Ravens (noble family)

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Coat of arms of those of ravens

Raben , historically also Rabe or Raaben , is the name of a Mecklenburg prehistoric noble family who came to Prussia with the Teutonic Order and later spread to Denmark and Württemberg and gained a reputation. Branches of the family persist to this day.

The gender is not to be confused with the Raven from Stargarder Land .

history

The ravens were first documented on January 11, 1320 with the knight Hinricus Rauen, with whom the family line began .

Mecklenburg

The place Raben Steinfeld borrows its name from the family that was there; The name was first mentioned in 1410, but an early German castle was founded on site as early as 1160 . In 1523 the family is said to have also signed the Union of Estates . Since 1416 in Kirch Stück, Groß and Klein Trebbow , the ravens sold their last shares in the Stammgut Stück , at that time called Raben-Stück , which since 1775 has been named Barner-Stück after the later owner family von Barner . At the beginning of the 19th century, the ravens also sold Bussewitz , Rederank and Marxhagen . The descendants of the family then entered service in Württemberg, including the officer Ernst von Raben . A descendant from this branch, Ulrich von Raben, acquired Eichbichl Castle in Upper Bavaria in 1995 .

In the registration book of the Dobbertin monastery there are seven entries by daughters of the von Raben families from Rederang and Christiansholm from the years 1711–1868 for inclusion in the noble women's monastery there . In March 2012, the grave slab of Conventual No. 283 Margaretha Hedewig von Raben, who died on February 7, 1803 in Dobbertin , was uncovered in the Dobbertin monastery cemetery .

Denmark

Christian Friedrich Raben, Count of Christiansholm (1693–1773)

At the latest with Johann Otto von Raben (1646-1719), son of the Swedish Colonel Victor Raben and heir to piece, the family entered Danish service. He was under the government of Frederick III. first royal Danish chamberlain , then lieutenant colonel and finally court marshal . After he gave up this dignity, he became a privy councilor in 1697 and received the office of Friedrichsburg on Zealand , but finally resigned in 1717 and retired to Stück in Mecklenburg. He was married to Emerentia von Levetzau (1669–1746) from the Restrup family. In 1725 she acquired the Ålholm and Bramslykke goods complex, with the island of Egholm, Stenvængegården and Bremersvold in Musse Herred , from which she formed the Fideikommiss Christiansholm for her only son Christian Friedrich Raben (1693–1773). In 1731 he bought Kjærstrup in Fuglse Sogn and was raised to the Danish feudal count as Count of Christiansholm on March 26, 1734 . In 1724 he was made chief steward of the Crown Princess and later Queen Sophie Magdalene and in 1733 a privy councilor and honorary member of the Society of Sciences. With his wife Berte Scheel von Plessen , a daughter of the privy councilor Christian Ludwig Scheel von Plessen , he had 13 children.

Their eldest son died early; the second, Otto Ludvig Raben (1730–1791), royal Danish chamberlain , inherited Christiansholm and the title of Count and became a Privy Councilor in 1774 , the third son, Sigfred Victor (1741–1819), took the name Raben-Levetzau in 1787 when he was inherited the Restrup property (in Aalborg , North Jutland). The fourth son, Carl Adolph , bought the Næsbyholm and Bavelse estates in 1775 (which only remained in the family until the beginning of the 19th century). The youngest son, Frederik Sophus (1745-1820), acquired the Beldringe and Lekkende estates in 1774 , which the family owned until 1993; his descendants inherited Restrup from 1787 and called themselves Raben-Levetzau . The daughters married Danish nobles, among them Sophie Hedevig the court marshal Adam Gottlob von Moltke .

The county of Christiansholm with its headquarters in Ålholm fell in the next generation to Frederik Christian (1769–1838), a son of Otto Ludvig and a well-known botanist. He had 12 children, including the liege Count Julius Raben (1804–1879), a conservative parliamentarian. When the county of Christiansholm fell to Josias Raben-Levetzau on Restrup (1796–1889) after him , he was also given the title of feudal count in 1881. He was followed by his son, the Danish Foreign Minister Frederik Raben-Levetzau . By the highest resolution of March 9, 1904, the respective owner of the County of Christiansholm led the title of count, which was passed patrilineally on to the eldest son. Daughters, however, led by Danish nobility rights throughout the Comtessentitel , younger sons but the Baron title . Baron Frederik Christopher Otto Raben-Levetzau was the last of the family to live on Bramsløkke until 1921.

