Moltke (noble family)
Moltke is the name of an old Mecklenburg noble family that has spread in several lines in Denmark since the 18th century.
history
Origins
The von Moltke belong to the Mecklenburg nobility . The family first appears in a document on September 19, 1254 in Wismar with the brothers and knights Fridericus Meltiko, miles and Johannes Moltike as followers of Johann I of Mecklenburg . The trunk series begins with the named Friedrich. The family name is most likely derived from the village of Moltow (mnd. Moltekowe, today part of Hohen Viecheln , located south of Wismar). The place name and surname jointly bear the Slavic root Moltek , which is supposed to be a reduction of mlatu , the hammer , according to another view an expression for black grouse , the heraldic animal of the sex. The Berkhahn and Karin families were related to the Moltkes .
In the second half of the 13th century, the Moltkes migrated from the Mecklenburg dominion to the neighboring Rostock dominion, where they quickly rose to become the leading aristocratic family. Johann Moltke in Toitenwinkel (1271/1309) was Waldemars von Rostock's truchess and, after his death, actually ran the legal guardianship for the minor sons of the sovereign. The Moltkes subsequently acquired numerous goods in the Rostock area. On December 27, 1280 they are co-signers of Ribnitz documents and in 1295 Johannis de Moltke is pastor of the Ribnitz town church . Amalie Eleonore von Moltke is the domina of the Poor Clare monastery in Ribnitz from 1756–1777 .
In the early 14th century, the Moltke knights were mentioned at Strietfeld Castle (today part of Lühburg and a preliminary work of the Dalwitz estate ), Toitenwinkel Castle (until 1679, numerous tombstones and epitaphs are in the Toitenwinkel village church ) in Detershagen , Plennin , in Klein Belitz with Neukirchen, in Wokrent (now part of Jürgenshagen ) and in Wendischhagen (now part of Malchin ), from the 15th century to 1786 on Samow , from 1545 to 1816 on Schorssow , on Walkendorf (17th century to 1830 ), since the middle of the 17th century on Bülow (until 1816).
An essential stage in the rise of the Moltke family was the alliance between Johann Moltke in Toitenwinkel (1271/1309) and the Danish King Erich VI. , as a result of which the Rostock rule became a Danish fiefdom, but the Moltkes were amply rewarded as Danish war entrepreneurs. After the rulership of Rostock fell to Mecklenburg, the Moltkes continued the Strietfeld line under Heinrich II. , Albrecht II. And Albrecht III. von Mecklenburg continued their war entrepreneurship and expanded the Strietfeld property complex into one of the largest in Mecklenburg with the profits made from it. On the basis of this property complex, numerous sovereign councils emerged from the family in the late Middle Ages. In addition, in the 14th century the Mecklenburg bailiwicks of Ribnitz , Tessin , Gnoien , Strelitz and Boizenburg were temporarily in the family's lien or feudal possession.
In the middle of the 18th century, various branches of the von Moltke family still held significant property. Eberhard Friedrich Ehrenreich von Moltke, born in 1727 as provisional agent of the Ribnitz monastery and knightly deputy of the office of Gnoien, owned Walkendorf, Burg Strietfeld, Friedrichsdorf , Dorotheenwalde , Schorssow , Ziddorf , Tessenow and Bülow . After that, however, the property decreased more and more and at the beginning of the 20th century, the von Moltke in the Ribnitz area had hardly any real estate worth mentioning.
In Einschreibebuch of Dobbertin Abbey there are 16 entries of daughters of the family of Moltke 1696-1863 from Walkendorf, Schorssow and Samow for inclusion in the noble Damenstift in Kloster Dobbertin .
In the 14th century, the Moltkes were also resident in the Principality of Rügen and the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden and were honored there. Under Albrecht III. The family came from Mecklenburg with Johann Moltke (1366/89) to Sweden, but he was killed in 1389 in the battle of Falköping .
The Mecklenburg tribe gradually expanded, acquired large estates, including the estate on the Wustrow peninsula, and later branched out again to Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Pomerania, and also to Prussia, Thuringia, Württemberg, Bavaria and Austria .
Numerous officers came from the family, including the two Prussian chiefs of the general staff Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke († 1891) and Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke († 1916).
Kreisau line
The Prussian General Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke , as Chief of the General Staff and commanding troop leader, played a key role in the Prussian victory in the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866 and in the Franco-German War of 1871, came from the Samov branch. He acquired the Kreisau estate in Lower Silesia as a retirement home. He was raised to the hereditary Prussian count on October 28, 1870 .
