Biron from Curland

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Coat of arms of the ducal family Biron of Curland

Biron von Curland is a noble family from Courland that also settled in Silesia and Bohemia . Branches of the family still exist today.

Origins and origins

The Bühren family who immigrated from Westphalia , possibly from Büren (Westphalia) , settled in Courland around 1564 . The family had an estate in Kalnzeem (now Latvia ). In 1638 the family was ennobled by the Polish king and called themselves von Bühren from then on . It first gained importance under Ernst Johann von Biron , who was born in 1690 as the second son of the landowner Karl von Bühren and changed the family name to Biron , echoing the French dukes de Biron .

Political rise

Tsarina Anna (1693-1740)

In 1730, Tsarina Anna Ivanovna was raised to the rank of count in Russia . She entrusted her favorite Ernst Johann von Biron with the post of Imperial Chamberlain at the Russian court. He thus became one of the most powerful men in Russia . In the same year, the German Emperor was raised to the rank of imperial count .

In 1737 Ernst Johann von Biron was elected to succeed the late Duke Ferdinand of Courland and Semgallia . Since Courland was a Polish vassal state , confirmation of the appointment by the Polish king was required, which was given by King August III. shortly afterwards. This government office was exercised by the House of Biron von Curland until 1795, but with interruptions. After Anna's death in 1740, Biron was overthrown as the de facto Prime Minister of Russia and exiled to Siberia. Under Tsarina Elisabeth he was freed a year later, but was only reinstated as the ruling duke in Courland by Tsarina Catherine II in 1763. In 1769 he handed over the office to his son Peter von Biron ; he died in 1772 in the Mitau residence .

With the third partition of Poland in 1795, the suzerainty of the Polish King August Poniatowski ceased and Kurland was annexed to Russia . Duke Peter von Kurland was now forced to abdicate by Tsarina Katharina, and he was awarded an annual pension of 25,000 ducats and a Wittum for his wife. He received two million rubles for his property in Courland. He then went with his family to his titular duchy Sagan, acquired in 1786, in Prussian Silesia . In Lower Silesia his father had already acquired the free state rule Groß Wartenberg in 1734 , which his second son Carl Ernst inherited. With his Russian severance pay and pension, Peter bought one after the other residences in Berlin and Prague, the dominions Deutsch Wartenberg and Nettkow in Lower Silesia and the dominions Nachod and Chwalkowitz in Bohemia. His four - scandalous - daughters inherited all of these properties. His nephew Gustav Kalixt von Biron was left with the Silesian estate of Groß Wartenberg , which came from his grandfather and was expropriated from his descendants in 1945. These still carry the surname Prince or Princess Biron von Curland and the obsolete predicate Highness (see family table).

Personalities (selection)

Buildings and acquisitions

literature

Web links

Commons : Biron von Curland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Family tree of the House of Biron of Curland. ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.angelfire.com