Kniestedt (noble family)
Kniestedt is the name of an old noble family that emerged from a Hildesheim ministerial family . The family had their headquarters in the former village of Kniestedt , which was incorporated into Salzgitter-Bad in 1938 . The family was wealthy in the area around today's Salzgitter , including in Württemberg since the end of the 17th century. The family died out in the mid-19th century.
History of the parent company
According to unconfirmed family records, the ancestors of the Lords of Kniestedt are said to have come to Kniestedt as early as 818 under Ludwig the Pious from Bohemia. The members of the family were in the service of the Brunswick dukes, under whom they held important state offices, and of the Hildesheim monastery , where they are listed under the capitulars and canons of the diocese.
The first mention of a member of the Kniestedt family can be found in a deed of lease from 1221 about a house in Sehlde to the Ringelheim monastery , in which a Conradus de Knystede is mentioned. A total of six members of the Kniestedter family are mentioned from the 13th century. Besides Konrad (Conradus), these are his sons Heinrich (1258) and Eberhard as well as a knight Achilles von Kniestedt (mentions from 1235, 1244 and 1265). The third generation includes the brothers Konrad (mentions from 1275, 1285, 1286 and 1290) and Arnold (1286, 1290 and 1295). The heyday of the family was in the 14th century, 13 family members are documented from the first half alone.
Most of the mentions of members of the von Kniestedt noble family can be found in documents relating to legal transactions in which they appeared as victims or as witnesses - mainly in cases of transfers of property. They mainly worked in the area between today's cities of Braunschweig, Hildesheim and Goslar.
According to the family records of Gottschalk von Kniestedt, which he wrote down in 1792, the Lords of Kniestedt did not have a closed estate at the headquarters, but only owned fiefs in the form of piece lands . They also held large shares in the salt pans of the nearby "solt to gyttere" (today Salzgitter-Bad) and the nearby Vöppstedt, whose inhabitants moved to the newly founded and fortified salt town in the middle of the 14th century. They also owned the localities of Groß- and Klein-Holzhausen (located between Kniestedt and Engerode, later desolate) as a coherent fief. The fiefdoms were predominantly "fiefs for the right hand" (also called sword or man fiefs ). These fiefs could only be inherited “in the male line” - if the feudal lord or fiefdom died, the fief had to be re-awarded within a year.
The largest lender was the bishop of Hildesheim, other landlords in Kniestedt were the Gandersheim monastery , the counts of Wohldenberg , the lords of Schwicheldt and the lords of Wallmoden . Further possessions and fiefs lay in the area north of the Harz between Goslar , Bockenem , Osterwieck and Watenstedt .
At the end of the 15th century, the sons of Heinrich von Kniestedt, who died in 1491 and who was Brunswick's chamberlain and grand vogt during his lifetime , divided the property between them. Hans kept the family's ancestral home, the Oberhof in the north of the village of Kniestedt, while his brother Arndt built a new courtyard, the Unterhof , at the southern exit of the village .
With the separation of the residences and the division of the goods there was also a subsequent division of the family into two lines. Hans von Kniestedt became the ancestor of the later Württemberg line, Arndt the founder of the Brunswick or Burgdorf line. In 1596, Arndt von Kniestedt received the estates of the extinct line of those of Assel in Burgdorf from the Duke of Brunswick as a fief and thus founded the Burgdorf Line. Levin von Kniestedt moved his seat to Württemberg in 1672 , where he entered the service of the local sovereign as head stable master and chief bailiff and thus became the actual founder of the Württemberg line.
The first Unterhof in Kniestedt soon turned out to be too small and from 1530 a new Unterhof was built next to the church in the village . The first manor house , built in 1533, is still preserved today; it was moved from 1975 to 1976 in the rose garden of Salzgitter-Bad. Also preserved and still standing in the old place behind the church is the family's stone mansion , built in 1698 to replace the manor house that has become too small .
In 1709 the Württemberg line was extinct except for two brothers, the chief stableman Levin von Kniestedt and the lieutenant colonel Friedrich Hermann von Kniestedt. The two brothers shared the inheritance, so that Levin kept the upper courtyard and Friedrich Hermann built the middle courtyard in the immediate vicinity. The Oberhof in turn was sold in 1721 by Levin's descendants to Julius von Kniestedt, the owner of the Unterhof, while the Mittelhof remained in the possession of the Württemberg line. Only after the death of General Christian Wilhelm von Kniestedt in 1809 did the Mittelhof return to the Unterhof, so that the entire Kniestedt estate was once again in one hand.
On November 30, 1853, Luise Charlotte von Kniestedt, b. Bülow from the house of Rhode, the last wife of Kniestedt of the Unterhof branch, she was the widow of Friedrich Julius von Kniestedt (1765-1825). After her death, the estate fell back to the sovereign, the King of Hanover , as a legal successor to the Diocese of Hildesheim . He transferred the estate to Count Georg Herbert zu Münster (1820 to 1902), who owned Derneburg Castle in addition to other possessions . The Kniestedter possessions were acquired on December 22, 1939 by the Großdeutsche Umsiedlungsgesellschaft for the Reichswerke Hermann Göring for settlement purposes.
