Braun (Silesian noble family)

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Family coat of arms of those von Braun

Braun is the name of an old Silesian noble family . The family, of which individual branches still exist today, belongs to the Lower Silesian nobility . Later, the von Braun gentlemen also gained possession and prestige in Anhalt , Saxony , Upper Lusatia and East Prussia .

history

Wernher von Braun
(* 1912; † 1977)
Christina von Braun
(* 1944)
Joachim von Braun
(* 1950)

origin

The Silesian noble family von Braun must not be confused with numerous other noble families of the same name, some of which come from other areas and have different coats of arms. In 1861, 16 aristocratic families appeared in Kneschke's New General German Adelslexicon and in 1974 in the aristocratic lexicon of the Genealogical Handbook of Adels, 15 aristocratic families of this name appeared.

The family was first mentioned in a document on January 6, 1285 and on July 27, 1286 with the knight Henimanus (Heynamann) de Bruno (Brunow). The unbroken line of the family begins with him . The spelling of the name changes from Bruno , Brunowe , Brunow , Bronau , de Bronne , Brawnaw , Brawna and Braun .

The ancestral home of the family was named Braunau in the former district of Lüben in Lower Silesia, today Brunów is a district of Lüben in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland . There is no evidence of a Polish line of the family.

Spread and personalities

A large part of the von Braun property was initially in Silesia. The houses in Ottendorf , Nennersdorf , Tscheplau in the Duchy of Glogau and Zobten in the Duchy of Jauer were founded early on, and later the houses in Wallwitz in Glogauschen , Kammelwitz in Wohlauschen and Wohlstadt in Liegnitzschen were donated. In East Prussia, the family zu Perschein , Neucken and Palpaech owned in the Koenigsberg administrative district . The baronial lines owned, among other things, the dominions Wartenberg and Bralin in Silesia as well as the goods Biegnitz , Gräditz , Ottendorf and Katzenau . They divided into the branches Zölling , Zobten and Döring . Members of the Zobten branch were at times owned or partially owned by Zobten, Märzdorf and Harpersdorf in Goldberg . During the 19th century, the family at Zölling, Kleinkaulwitz and Wangelewe in Silesia and Neucken with Ellermühle , Palpasch , Perscheln , Rappeln and Rohrkrug and Annawalde in East Prussia.

Balthasar von Braun auf Ottendorf was a state elder in the Duchy of Glogau in 1501 . Among his descendants were Georg von Braun auf Ottendorf and his brother Hans von Braun, who were raised to the status of imperial baron by Emperor Maximilian II in 1573 . Georg initially took part in the Turkish Wars as a colonel and in 1580 became President of the Chamber of Silesia. His brother Hans served as an imperial general in Hungary . Numerous members of the family left Silesia due to the chaos of war and religious disputes and settled in the neighboring Electorate of Saxony .

Wenzel von Braun auf Zölling and Döring died in 1585, leaving behind two sons Joachim and Christoph. Joachim von Braun was the founder of the line to Zölling and Zobten and his brother Christoph von Braun donated the line to Döring. Sigismund von Braun († 1665) on Zölling, Zobten and Märzdorf, a son of Joachim, became the upper right sitter in the duchies of Schweidnitz and Jauer. He married Anna Magaretha von Promnitz and left three sons. Joachim Sigismund von Braun auf Armenruhe, the eldest son, was appointed state commissioner in the Duchy of Jauer. He died unmarried in 1668. His two brothers Joachim Friedrich von Braun on Zobten († 1688) and Hans Christoph von Braun († 1684) on Zölling and Märzdorf became state elders in the duchies of Schweidnitz and Jauer, the latter also in the Principality of Liegnitz . Christoph Friedrich, Ernst Konrad and Karl Ferdinand, the sons of Joachim Friedrich from his marriage to Helena von Mauschwitz from the Harpersdorf family, were confirmed as barons in 1699.

Johann Fabian von Braun († 1714) came from the line to Döring to Döring, Nettschitz and Bielitz. He was the grandson of Christoph von Braun, the founder of this line. Johann Fabian married Anna Sabina von Knobelsdorff . The couple had a son, Balthasar, who died in 1714, the same year as his father.

