Medem (noble family)

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Family coat of arms of those of Medem

Medem is the name of an old noble family originally from Lower Saxony . The family, some of whose branches still exist today, later acquired property and reputation mainly in Courland , Russia , Poland and Prussia .

history

origin

According to an old tradition, the family came from Scotland and settled in Braunschweig in the 10th century. The family therefore also belonged to the Brunswick noble families who supported Duke Heinrich of Saxony against King Konrad of Franconia in 914 .

The family was first mentioned in a document in 1240 with Oberth (Albert) de Medehem. In 1244 the brothers Hartung, Hermann, Theodorich and Johannes, sons of the deceased "dominus Hartung de Medehem", are mentioned in a document.

Elisabeth Charlotte von Medem
(1754–1833)
Anna Charlotte Dorothea von Medem
(1761–1821)
Christoph Johann Friedrich von Medem
(1763-1838)

The ancestral home of the family that gave its name is the lost town of Medenheim, also Medehem or Medeheim, which was located between Northeim and Sudheim in what is now the district of Northeim in southern Lower Saxony. The village is mentioned for the first time in a document together with Northeim and Sudheim around the year 800. The three villages were transferred to the Fulda monastery .

Spread and lines

In 1309 the von Medem appear as an advisable family in Göttingen . In Courland, Claus von Medeheym from Göttingen was first mentioned in 1459. In 1462 he received property near Mitau from the Teutonic Order as a fief . Johann von Mehdem auf Wilzen und Kahrenbeck, Courland man judge and knight bank judge , was enrolled in the first class of the Courland Knighthood on October 17, 1620, as was Peter von Medem, Imperial Russian Staff Assistant of the Guard, on May 27, 1830.

In the course of time, the tribe was able to spread with numerous lines in Livonia , Courland, Shemaitia , East Prussia , Russia and Poland. In Courland, the baronial line owned Rumbenhof, Neumooken and Dselen, among others. The count's lines sat with Rempten, Altautz and Elley.

Johann Friedrich von Medem (1722–1785), royal Polish chamberlain and Starost zu Okmiany, was the founder of the count's line. It was in 1779 by Emperor Joseph II. In the imperial counts charged. Johann Friedrich was married three times, the first with Luise von Korff , the second with Luise Charlotte, née Zoege von Manteuffel , widowed von Nolde and the third with Agnes Elisabeth, née von Brukken, called Fock (1718–1784), widowed von der Warrior. A daughter from his first marriage was the important poet and writer Elisa von Medem (1754–1833). In 1771 she married the chamberlain Georg Magnus von der Recke . A son from his first marriage, Johann Friedrich Graf von Medem (born May 25, 1758), died at the age of twenty on June 11, 1778 in Strasbourg. The two sons Carl Johann Friedrich von Medem and Christoph Johann Friedrich von Medem came from the second marriage, the founders of the two counts' branches. Her sister Anna Charlotte Dorothea (1761–1821) married Peter von Biron , the last Duke of Courland . The last marriage was childless.

Counts branches

Carl Johann Friedrich von Medem (* 1762) was the founder of the Count's branch to Rempten and Altautz. He became plenipotentiary for Kurland and died in 1827 as a majorate on Rempten, Cappeln and Wehsaten as well as a master on Altautz, Dselen, Behren, Großautz, Kwelen and Weitenfeld. His grandson was Friedrich von Medem (* 1828), Majoratherr auf Rempten and Wehsaten, who married Alice von Oelsen from the Haus Gemauerthof (* 1837) in 1851 and left three sons in addition to a daughter. His sister Elisabeth Charlotte von Medem (* 1842) married Count Conrad von Kleist , Herr auf Großautz mit Sirmeln in Kurland , in 1861 .

Christoph Johann Friedrich von Medem (1763–1838), the founder of the second branch of the count of Elley, became Imperial Russian Chamberlain and Lord of Elley, Blieden, Dürben, Sehmen, Abgunst, Grünfeld, Abgulden, Duhren and Jordanitz. He married Marie Luise von der Pahlen , b. von Astrau († 1831). The marriage arose among others Peter von Medem (* 1801), Majorate ruler of the Elley rule, Plenipotentiary of Courland, Imperial Russian Chamberlain and real State Councilor. In 1825 he married Julie von Behr from the Stutten family († 1863). The daughter Luise, married von Korff (* 1829), and the two sons Johann and Theodor came from the marriage. Both were Rittmeister in Imperial Russian military service. Her three uncles on her father's side also served in the Imperial Russian cavalry. Of them, Ludwig von Medem (* 1814) married Sophie von Löwenstern from the Wollmarshof (* 1823) house, mistress of Stockmannshof and Grütershof. The couple left behind a daughter and three sons.

