Graevenitz (noble family)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Family coat of arms of those of Graevenitz

The primeval noble family of Graevenitz (Grävenitz, Grevenitz, Grebenitz, Gräbenitz) appeared in the Altmark from 1290 and later found branches in the Neumark and the Prignitz, the latter spreading further to Mecklenburg, Silesia, Württemberg and Russia.

The Graevenitz were inherited from 1763 to 1918 the Kurmark Brandenburg . The family still exists today.

History and expansion

Originally, the von Graevenitz family, belonging to the Protestant denomination, came from the ancient nobility of the Altmark with the parent company Grävenitz , today a district of the community of Schorstedt in the Stendal district in Saxony-Anhalt .

The name first appears in a document with Hennekinus de Grebenitz 1290, documented in 1480 on shields, appears around 1450 in three tribes, namely the Prignitzer tribe, Altmärkischen (Losenrader) tribe and Neumärkischen tribe, whose connection is not clear. Of the three tribes, only the Prignitzer tribe still exists. The Altmark tribe is male in 1931 and the Neumark tribe has died out in the male trunk in 1904.

In the case of the large estates in Mecklenburg (also in Prussia , Silesia , Brandenburg, Württemberg and Russia ), however, it can be noted that those of Graevenitz in the north of Mecklenburg were not at home. In the former Wismar district they only owned the Scharfstorf estate and in the Zarrentin-Wittenburg-Boizenburg area the Waschow, Dodow and Zühr estates, which later became entails.

The tribe that divided at the beginning of the 17th century also included the extinct Mecklenburg branch of Graevenitz from the Waschow family. Their daughters were enrolled in the women's monasteries of the Mecklenburg state monasteries Dobbertin and Ribnitz . In the registration book of the Dobbertin monastery there are 26 entries by daughters of Graevenitz from 1739 to 1913 from Waschow, Dodow, Schilde and Wesselstorf. Henriette Charlotte Juliana Magdalena of Graevenitz from the house Waschow was as Domina 1837-1848 Head of the Convention in Ribnitz. The Mecklenburg branch went out on October 12, 1939 with the death of the factory owner Hans Friedrich Georg Julius von Graevenitz in Parchim.

The family maintains the Graevenitz Foundation , which serves to maintain the Graevenitz Museum , which shows selected works by the artist Fritz von Graevenitz . His sister Marianne was the mother of Carl Friedrich and Richard von Weizsäcker .

Wilhelmine von Graevenitz at the Württemberger Hof

Alleged miniature portrait of Wilhelmine von Grävenitz , 1721

Wilhelmine von Grävenitz (1686–1744), who came from Schwerin, came to the Stuttgart court in 1706 as mistress of Duke Eberhard Ludwig (1676–1733) and, through the duke who belonged to her and her favoritism, developed an enormous stake in the power of the family in Württemberg. In 1707 she achieved the status of imperial count and the personal title of Countess of Urach as the Duke's morganatic wife for herself and her brother . After a forced divorce - on imperial orders - she then obtained the title of landlady Countess von Würben through a marriage of convenience in 1710 . Due to her influence she led almost unlimited rule for 20 years, the most important positions in the government were occupied by her relatives and favorites, the opponents removed. They themselves influenced state affairs and took part in the deliberations of the newly established conference ministry (with the elimination of the secret council). Her brother Friedrich Wilhelm von Grävenitz was initially a Württemberg Chamberlain, from 1716 Oberhofmarschall and Privy Councilor, from 1724 Prime Minister.

His sons Friedrich (Wilhelm) and Viktor Sigmund also made careers at the Württemberg court. Friedrich was head stable master from 1723 and court marshal from 1729. In 1728 Viktor Sigmund was appointed Comitial Envoy and Stuttgart Chief Bailiff. The other two brothers of Graevenitz, Johann Friedrich and Karl Ludwig, became chief stableman and major general. In addition, Friedrich Wilhelm and Viktor Sigmund were privy councilors and conference ministers. Grävenitz's brother-in-law, David Nathanael von Sittmann and Josua Albrecht von Boldewin, became a privy councilor and vice-president of the war council.

