Meran (noble family)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of the Counts of Meran, Barons of Brandhofen

The Counts of Meran , barons of Brandhofen , are an Austrian noble family that descended from the Habsburgs .

history

Archduke Johann of Austria (1782-1859)
Anna Plochl (1804-1885)

The family comes from the morganatic marriage of Archduke Johann of Austria and the postman's daughter Anna Plochl . On July 4th, 1834 Anna Plochl was introduced to the Austrian baron class with the addition of "von Brandhofen". Further introductions were in the Styrian gentry on September 17, 1839, the gentry in Carinthia on September 22, 1840, the gentry in Carniola on December 22, 1841, the inclusion in the Tyrolean aristocratic register on July 1, 1842, the Upper Austrian old gentry on November 24, 1842 and finally the Austrian count as "von Meran " by the highest resolution of April 29, 1844 for the son of Johann and Anna, the Franz Freiherrn von Brandhofen, and by the highest resolution of January 9, 1850 for Anna Plochl herself. On April 18, 1861, the respective Fideikommissherrn at Schenna Castle near Merano was assigned the seat as a hereditary member of the manor house , the upper house of the Austrian Imperial Council . From 1862, Franz von Meran devoted himself to the administration of his father's inheritance and the further development of the institutions that emerged from the Joanneum . He and his descendants were related to many members of the Austrian and German nobility .

The name “Meran” is based on considerations that can be traced back to the archivist of the Styrian estates, Josef Wartinger from Sankt Stefan ob Stainz . The name of the family to be honored with the corresponding title should not be able to be associated with an already existing domain of the Habsburgs, it should be based on a name of an extinct family, whose successor the Habsburgs had become. So came into consideration z. B. the Eppensteiner , Traungauer , Aflenz, Cilli , whereby finally the reference to Tyrol by the family of Andechs-Meranien was considered to be decisive. The Habsburgs also descended from this family via the Gorizia-Meinhardiners .

possession

In 1818 the Archduke bought the Brandhof farm in Styria at an auction to set up a model estate for alpine cattle breeding. In the newly built chapel in the castle, he married Anna Plochl in 1829, who was raised to Baroness von Brandhofen in 1834 and ran the household here.

In 1840 Archduke Johann acquired the Augustinian canons' monastery in Stainz in Styria (which was repealed in 1785) , which he converted into Stainz Castle . In addition, he had the Palais Meran built for himself as a residential palace in Graz from 1841 to 1843 .

In 1845 Archduke Johann bought Schenna Castle near Meran , where he moved parts of his collections that can be viewed there today. He also built the neo-Gothic mausoleum on the church hill of Schenna, where he, Anna and her family found their final resting place. After his death, Stainz Castle, as well as Brandhof and Schenna Castle, remained in the family of his descendants, the Meran family, to this day.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of Count Meran

The family coat of arms (from the year 1834) is as follows: within red and silver squares, square and covered with a silver heart shield, in it an upright red lion, 1 and 4 in red an adjoining silver cross, 2 and 3 in blue on green ground a natural castle building with a central tower and a chapel in front of it. - Three helmets, on the right with red and silver blankets the lion growing inwards, on the middle one with red and silver blankets on the right, blue and silver blankets on the left, five natural peacock feathers, on the left with blue and silver blankets a growing blue-clad virgin with blond hair, hands on hips. - Shield holder: on the right a natural eagle, on the left a natural gemsbok .

progeny

literature

  • Rudolf Granichstaedten-Czerva: The brotherhood of Archduke Johann . In: Journal of the Society. Adler 1947, p. 22 f.
  • Hanns Jäger-Sunstenau : The coat of arms of the Counts of Meran . In: Mitteilungen des Steiermärkisches Landesarchivs, Vol. 28 (1978), pp. 137–146.
  • Franz Menges:  Meran. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 111 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hannes P. Naschenweng: The descendants of Archduke Johann of Austria and Anna Plochl, Freiin von Brandhofen, Countess of Meran . In: Magazine Adler 1982, pp. 414–436.
  • Peter Wiesflecker: From the history of the Meran family. In: Eleonore Steinbauer: Stainz. From the past to the present. Marktgemeinde Stainz, Simadruck 2008. pp. 82–89.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Peter Wiesflecker: From the history of the Meran family. In: Eleonore Steinbauer: Stainz. From the past to the present. Marktgemeinde Stainz, Simadruck 2008. P. 83.