With Adam Friedrich von Braun (* 1661) the family came to the Principality of Anhalt. The Anhalt branch signed a Pactum gentilium ( house contract ) with the Silesian von Braun in 1694 . Members of the Anhalt line later attained the highest dignity as officers in the Prussian army . So among others August Wilhelm von Braun auf Groß-Glogau, who died in 1770 as royal Prussian lieutenant general , chief of a fusilier regiment and knight of the order Pour le Mérite and Heinrich Gottlob von Braun , who as royal Prussian lieutenant general of the infantry, chief of an infantry regiment, commander of the Residence Berlin and Knight of the Black Eagle Order died in 1799. His descendants went z. Some in international services and got there to high military and political offices. So his grandson Gustav Heinrich Gottlieb von Braun (* 1775 Arneburg; † 1859 Dresden), who, after his service as British Lt. Colonel in the Napoleonic Wars, became Brazilian Field Marshal in 1826. Outside Germany he used the Anglicized form of the name Brown, which some of his sons retained, such as William Gustavus Brown († 1883 Sydenham, Kent ), British general a. 1863–64 Commander in Hong Kong, and Ralph Abercrombie Otto Brown / von Braun, British Rear Admiral (* 1834 Groß Beuchow; † 1891 Radebeul).

Important members of the family from more recent times included Julius von Braun (* 1868; † 1931), district administrator in the Gerdauen district in East Prussia and his son Joachim von Braun (* 1905; † 1974), managing director and board member of the Göttingen working group , legal knight of the Order of St. John, bearer of the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class and the Prussian Shield . Magnus von Braun (* 1878; † 1972) was appointed Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture in the Papen cabinet in 1932 , his son Wernher von Braun (* 1912; † 1977) was the well-known rocket engineer and his brother Sigismund von Braun (* 1911; † 1998) became State Secretary, Ambassador and Knight in Law of the Order of St. John.

Status surveys

Georg von Braun and Ottendorf, freelance gentlemen on Groß-Wartenberg and Bralin and chamber president in Silesia, and his brother Hans von Braun, imperial general, received the imperial baron status in Vienna on June 30, 1573 with an increase in coat of arms .

The brothers Christoph Friedrich, Ernst Konrad and Karl Ferdinand von Braun were raised to the bohemian baron class in Vienna on December 31, 1699 with the title well-born . Associated with this was the freedom from the red seal and an increase in the coat of arms.

On December 17, 1860 in Berlin, Friedrich Freiherr von Braun auf Neucken in the district of Preussisch Eylau , royal Prussian lieutenant colonel out of service, and his nephews, the brothers Leopold, royal Prussian captain, Werner, royal Prussian captain, Carl, royal Prussian economic inspector, Friedrich, royal Prussian prime lieutenant, Wilhelm, royal Prussian economic inspector, Maximilian, royal Prussian lieutenant, and Julius Freiherr von Braun, royal Prussian lieutenant, a Prussian recognition of the baron class.

coat of arms

Different version of the von Braun family coat of arms

Family coat of arms

The family coat of arms shows three (2: 1) red alarm clocks in silver . On the helmet with red and silver helmet covers, two ostrich feathers between three fallen natural red-speckled trout .

Baron coat of arms

Imperial baronial coat of arms

The emperor's coat of arms, awarded in 1573, is quartered . 1 and 4 the family coat of arms, 2 and 3 divided by black and gold diagonally to the left, in it a two-tailed lion in mixed up colors. On the shield the helmet with red and silver on the right and black and gold on the left.

Bohemian barons coat of arms

The Bohemian barons coat of arms, awarded in 1699, shows the imperial barons coat of arms from 1573 with two helmets. On the right the trunk helmet, on the left, with its black and gold helmet covers, the lion, divided obliquely to the left by gold and black.

Name bearer

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d New General German Adels Lexicon Volume 2, pp. 25–26
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume II, Volume 58 of the complete series, pp. 71–72
  3. ↑ Adolf Stenzel , Adolf Tschoppe: collection of documents on the history of the origin of cities in Silesia and Upper Lusatia. Hamburg 1832, No. 77, p. 402
  4. ^ Wroclaw Diocesan Archives, DD 60
  5. ^ "Genealogical handbook of the nobility, Freiherrliche Häuser, Volume XXV, Limburg 2011, page 46 ff.
  6. ↑ a b New Prussian Adelslexicon Volume 1, pp. 300–301
  7. ↑ a b c Silesian curiosities therein, the handsome families of the Silesian nobility, pages 174–178