His great-great-nephew Helmuth James Graf von Moltke was one of the leading figures in the Kreisau Circle resistance group and was executed as a resistance fighter in the Third Reich in 1945 .
Helmuth von Moltke (1848–1916), called Moltke the Younger , Prussian Colonel General and Chief of the Great General Staff in World War I, was not a descendant of Helmuth the Elder , but the son of a cousin, also from the Samov branch.
Kreisau Castle , Lower Silesia
Danish lines
The family received several Danish rankings. So was Adam Gottlob Moltke arise (1710-1792), of the tribe Strietfeld and Good Walkendorf born in Mecklenburg, as royal Danish court marshal on 31 March 1750 in the Danish Lehnsgrafenstand levied. In 1746 he received Bregentved Castle near Haslev on the Danish island of Zealand with over 6000 hectares of forest and farmland as a fief. The Danish line, which goes back to Adam Gottlob, provided numerous generals, ministers and diplomats as well as several prime ministers of Denmark. Today's owner of Bregentved Palace is Christian Georg Peter Lehnsgraf Moltke (* 1959). One of the four palaces of today's royal residence Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen was built in 1754 for Adam Gottlob as Palais Moltke . The Prime Minister Adam Wilhelm Moltke acquired another palace in Copenhagen in 1852, the Moltkes Palæ , built in 1680 , which his grandson owned until 1930.
Adam Gottlob also acquired Glorup Castle in Svindinge Sogn in 1762 and Rygård Castle in Langå Sogn in 1766 , both of which are still owned by Count Moltke-Huitfeldt. Together with Anhof (sold in 1916) they formed the family entourage Stamhuset Moltkenborg from 1793 . Count Léon Moltke-Huitfeldt (1829-1896) was the Danish ambassador to Paris at the time when his Prussian cousin Helmuth besieged the city and the overthrow of Napoléon III. brought about. Léon's son, Count Adam Carl von Moltke-Hvitfeld (1864–1944), married Louise Eugenie Bonaparte , daughter of Napoleon III , in 1896 . American nephew Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte-Patterson II.
From 1763 to 1832, Noer Castle in Schleswig-Holstein was owned by the Danish line and belonged to a. Count Magnus von Moltke , and for a short time the Grünholz estate .
Palais Moltke (part of Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen)
Another Danish line goes back to the Danish general Johann Georg von Moltke (1703–1764), a brother of Adam Gottlob, which also provided high-ranking officers and ministers and which is still flourishing today. One of Johann Georg's grandchildren, Georg Moltke-Rosenkrantz (1786–1846), was raised to Baron Moltke-Rosenkrantz in 1828 under the name and coat of arms association with the feudal barons Rosenkrantz .
Werner Jasper Andreas von Moltke (1755-1835) from the Mecklenburg House of Walkendorf (Schorssow line) was raised to the Danish feudal count as royal Danish chief president and bailiff of the Faroe Islands (based in Copenhagen) in 1834. His son was Count Ludwig von Moltke .
coat of arms
The family coat of arms shows three (2.1) black black cocks in silver . On the helmet with black and silver covers there are seven as well as eight fan-like golden gussets , each decorated with a natural peacock feather.
Known family members
- Johann Moltke in Toitenwinkel (1271/1309), sovereign councilor, truchess
- Johann Moltke in Strietfeld (1318/38), sovereign councilor, war entrepreneur
- Johann Moltke in Strietfeld (1341/64), sovereign councilor, war entrepreneur
- Friedrich Moltke in Strietfeld (1353/90), ducal councilor, war entrepreneur
- Heinrich Moltke in Westenbrügge (1339/96), ducal councilor, court judge
- Johann Moltke in Strietfeld (1365/1407), ducal councilor, war entrepreneur
- Otto Moltke in Strietfeld (1440/86), Mecklenburg district administrator
- Ludolf Moltke in Strietfeld (1472/1532), Mecklenburg District Administrator
- Adam Gottlob von Moltke (1710–1792), Danish chief court marshal at the court in Copenhagen
- Friedrich Casimir Sievert von Moltke (1730–1783), provisional 1773/83 in the Poor Clare monastery in Ribnitz
- Adam Gottlob Detlev von Moltke (1765–1843), German-Danish landowner, lyric poet and poet
- Adam Wilhelm Moltke (1785–1864), Danish politician of Mecklenburg origin, President of the Council (Prime Minister) of Denmark from 1848 to 1852
- Carin Moltke (approx. 1520–1564), Mecklenburg landlord on Toitenwinkel
- Carl Poul Oscar Graf Moltke (1869–1935), Danish diplomat and Foreign Minister
- Erik Moltke, Danish art historian
- Freya von Moltke (1911–2010), wife of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, resistance fighter against National Socialism , writer , lawyer
- Friedrich Philipp Victor von Moltke (1768–1845), Prussian officer and Danish general, father of Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke and Louis von Moltke and grandfather of Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke
- Friedrich Adamson von Moltke (1816–1885), German-Danish administrative lawyer and district president