After the death of the former Foreign Minister in 1933, his eldest son Siegfried inherited the title, although in 1921 the Lehnsgrafschaft Christiansholm had been dissolved as a tied property. But he renounced the ownership of Ålholm with Egholm and Bremersvold in favor of his younger brother, Baron Johan. This had National Socialist sympathies, which led to a dispute with his eldest son Frederik Raben-Levetzau, which is why his younger half-brother Johan Otto (John) Raben-Levetzau inherited the property. He had to sell everything in 1995 after suffering major losses through currency speculation. His daughter Nina Veronika had already sold the Beldringe estate in 1993 and the son Frederik Ivan the Lekkende estate. John's sister Irene was married to the liege count Tido Wedell on Wedellsborg and Frijsenborg.

possession

Ledebur , among others, gives a brief outline of the historical property ownership of the family :

  • Restrup

  • Ålholm

  • Bramsløkke

  • Beldrings

  • Lickers

coat of arms

  • The family coat of arms shows in blue a half-green lily placed horizontally, turned upside down . On the helmet with blue and gold covers a crowned black raven ready to fly with a gold ring in its beak.
  • Coat of arms (1734, 1760): quartered and covered with a heart shield crowned by a count , in it the family coat of arms; 1 and 4 in silver a red grid of five pointed stakes ( Levetzau ), 2 u. 3 in gold a striding two-tailed black bull ( Plessen ). Three helmets: on the right helmet with red and silver covers half the shield image, here lying across, in front of five natural peacock feathers (Levetzau); in the middle the helmet of the family coat of arms; on the left helmet with black and gold covers three natural peacock feathers with 18 eyes between two half red wheels (Plessen). As a shield holder a crowned black raven with a gold ring in its beak and a two-tailed black bull, both opposing.
  • Coat of arms (1787): split , on the right the family coat of arms, on the left in silver a red grid made of 5 pointed posts (Levetzau). Two helmets: on the right the helmet of the family coat of arms; on the left with red-silver covers half the shield image, here lying across, in front of five alternating red and blue peacock feathers (Levetzau).

Historical coats of arms

  • Gravestone of Margaretha Hedewig von Raben in Dobbertin

  • Coat of arms of the ravens in Danmarks nobility Aarbog 1896

  • Count's coat of arms Raben-Levetzau

Known family members

Liege Count Frederik Raben-Levetzau (1850–1933), Danish Foreign Minister

literature

  • Edmund von der Becke-Klüchtzner: The nobility of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Stuttgart 1879.
  • Danmarks nobility Åarbog. 1 (1884), 2 (1885), 4 (1887), 13 (1896) (stem series and older genealogy), 50 (1933), 52 (1935), 85 (1970-1971), Afsnit 2, p. 3 –25 (lineage and older genealogy), 97 (2003–2005)
  • Genealogical handbook of noble houses . A 1, Volume 5 of the complete series, (1953), pp. 317-321; A 21, Volume 98 of the Complete Series, (1990), pp. 415-418; Nobility Lexicon . Volume XI, Volume 122 of the Complete Series, (2000). Pp. 121–122, CA Starke Verlag , Limburg (Lahn)
  • Gustav von Lehsten: The nobility of Mecklenburg since the constitutional hereditary comparisons (1775). Rostock 1864, p. 287.
  • Kurt von Raben: genealogical tables of the family v. Ravens. Hanover 1996.
  • Kurt von Raben: Raben descendants. Hanover 1997.
  • Wolf Lüdeke von Weltzien: The raven clan. In: Families from Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. Volume 4, 1995, pp. 59-78.

Web links

Commons : Raben family  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch 6. Nr. 4162.
  2. ^ A b Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon . Volume 7, Leipzig 1867, pp. 306-307.
  3. ↑ Leopold von Ledebur : Adelslexikon der Prussischen Monarchy . Volume 2, Berlin 1856, pp. 245-246.