Münster (Westphalian noble family)

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

Münster , also Mönster or Monster , is an old, highly free Westphalian noble family . The von and zu Münster families are among the oldest still flourishing German noble families.

No kinship exists to the same Frankish rich knightly noble family of Munster , which is also another crest leads, in blue an open split of red and silver diagonally flight , and another Westphalian noble family of Munster, whose coat of arms shows two blue bars on a silver field. The family, sometimes called the Blue Minster , died out in Lithuania around 1820 . There is also no relationship to the correspondence between the Münster family and the imperial officer, Christoph Münsterer, who were raised to the imperial nobility on March 12, 1660.

history

origin

The name is probably derived from the Brockhof in Münster and the associated mayor's office , which belonged to the Münster cathedral chapter and whose origin is assumed to be in the late Carolingian period. Hermann and Rolof were given to members of the family as early lead names . Probably there was a tribal relationship with those of Bevern , von Steinfurt and the noblemen of Meinhövel (who have a similar coat of arms) and other Westphalian dynasty families . B. with the cover skirt / Droste to Hülshoff .

According to Kneschke , the von Münster knights were mentioned as a respected knight as early as the 10th century . In older literature, the presumed builder of Meinhövel Castle not far from Nordkirchen , Hermann I, son of Ethelhard and brother of Albion , is named as the progenitor . He is said to have died as a general of the Saxons against Charlemagne in 789 near Harstatt and to have been married to Asta, the sister of the Norwegian king.

The family is first mentioned in a document in 1170 with Ernestus de Monasterio .

The original estates were in Westphalia, especially in the monastery of Münster. In addition to Lehn , the family also owned allodial goods . The bishop's church in Münster was built on the property of the family, which is why they exercised the right of patronage until 1268 . In the same year, after long disputes, they had to cede this right to the diocese of Münster for 800 marks . Early feudal relationships also existed with Werden Abbey . Members of the family were among the supporters of the St. Martin and Georg monastery in Hohenholte , which was founded in 1142, and appeared as Ministeriale , Burgmannen and Drosten of the bishops of Münster, Osnabrück and the Counts of Bentheim .

Lines and possessions

In the course of time, various branches came to the Lower Rhine , Hanover , Oldenburg , Mecklenburg , Pomerania , Upper Lusatia and South Prussia . The later barons mostly called themselves monsters, and since their elevation to the rank of count they have used the name Münster. In the Baltic Jaspar was Landmarschall of the Teutonic Order . He was killed by the Muscovites in 1577 .

The presumed castle Meinhövel near Nordkirchen was probably destroyed in 1242 by the troops of the prince-bishop. At the beginning of the 14th century, Bertha moved from Münster zu Diepenbrock, a descendant of the Lords of Meinhövel, to Nordkirchen, referring to her old rights, to build a residential tower half a kilometer west of the Burgstall next to the mill on the Teufelsbach . The aristocratic Morrien family , also based in Nordkirchen, filed a lawsuit before the Reich Chamber of Commerce , which ultimately concerned supremacy in Nordkirchen by denying that there was an earlier aristocratic seat of the Meinhövel family in Nordkirchen, which they apparently lost , because Bertha's son was able to gradually expand the residential tower into a handsome castle. This new moated castle was destroyed in the 19th century.

Edgard von Münster, noble lord of Meinhövel and Rünen († 1522), founded the line of the family through his son Georg, which spread in Westphalia. Surenburg came into the possession of the family in 1612, Gut Langelage (now part of Bohmte ) in 1764 through the marriage of the von Oer family and Ledenburg Castle in 1776. Three brothers divided this line into the three houses Langelage, Meinhövel and Ledenburg. The older son Ludwig Friedrich Diedrich Wilhelm, Lord of Langelage, Warburg , Germete , Surenburg and Geisbeck, was the founder of the Langelage house in Osnabrück . The middle son Georg Werner August Diedrich founded the Meinhövel family in Westphalia and the younger son Ernst Friedrich Herbert, half-brother of the older brothers mentioned, founded the Ledenburg family , also in Osnabrückschen.

