Greiffenclau
Greiffenclau (also Greiffenklau or Greiffenclau zu Vollraths ) is the family name of a noble family from the Rheingau in today's Hesse . The von Greiffenclau family originally come from Lorraine .
The family
Origin legend
The main line of the family Greiffenclau can be according to legend, to the time of Charlemagne traced under which the Greiffenclaus as Ministeriale to have served. On his travels from the Palatinate to the Palatinate, Charlemagne recognized, according to a legend, when he stayed for a long time on his Ingelheim Palatinate , that the snow on the southern slopes of the opposite bank of the Rhine in the Rheingau first melted and ordered wine to be grown there. The Greiffenclaus moved to the Rheingau side and built the Gray House in Winkel .
history
A first representative of the family is mentioned in 1097. According to recent research, the Gray House in Winkel was built around 1075 and is one of the oldest Romanesque secular buildings in Germany. The Greiffenclau are considered to be one of the oldest families in Europe who were involved in viticulture , because according to a document from 1211, which is considered the oldest wine bill , the family sold wine produced there to a monastery. Only the Antinori family in Florence can prove an even older winemaking tradition.
From 1320 to 1997, Vollrads Castle was the family seat, where wine was also grown. In the Höchst old town there is a Greiffenclausches house that came to the family in the 17th or 18th century. In 1664 the family was raised to the status of imperial baron and in 1674 they were awarded the court office of an inherited meal of the Electorate of Mainz .
The family provided one elector-archbishop each from Trier and Mainz and two prince-bishops from Würzburg. Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads was Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1511 to 1531. He anointed Charles V as German Emperor, presided over the Reichstag in Worms and founded the pilgrimage to the Holy Rock . Even Georg Friedrich von Greiffenklau , who served as Elector Archbishop of Mainz from 1626 to 1629, was closely connected to the House of Habsburg , he designed for Emperor Ferdinand II. The 1629 enacted Edict of Restitution , which the Thirty Years' War affected. Maria Ursula von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths married Philipp Erwein von Schönborn in 1635 , the brother of the Archbishop of Mainz Johann Philipp von Schönborn . The marriage resulted in 12 children, including Lothar Franz von Schönborn , who became Prince-Bishop of Bamberg in 1693 and Archbishop of Mainz in 1695. When in 1699 he wanted to become Prince-Bishop of Würzburg with the support of the Emperor, his cousin Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths prevailed; he held office until his death in 1719. During the “Greiffenclau time” he developed a brisk construction activity in Würzburg. From 1705 he had Gereuth Castle built as a baroque country seat on a privately acquired estate , which the Greiffenclaus inherited and sold in 1815. Johann Philipp's nephew Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads was elected Prince-Bishop of Würzburg 30 years after the death of his uncle and was in office from 1749 to 1754. The former rector of the University of Mainz promoted the Würzburg University. He had the Würzburg residence completed by Balthasar Neumann .
With Freiin Sophie von Greiffenclau (1824–1909), Fideikommissherrin on Vollrads, the family went out in their own tribe. The name of the Greiffenclau lived on through their children, as their husband, Count Hugo von Matuschka-Greiffenclau from the Bohemian-Silesian noble family Matuschka, was granted a name and coat of arms association in 1862. Vollrads Castle remained in the possession of Count Matuschka-Greiffenclau until Erwein Count Matuschka-Greiffenclau died by suicide in 1997 after the Nassauische Sparkasse had filed for bankruptcy against him. The Naspa then took over the castle and winery and owns it to this day. The Matuschka von Greiffenclau family still owns a winery in the Charente and lives in Switzerland.
Greiffenclausches house in Frankfurt-Höchst
Palais of the Greiffenclau family in Würzburg, built around 1708
Family coat of arms
The family coat of arms of Greiffenclau zu Vollrath shows a golden Glevenrad (a silver ring with a star-shaped set of eight golden lily sceptres on the outside) in a field divided in silver and blue. The increased coat of arms also shows the silver oblique left bar in the black field of the Ippelbrunn rulership, which is shown by Siebmacher as a right diagonal bar, as the entire coat of arms is facing inwards. On the helmet with blue-silver covers as a talking helmet ornament, a red-armored golden griffin leg (" griffin claw"), at the cut with a bush of 13 (5: 5: 3) alternately decorated with silver and blue ostrich feathers.
