paris ), no descendants
    • Paul Leopold Johann Stephan Graf von Benckendorff (* April 10, 1853 in Berlin † January 28, 1921 in Narva , Estonia ), married to Marie Sergeijewna Dolgorouky (* December 14, 1847 in St. Petersburg, † September 25, 1936 in Nice ) , no offspring

See also

literature

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ From the Lords of Benckendorff: “The Lords of Benckendorff have their origins in the oldest nobility in the old Mark Brandenburg. The superintendent of Staußberg in the Mittel Mark, Andreas Angelus, who was famous in history and genealogy and who died in 1598, already testified in his time in the Märkische Chronica published by him that it was one of the oldest and best houses in the country be counting. It is certain that four hundred years ago she owned various confiderable knight goods in the area of ​​the old Märkische city of Salzwedel ... The tribe register of the Lords of Benckendorff is now authentically set up: Andreas I. von Benckendorff on Parching, Kur Brandenburgischer Rath and bailiff to Salzwedel, who lived around the year 1390, according to certain reports, the true tribe was the father of our Vogtland and Upper Palatinate line. ”Compare: Johann Gottfried Biedermann: Gender Register of the Praiseworthy Knights in Voigtlande . Verlag Spindler, 1752, original from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, books.google.de
  2. ↑ Dr. Walter v. Hueck, genealogist of the Estonian knighthood (19th Benckendorff) baltische-ritterschaften-de.de
  3. ↑ Note: In 1581 the city of Riga recognized King Stephan Báthory (1533–1586) as the elected head of state of Poland-Lithuania . A 40-year Polish-Lithuanian rule followed, ending with the conquest by the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf in 1621
  4. ↑ Castle Aß in the parish of Klein-St. Marien, Wierland mois.ee
  5. ↑ Sternhof: Beigut des Gut Kiltsi / Schloss Aß mois.ee
  6. ^ Ritterschaftshauptmann: Chairman of the Estonian and Livonian Knighthood (II), also as chairman of the regional court. rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de
  7. ^ Warrang in the parish of St. Marien-Magdalenen, Jerwen mois.ee
  8. ↑ A short chronicle of Schloss Fall books.google.de
  9. ↑ Merremois . In: Hans Feldmann, Gertrud Westermann : Baltic historical local dictionary: Estonia (including Northern Livland) . books.google.de
  10. ↑ Kappel (Kabala) . In: Hans Feldmann, Gertrud Westermann : Baltic historical local dictionary: Estonia (including Northern Livland) . books.google.de
  11. ^ List of the Counts of Benckendorff geneall.net
  12. ↑ Counts and Countesses of Benckendorff brigittegastelancestry.com