Haus Langelage (with Surenburg, Ledenburg and Derneburg)

Surenburg , owned by the family from 1612 to 1786
Ledenburg Palace , seat of the Barons von Grothaus since 1622, owned by the zu Münster family from 1776 to 1951
Derneburg Abbey near Hildesheim, owned by the family from 1815 to 1974

Baron Georg Hermann Heinrich (1721–1773), Lord of Surenburg and Geisbeck, hereditary castle man of Quakenbrück and Landdrost of Iburg, came from the House of Langelage . His first marriage in 1745 was Wilhemine Dorothea Freiin von Hammerstein-Gesmold († 1794), the heiress of the oerischen goods. His son Baron Ludwig Friedrich Diedrich Wilhelm (* 1750), Lord of Surenburg and Langelage, married Charlotte Freiin von Münchhausen- Schwöbber in 1773. He died as a princely Osnabrück Oberhofmarschall in 1790. He had sold Surenburg in 1786 to the Barons Heereman von Zuydtwyck . His son Count Ernst zu Münster , from 1805 British-Hanoverian cabinet minister, received the secularized monastery of Derneburg near Hildesheim from King George IV in 1815 as a donation, which remained in the family until 1974. In 1814 he married Princess Wilhelmine Charlotte zu Schaumburg-Lippe . Their son Georg Herbert zu Münster was raised to the Prussian prince's status in 1899, he was hereditary marshal in the Kingdom of Hanover, member of the State Council and envoy to the imperial Russian court, married to Princess Alexandrine Galitzin since 1847 . From this marriage came four daughters and three sons. From 1837 to 1938 Kniestedt near Salzgitter was also part of the family property. In the same year it was expropriated for the Reichswerke Hermann Göring .

Since August 12, 1814, the House of Ledenburg had the title of hereditary marshal of the Kingdom of Hanover with a hereditary virile vote in the first chamber of the Estates Assembly of the Kingdom of Hanover . With the Derneburg endowment awarded by King George IV of Great Britain and Hanover in 1827 , the necessary majorate was established .

Meinhövel House

The Meinhövel family received the Danish indigenous community in 1793 and the Bohemian indigenous community in 1799 . The royal lordship of Königsbrück in Upper Lusatia , bought in 1795 , was sold to the Counts of Hohenthal in 1803. Count Georg Werner August Diedrich, Freiherr von Oer and Schade, lord of the state lordship of Königsbrück, as well as Landegge in Emsland , Carow, Damerow and Poseriu in Mecklenburg and Falkenhagen near Frankfurt (Oder) , died in 1801 as Hereditary Marshal of Herford Abbey, royal Danish and princely Osnabrück Privy Councilor , Electoral Cologne Real Privy Councilor and Chamberlain . He was married to Luise heir daughter and baroness von der Schulenburg-Altenhausen († 1786) in his second marriage. His son Count Gustav (1782–1839), Herr auf Schwartow, kuk chamberlain and Prussian major general married Julie von der Marwitz .

Other possessions

The possessions of Langelage, Ledenburg and the Burgmannsitz in Quakenbrück were in the bishopric of Osnabrück .

From the middle of the 15th century, goods in the Netherlands and Friesland could be acquired, including the rule ruins near Meppel in the province of Drenthe until the middle of the 17th century, as well as Duirsum Castle (also called Den Ham) near Loppersum (Groningen) and Herzford near Lingen .

At the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century, goods in Saxony came into family ownership, the rule of Königsbrück at the end of the 18th century, Linz with Ponickau (today a district of Thiendorf ) up to the middle of the 20th century and Königsfeld with Köttwitzsch and Haide ( today both districts of Königsfeld) 1910.

The extinct Münster-Schade branch was also owned in Mecklenburg and Pomerania, including Damerow, Carow, Schwartow and Klein-Massow. They later took the name Meinhövel and founded the family senior council of the Counts of Münster-Meinhövel in 1883 . Much of the seniority's assets were lost during World War II . In 1972 the münster-meinhövelsche family foundation was established in place of the senior council .

Status surveys

It is controversial whether a lost baron diploma from 1510, awarded by Emperor Maximilian I, existed. The family is listed under the Freyher family in Virgil Solis's little coat of arms book , Nuremberg 1555 .