Shield holders are among other things in an old coat of arms relief at Vollrads Castle , also at Gereuth Castle , two griffins.
Increased coat of arms in the Siebmacher (around 1600)
Increased coat of arms of the Greiffenclau at Vollrads Castle
Coat of arms at the Juliusspital in Würzburg
Coat of arms of Bishop Johann Philipp at the Neumünster Collegiate Foundation in Würzburg
Significant people
Many important personalities, including Archbishops and Electors of Mainz and Trier and Prince-Bishops of Würzburg, emerged from the Greiffenclau-Vollraths family, for example:
- Friedrich von Greiffenclau (1401–1462), knight , fighter against the Turks, as a widower Franciscan
- Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads , Archbishop and Elector of Trier (1511–1531)
- Friedrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , second governor of Erfurt, from 1674 Vicedominus in the Rheingau
- Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , Archbishop and Elector of Mainz (1626–1629), "Father of the Edict of Restitution "
- Georg Philipp von Greiffenclau , chief magistrate, father of Johann Philipp (1620–1689)
- Philipp Karl Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , senior bailiff
- Otto Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads (1777-1860), member of parliament
- Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths , Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke in Franconia (1699–1719)
- Johann Erwein von Greiffenclau-Vollrads (1663–1727), Vice Cathedral of the Rheingau, Friedberger Burggraf
- Adolph von Greiffenclau-Vollraths (* 1727 in Mainz, † there 1763); Mr. zu Gundheim in Rheinhessen, since 1745 Electoral Mainz Chamberlain and 1753 Kurmainzer Hof- u. Government council; Knight captain and director of the immediate knighthood in the Middle Rhine region in the Wetterau
- Philipp Karl Greiffenclau zu Vollraths (1735–1823), privy councilor and senior bailiff
- Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke in Franconia (1749–1754)
- Hugo Graf von Matuschka-Greiffenclau (1822–1898), owner of the Schloss Vollrads winery and politician
- Guido Graf von Matuschka-Greiffenclau (1847–1924), German administrative officer, court official and owner of the Schloss Vollrads estate
- Richard Graf Matuschka-Greiffenclau (1893–1975), German politician (CDU), owner of the Schloss Vollrads winery, honorary president and president of the German Viticulture Association
- Erwein Graf Matuschka-Greiffenclau (1938–1997), owner of the Schloss Vollrads winery , president of the Association of German Predicate and Quality Wineries eV (VDP) and president of the Rheingau Viticulture Association
Gertrud von Dalberg born von Greiffenclau († 1502), daughter of Friedrich von Greiffenclau , on her epitaph in the Katharinenkirche Oppenheim
Grave altar of Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads , Archbishop and Elector of Trier (1511–1531) in Trier Cathedral
Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , Archbishop and Elector of Mainz (1626–1629)
Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths , Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke in Franconia (1699–1719)
Karl Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads , Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke in Franconia (1749–1754); Ceiling painting portrait by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in the Würzburg Residence
literature
in alphabetical order by authors / editors
- Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Freiherrlichen houses , 5th year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1855, pp. 212–215.
- Oidtman Collection 6, Cologne 1994, pp. 620-658.
- Walther Möller: Family tables of West German noble families , New Series 1st Volume, Darmstadt 1950, pp. 28–29.
- Harald Winkel: Documents from the Schloss Vollrads house archive can be researched online. Development project in the Hessian main state archive completed . In: Archivnachrichten aus Hessen 18/1 (2018), p. 39f.
Web links
- Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Greiffenclau
- Ancestry samples of Carl Philipp von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths and Joannes Godefridus Lotharius Freiherr von Greiffenclau on monasterium.net
- Bernhard Peter: The coat of arms of the von Greiffenclau zu Vollraths
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernhard Peter Photos beautiful old coat of arms No. 264
- ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume IV, Volume 67 of the complete series, Limburg (Lahn) 1978; P. 247 f.