Graevenitz Castle in Heimsheim
Graevenitz Castle in Freudental

Countess Würben-Grävenitz received her own court , donated her own order and lived in the most beautiful building in Stuttgart. Because of her, Eberhard Ludwig moved the residence to Ludwigsburg Palace, founded in 1704, where the court was magnificently expanded. The Grävenitz pursued the planned expansion of their property through donations from the duke, purchase and exchange, including the Gomaringen estate in 1708 , and the Stetten estate in Remstal in 1712 against the return of the Gomaringen estate with all rights, as well as the sheep farm in Rommelshausen and the entitlement to the Eberstein county , 1718 the rule Welzheim, 1720 Weibelhub and fortress Oberleimbach, 1723 rule Horburg and Reichenweiher, 1726 to 1729 Sontheim and the knightly estate Freudental , 1727 Schloss Brenz with estate and the market town of Brenz an der Brenz, 1728/29 rule Gochsheim, Heimsheim , Marschalkenzimmern , Albeck, Pflimmern and Winzerhausen, 1729 Grafschaft Eberstein with all rights as a woman and kunkellee. She succeeded in gaining the approval of the Hereditary Prince and the landscape, as well as Prussian and imperial umbrella letters . In 1728 she split with her brother over seat and vote on the Franconian Count's Bank , which was transferred to him because of the rule of Welzheim . In 1730 she tried to achieve the rank of prince .

Eberhard Ludwig broke away from her in 1731, she was arrested on his orders and taken to Urach Castle, from where she still managed the administration of her property. Finally, in 1732, she agreed to a settlement that the Emperor confirmed in 1733: she waived her complaint to the Reichshofrat because of her imperial immediacy , ceded all goods except Welzheim, which was turned into a man's fief and was to fall to her brothers. In return, she received back all her confiscated capital, the jewels and the remaining immovable property, but had to leave the country in exchange for compensation of 125,000 guilders. She was then brought to Heidelberg. Eberhard Ludwig's successor († 1733), Duke Karl Alexander, had the entire Graevenitz family arrested and put an end to their rule in Württemberg. Graevenitz, who stayed in Heidelberg and Mannheim until Eberhard Ludwig's death, found support and asylum with the King of Prussia. She tried in vain to incite the Swabian imperial knighthood against Württemberg. Duke Karl Alexander, who had initiated a criminal trial against her, reached a settlement with her in 1736 in which she waived all of her claims against Württemberg in return for payment of 152,300 guilders.

Status surveys

The Württemberg line was raised to the rank of count in 1707 with the predicate high and well-born with a simultaneous improvement in the coat of arms, while the Russian line received the Mecklenburg approval in 1847 to use the title of baron and in 1851 the Russian recognition of the baron title.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of those of Graevenitz
Coat of arms of those of Graevenitz
 Blazon : “The family coat of arms shows in silver a (diagonally right) lying stumped red tree branch from which two green leaves protrude upwards and one green downwards. On the helmet with red-silver covers a transverse, mutilated red tree branch, on which a natural Greving strides, behind which three green leaves sprout upwards. "
Count's coat of arms in the Complete Book of Arms of The Serene World
Count's coat of arms in the Complete Book of Arms of The Serene World

The coat of arms, which the Countess of Urach , Wilhelmine von Grävenitz , together with her brother Friedrich Wilhelm von Grävenitz received as the Imperial Count of Graevenitz in 1707, has no genealogical or lordly references to the Graevenitz family apart from the heart shield (family coat of arms) and the central family coat of arms helmet. Rather, fields 1 and 4 represent a reduction in the coat of arms of the dukes of Teck , while fields 2 and 3 represent a reduction in the coat of arms of the Counts of Urach , both of which were under the control of the House of Württemberg . In the diploma of 1707, the Teck fields were divided diagonally to the right, awakened by black and gold at the top, red and silver at the bottom, while the Urach fields are divided; above in blue a growing crowned, inward-looking golden lion, below in gold a black bar. Three crowned helmets rest on the shield; the first with red and silver covers carries a crowned black eagle (imperial sign of grace because of the imperial immediacy of the imperial count), the middle one with black and gold covers is the heraldic helmet, the third with blue and gold covers carries a growing golden lion (borrowed from the urach 's field). In 1771 the Teck field was shown completely awakened in red and silver and the bar in the Urach field was red in a golden shield base , and the eagle on the crest is uncrowned.

Known family members

Fritz von Graevenitz

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Peter Ludewig : Reliquiae manuscriptorum omnis aevi diplomatum ac monumentorum. Volume 1. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1720, p. 157.
  2. ↑ State Main Archive Schwerin LHAS 3.2-3 / 1 Dobbertin Monastery. Pp. 232, 389, 390.
  3. ↑ Main State Archives Stuttgart , Part A 48/05: The Grävenitz Family
  4. ↑ Main State Archives Stuttgart, sub-inventory A 48/05: possessions of the Grävenitz
  5. ^ Hans Jürgen Rieckenberg:  Graevenitz, Christiane Wilhelmine Friederike Countess of. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , pp. 720-722 ( digitized version ).
  6. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon. Volume IV, CA Starke-Verlag, Limburg 1978, p. 227.