Baron lines

Two baronial lines settled in the Kingdom of Prussia. From the first house in Dselden came, among others, Johann von Medem († before 1737), lord of Dselen. In 1718 he married Ursula Emerentia von Dorthefen from the Dselen family, heir wife of Dselen and Dsellsgallen. Her son Otto von Medem (* 1721) sold part of the property to his brother-in-law Georg Christoph von Mirbach . Otto's son from his marriage to Friederike von Vittinghoff called Schell von Schellenberg , Alexander von Medem, died in 1789 as a royal Prussian captain . He left three grandchildren, of whom Otto von Medem (* 1827) became a Prussian captain and company commander .

Eberhard von Medem (* 1631), who died as a lord on Rudbahren in Courland in 1672, came from the second baronial line to Wulckau in the Neumark . His son Otto von Medem (1655–1725), a gentleman on Rudbahren, came from his marriage to Maria Elisabeth von Wrangel from the house of Krohnen and Abellen in Courland. His son Eberhard Christoph von Medem (1686–1761) was the master of Paddern, Silnehken, Altmocken and Lipen in Courland and Pilsen district administrator . He married Sophie von Tippelskirch from the Feldhoff family († 1748). Their son Friedrich Georg von Medem (1725–1795) was a Prussian chamberlain, court marshal of Prince Ferdinand of Prussia , mayor and chamber president as well as lord of Wulckau, Leichholz and Ziermetzel in the Neumark. He married Charlotte von der Groeben († 1833) from the Treppeln family for the second time . Son Heinrich Philipp von Medem († 1863), Lord of Wulckau and Werben, became Treasurer of the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Alexander von Medem (1814–1879) came from his marriage to Aloyse Winenko von Werthenstein († around 1860), the last representative of her family, who died in the male line with the death of her father Friedrich Adam Winenko von Werthenstein in 1823 . He became a Prussian lieutenant general and married Agnes von Puttkamer in 1839 . The marriage produced three sons.

Status surveys

Coats of arms of the Lords and Barons of Medem in the Baltic Book of Arms of CA von Klingspor
Coat of arms of the Counts of Medem

According to Kneschke , the family was granted the imperial baron status by Emperor Rudolf II in 1598 , which was later recognized in Russia and Prussia.

Johann Friedrich von Medem, on Elley and Altautz in Courland, Starost zu Okmiany in Lithuania as well as royal Polish and electoral Saxon chamberlain, was raised to the rank of imperial count by Emperor Joseph II in Vienna on November 11, 1779 with the salutation high and well-born ( the diploma was pre-dated to Friedland, September 16, 1779).

The Russian recognition for the use of the baron title took place on April 3, 1862 for the entire family by Senatsukas . Alexander von Medem, the Prussian lieutenant general at the disposition , received on May 23, 1878 in Berlin a Prussian recognition for the use of the title of baron per heraldry rescript .

coat of arms

Family coat of arms

The strain crest shows in blue, a gold fogged and -beringtes red Hifthorn (medieval form of hunting horn ). On the helmet with red and silver helmet covers, the hip horn fell between a red and a silver ostrich feather.

Count's coat of arms

The imperial coat of arms, awarded in 1779, is divided. Above the family coat of arms, below in red, diagonally to the right, a shiny sword with gold . The coat of arms has three helmets. On the right, with blue and gold helmet covers, a gold crowned, armored and winged black eagle , in the middle the trunk helmet, on the left with blue and gold covers, a black eagle wing .

Two opposing black greyhounds with gold-rimmed and ringed red collars as a shield holder .

Known family members

literature

Web links

Commons : Medem (noble family)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h New General German Adels Lexicon Volume 6, pp. 201–204.
  2. ^ Genealogical paperback of the German count's houses. Ninth year; Justus Perthes, Gotha 1836, pages 333–334
  3. ^ Johann Friedrich Falke: Codex traditionum Corbeiensium. Meissner, Leipzig 1752, pp. 861, 864.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon , Volume VIII, Volume 113 of the complete series, pp. 385–386.
  5. ↑ www.wiki-goettingen.de
  6. ↑ Life of Count Johann Friedrich von Medem: in addition to his correspondence mainly with the Chamberlain von der Recke, his sister , publisher Johann Lorenz Blessig, Academic Bookshop, 1792, Strasbourg
  7. ^ German count houses of the present. Volume 2, pp. 94-95.
  8. ^ Viktor von Medem obituary: German Society for Garden Art and Landscape Culture e. V. In: www.dggl.org. Retrieved August 21, 2016 .