Burgdorf branch of the family
When the wealthy von Assel family died out in Burgdorf in 1596, Arndt von Kniestedt, the owner of the Unterhof, was enfeoffed with the estate of the von Assel family. At that time, this included 240 acres in front of Burgdorf and 1 yard and 4 Hufen in Hohenassel (today part of the municipality of Burgdorf bei Salzgitter). In 1605 Arndt built his still-preserved town house in Wolfenbüttel (today Schloßplatz 19), the portal of which bears his name. He was married to Eva von der Dannen, who had died in Wolfenbüttel in 1604.
After the death of her father Heinrich Julius (son of Arndt von Kniestedt) in 1644 and her mother Anna Magdalena in 1650, their sons Friedrich Julius and Burkhard von Kniestedt divided the fiefs of Burgdorf and Kniestedt by lot: Burkhard took over the Kniestedter Unterhof and Friedrich Julius the fiefdom of Burgdorf.
The great-grandson of Friedrich Julius, Georg Heinrich Gottschalk von Kniestedt, built a new mansion on the site of the former Asselburg near Burgdorf between 1779 and 1783 . This house, often referred to as "Burgdorf Castle", is now privately owned.
When there were no more male descendants in the Burgdorf branch, the sons of Georg Heinrich Gottschalk von Kniestedt, who died in 1808, Heinrich Julius and Thedel Heinrich, resigned from the feudal relationship in 1834 and thus returned the Burgdorf manor to the Duke-Braunschweigische Haus. The property was initially leased and sold on December 6, 1845 to Carl August Adolf von Cramm , whose family held the property until 1910. With Heinrich Julius vom Kniestedt, the Kniestedt-Burgdorfer line died out in the male line on June 18, 1837.
Württemberg branch of the family
In 1672 Levin von Kniestedt (1638–1719) entered the service of the Duke of Württemberg as ducal stable master and chamberlain. He became the founder of the "Württemberg Line". In 1695 he acquired the knight's seat of Heutingsheim (today a part of Freiberg am Neckar ) with patronage rights to the Simon and Judas Church and built Heutingsheim Castle there in 1696. In 1705 he acquired Harteneck Castle . The following year he acquired the castle and village of Rübgarten (today a district of Pliezhausen ) and built Rübgarten Castle there between 1707 and 1710. After his possession he called himself Levin Freiherr von Kniestedt zu Heutelsheim and Rübgarten.
Because of his 50 years of service, Levin von Kniestedt and his family were accepted into the immediate free imperial knighthood in Swabia in 1706 . As a result, he was no longer subordinate to the Duke of Württemberg, but directly to the emperor. His successors Christian Wilhelm, Eberhard and Ludwig Friedrich Alexander von Kniestedt acquired the village of Kleinbottwar and Schaubeck Castle in 1765 . Overall, the von Kniestedt family in Württemberg and Baden owned estates in Groß Aspach, Oberifflingen, Harteneck, Geisingen, Heutingsheim, Poppenweiler, Hegelhof, Schaubeck Castle, Kleinbottwar and Rübgarten.
From 1794 onwards, Karl Ludwig Christoph von Kniestedt was the sole owner of the goods in Württemberg. In 1792 he called himself "Herr auf Kniestedt, Schaubeck, Heutingsheim, Klein Bottwar and Rübgarten" . After his death on March 16, 1815, the Rübgarten fiefdom fell back to the sovereign. The other goods were inherited by his cousin Franz Karl Eberhard Freiherr von Schacht, who was allowed to take over the name Kniestedt in 1784.
After Karl von Kniestedt's death in 1853, his cousins, the Freiherrn von Brusselle, inherited the Württemberg estates of Heutingsheim, Schaubeck and Kleinbottwar. The entire Kniestedt family died out in 1947 with the death of Friedrich Georg Karl Wilhelm, whose son Werner Heinrich Eugen Wilhelm had died in 1941.
Name bearer
- Konrad von Kniestedt (mentioned 1326), Canon in Goslar
- Sophie von Kniestedt (mentioned in 1344), prioress of the Heiningen monastery
- Arndt von Kniestedt (d. October 11, 1611), chamberlain of Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig, head stable master, secret council, Grand Vogt of Wolfenbüttel, founder of the Burgdorf branch of the Braunschweig line, built the town house in Wolfenbüttel (Schloßplatz 19). The stone slab of his grave is kept in the Kniestedter Church.