- Friedrich von Moltke (1852–1927), Upper President of East Prussia, Prussian Interior Minister, brother of Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke
- Gabriele von Moltke (* 1968), head of the Berliner Abendschau ( RBB ) since 2017
- Count Friedrich Ludwig von Moltke (1745–1824), last cathedral dean of the Lübeck bishopric
- Gebhard von Moltke (1567–1644), Mecklenburg landowner and politician of the Wallenstein period
- Gebhardt von Moltke (1938–2019), German ambassador
- Hans-Adolf von Moltke (1884–1943), German ambassador
- Harald Moltke (1871–1960), Danish portrait and landscape painter, polar explorer
- Heinrich Karl Leonhard Graf von Moltke (1854–1922), Imperial German Vice Admiral
- Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (1907–1945), resistance fighter in the Third Reich, great-great-nephew of Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke
- Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke (1848–1916), Prussian Colonel General and Chief of the General Staff, nephew of Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke
- Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke (1800-1891), Prussian field marshal and chief of the general staff
- James von Moltke (* 1969), member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Bank
- Joachim von Moltke (1891–1956), Nazi functionary and member of the Reichstag (1942–1945)
- Joachim Friedrich von Moltke (1618–1677), German lawyer and last heir to Toitenwinkel
- Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke (1909–2002), brother of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke , director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld
- Karl von Moltke (General) (1787–1853), Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal
- Karl von Moltke (1798–1866), Danish minister
- Kuno von Moltke (1847–1923), lieutenant general, city commandant of Berlin
- Ludwig Graf Moltke (1790–1864), Danish diplomat and bailiff
- Louis von Moltke (1805–1889), Danish-German administrative lawyer, councilor in the Duchy of Lauenburg, brother of Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke
- Magnus von Moltke (1783–1864), Schleswig-Holstein lawyer and politician
- Maximilian Leopold Moltke (1819–1894), poet of the Transylvanian song
- Otto von Moltke (1847–1928), officer, politician and monastery provost in Uetersen (1891–1912)
- Otto Joachim Moltke (1770–1853), Danish Minister of State and Prime Minister 1824–1842
- Paul Friedrich von Moltke (1786–1846), Russian diplomat
- Philipp von Moltke , commander in chief on July 9, 1745 at the Battle of Melle in the War of the Austrian Succession
- Werner Jasper Andreas von Moltke (1755–1835), Danish bailiff of the Faroe Islands
- Werner von Moltke (1936–2019), German athlete and sports official
- Wilhelm von Moltke (1845–1905), Prussian lieutenant general and member of the manor house
literature
- Olaf Jessen: The Moltkes. Family biography. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60499-7 ( review )
- Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon . Friedrich Voigt, Leipzig 1859, volume 6, p.335
- Hans Körner: Moltke, from. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 12 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Ernst Münch : The Moltkes are fighting for their Toitenwinkel family estate near Rostock. In: domination. Development of power over noble and princely property in the early modern period. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne Weimar 2003, pp. 3–26 .
- Jochen Thies : The Moltkes. From Königgrätz to Kreisau. A German family story. Piper Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-492-05380-8 .
- Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelslexikon Volume IX, Volume 116 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1998, ISSN 0435-2408
- Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses 1901. First year, p.630ff
- Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the count's houses 1870, p.690ff
Web links
- Literature about families (from) Moltke in the state bibliography MV
- Main line of those von Moltke
- Coat of arms seal of those von Moltke from 1296 and 1315 with description (page 94) ( Memento from May 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Friedrich Crull: The coats of arms of the genders of the team that occurred up to 1360 in today's borders of Meklenburg.
Individual evidence
- ^ Pomeranian document book 593
- ↑ Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch (MUB) Volume II. Schwerin (1864) No. 734
- ↑ a b Tobias Pietsch: The Moltkes in the late Middle Ages . In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher . tape 125 , 2010, p. 141-174 .
- ↑ (MUB) Volume II. (1864) No. 1553
- ↑ (MUB) Volume III. (1865) No. 2311
- ↑ a b c d Genealogical Manual of the Adels , Adelslexikon Volume IX, Volume 116 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1998, ISSN 0435-2408 , p. 141 ff.
- ↑ Gabriele von Moltke (49) is the editor of the Berlin "Abendschau" RBB September 1, 2019