On June 27, 1792 were by Elector Karl Theodor von Pfalz Bayern as imperial vicar brothers George, hereditary marshal of the Herford Abbey, electoral trier shear chamberlain and privy to the second title Baron of pity and Ernst von Munster on Ledenburg and fractures, electoral brunswick-lüneburger court and Chancellery with the sub-title Freiherr von Grothaus and posthumously the eldest brother Ludwig auf Langelage und Lohe, Prince-Bishop Osnabrück court marshal with his widow and children with the sub-title Freiherr von Oer raised to the imperial and Bavarian counts with the salutation high and well-born .

A Mecklenburg-Schwerin recognition for Georg Graf zu Münster, Freiherr von Schade, on Damerow and Carow took place on March 16, 1793 and an electoral Braunschweig-Lüneburg recognition for all three named on June 11, 1793 in Hanover .

On March 25, 1813, Georg Graf zu Münster, Baron von Oer, royal Bavarian Finance Councilor in Bayreuth , was registered with the nobility register of the count class in the Kingdom of Bavaria .

Ernst Graf zu Münster Freiherr von Grothaus, royal Hanoverian state and cabinet minister, and the respective elders received the title of hereditary marshal in the Kingdom of Hanover on October 12, 1814.

The mausoleum of the Counts of Münster on Gut Derneburg

Georg Graf zu Münster-Ledenburg, Freiherr von Grothaus, inheriting commissioner on Ledenburg, Dornum, Derneburg, Binder, Luttrum and Kniestedt I-III Hanover and Denkiehausen Brunswick, Imperial German Ambassador in Paris , hereditary member of the Prussian House of Lords , hereditary marshal of the Province of Hanover , was on August 29, 1899 at Potsdam / Neues Palais as Prince Münster of Derneburg with the salutation Your Highness in the Prussian prince class, the inheritance was reserved. A Prussian transfer of his father loaned Prince, became the prince of Munster Derneburg with Highness his son Dr. jur. et cam. Alexander Graf zu Münster-Leneburg, Baron von Grothaus, Prussian major , for himself on March 23, 1909.

Ernst Graf zu Münster, Freiherr von Oer, Fideikommisherr on Linz with Ponikau, royal Saxon land stable master out of service and the respective owners of Linz with Ponikau, received a royal Saxon name change to Graf zu Münster-Linz on April 28, 1910 in Dresden by ministerial decree . His entry in the royal Saxon register of nobility took place on June 6, 1910 under the number 332.

coat of arms

Family coat of arms

The family coat of arms is divided by red and gold. Two buffalo horns split like the shield on the helmet . The helmet covers are red and gold.

Coat of arms history

In 1315 and later, the knight Hermann von Münster carried a rider's seal with a diameter of 60 mm. Individual impressions of this seal are provided with a counter seal, which shows the coat of arms of the sex in the form of a banner. Knight Hermann presumably held the office of high marshal of the Duchy of Münster and in this capacity he used the equestrian seal. The splendid small helmets indicate a higher class of the family.

Historical coats of arms

Well-known namesake

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Rudolfine Freiin von Oer:  Münster, Counts of. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 532 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ^ A b New General German Adels Lexicon Volume 6, p. 414.
  3. Cod. Dipl. Hist. Westf. 2, p. 109. No. 344.
  4. Hildegard Schlutius: The ring walls in Meinhövel, municipality of Nordkirchen, Unser Kreis - Geschichte und Geschehen 2013 (history sheets of the Coesfeld district, 38th year, 2013), Kreisheimatverein Coesfeld eV (ed.), Pages 267–277
  5. ^ Entry on Meinhövel moated castle in the private database "Alle Burgen". Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  6. Entry on Haus Langelage in the private database “Alle Burgen”. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  7. E.-G. Count of Münster, "The Counts of Münster - Family History Notes 1100-1980", Schwäbisch Gmünd, 1981; Quoted in "Emsländische und Bentheimer Familienforschung", 1992, issue 18, p.626ff.
  8. Westfälisches Siegelwerk, plate 142
  9. Otto Hupp : Munich Calendar 1902. P. 30.