- Rosina von Kniestedt (mentioned 1625), abbess of the Derneburg monastery
- Heinrich Julius von Kniestedt (1586–1644), court marshal, vicehof judge and grand bailiff
- Levin von Kniestedt (Wuerttemberg) (1638–1719), head stable master and chief bailiff in Wuerttemberg, transplanted his tribe to Wuerttemberg, acquired the imperial knighthood
- Christian Friedrich von Kniestedt (Burgdorf Line) (1700–1765), Legation Councilor, Comital envoy in Regensburg, Petersburg and Frankfurt. Buried in Regensburg in the ambassadorial cemetery near the Dreieinigkeitskirche. A wall epitaph with legible inscription is preserved.
- Eberhard von Kniestedt (Württ.), (1725–1795), knight of the great hunting order, knight captain of the Swabian knighthood, Württemberg state minister and chamber president, he was posthumously awarded the Stuttgart citizen's crown
- Christine Sophia Luise von Kniestedt (* 1737 or 1739), abbess of the free aristocratic monastery of Steterburg
- Thedel Bodo von Kniestedt (1697–1775), general in the service of the Duke of Braunschweig
- Georg Heinrich Gottschalk von Kniestedt (1734–1808), author of the family history of the Kniestedt family seat from 1792, from 1771–1808 deputy of the Hildesheim knighthood, builder of the manor house in Burgdorf
- Friedrich Julius von Kniestedt (1765-1825), last of the Kniestedter branch, Canton Maire (mayor) in the Kingdom of Westphalia , tribunal judge in Wolfenbüttel, married Luise Charlotte von Bülow (1779-1853) from the Rhode family in April 1800
- Karl Ludwig Christoph von Kniestedt (Württ.) († 1815), Privy Councilor in Baden, founder of the poor fund in Kleinbottwar
coat of arms
The family coat of arms shows a red heart shield in gold which is covered with green clover or linden leaves. On the helmet, with red and gold blankets, a pointed, pointed silver hat that is wrapped diagonally with a red ribbon, the tip of which is crowned and decorated with a peacock mirror.
literature
- Anastasius Neander: Historical-genealogical news of the Hildesheim nobility. Geschechte der Herren von Kniestedt , In: Collection of small versions - in the Hanoverian advertisements , 1st volume Hanover, HEC Schlüter 1752. P. 531-534. From the coat of arms in a communicated latin. Certificate p. 533
- Johann Seifert: Genealogy Hoch-Adelicher parents and children , Regensburg 1724, pp. 251-256 digitized
- Johann Seifert: Kniestown pedigree , Regensburg 1731
- Zeller: Notes about the Kniestedt family , Stuttgart 1818
- Edmund von der Becke-Klüchtzner, Stamm-Tafeln of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Baden: a newly edited nobility book , Baden-Baden 1886, pp. 236–238: von Kniestedt and Barons von Kniestedt-Schaubeck called von Schacht [of the male line of Schacht] ( Digitized )
- Franz Zobel : On the history of the barons of Kniestedt on Kniestedt and Burgdorf . Carl Witt, Goslar, 1926, p. 19-24 .
- Franz Zobel: The home book of the district of Goslar . Verlag der Goslarschen Zeitung Karl Krause, 1928, p. 19-24 .
- Wilhelm Schrader: The ancient noble family of Kniestedt . Self-published, Salzgitter-Bad 1975.
- Wilhelm Schrader: Chronicle of the former village Kniestedt . Self-published, Salzgitter-Bad 1980.
- Wilhelm Schrader: Supplement and summary of typewritten work on the chronicle of the former village of Kniestedt (Goslar district) . Self-published, Salzgitter-Bad 1982.
- Gudrun Pischke: The Lords of Kniestedt - function and effect of a noble family in the Middle Ages . In: Geschichtsverein Salzgitter eV (ed.): Salzgitter yearbook 1991/1992 . tape 13/14 . Salzgitter 1992, p. 39-73 .
- Armgard von Reden-Dohna: The knight seats of the former princedom of Hildesheim . Barton-Verlag, Göttingen 1995, ISBN 3-9803288-4-8 , p. 240-242 .
website
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Zobel: History of the Barons of Kniestedt , pp. 24-25
- ↑ Gudrun Pischke, The Lords of Kniestedt , pp. 24 and 47–49
- ^ Wilhelm Schrader: The primeval family of Kniestedt , p. 213
- ↑ Pictures from Wolfenbüttel: Schloßplatz (1)
- ↑ Calvör catalog of the TU Clausthal, letter K, page 379 (PDF; 2 MB)
- ↑ Ritterliches from Rübgarten in the Generalanzeiger (accessed on November 27, 2012)
- ^ Wilhelm Schrader: The primeval family of Kniestedt , p. 215
- ^ Albrecht Klose / Klaus-Peter Rueß: The grave inscriptions on the ambassador's cemetery in Regensburg. Texts, translations, biographies . In: Stadtarchiv Regensburg (ed.): Regensburger studies . tape 22 . Regensburg City Archives, Regensburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-943222-13-5 , p. 55 f .