Speßhardt (noble family)

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Speßhardt is the name of an old Franconian noble family.

history

origin

The family appears for the first time in a document with Heinricus de Spechteshart 1265 and belongs to the Frankish imperial knighthood, canton Rhön-Werra.

Name origin

It stands to reason that the family name Speßhardt is derived from the low mountain range of the same name in the federal states of Hesse and Bavaria, today written as Spessart . The word Spessart itself originated etymologically from Specht and Hardt, so it stands for “Spechtswald”. The Franconian origin of the family name Speßhardt (other forms are Spechteshardt, Spessart or Speßhart) does not contradict the current delimitation of the area, but is explained by its much wider extension to Thuringia:

“In earlier times this whole area was a contiguous forest, which was named Speßhardt, even earlier Sprechteshardt, silva picaria, and at the time of Roman rule formed part of the edge of the great forest. Even the medieval geography allowed Speßhardt to extend into the Buchonia, to the Steiger and Thuringian Forest, to the Bohemian Forest. "

Status survey

In 1888 the baron status was recognized by the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen.

Family seats

Fladungen

In Fladungen the family, namely Simon von Speßhart, son of Hans von Speßhart, Burgmann auf Hildenburg , owned the Fischwasser Frankenheim-Leubach and Gorkenschütz-Fladungen from 1401. The fish as heraldic animal also owes to this fact .

Aschenhausen

Around 1480, the von Speßhardt family took over the manor at Aschenhausen below the Henneberg Castle Dißberg from the Counts of Henneberg . Both buildings no longer exist today. The castle in Aschenhausen, which had disappeared, was a fort-like complex with a square base with square towers in each corner, which had probably served as a supply castle for Dißberg Castle. It was demolished in the 19th century (around 1880). Their outlines can still be seen on satellite images.

The place was first mentioned in 838 as Aseshuson. In Aschenhausen there is still a synagogue built around 1840, which is known as the “Third Reich” survived and is a reminder of the once strong Jewish community. For the first time, 1695 Jews were admitted to the site by the noble family von Speßhardt.

Unsleben

The moated castle in Unsleben was built between the 12th and 18th centuries and is located on the edge of the Bavarian Rhön in the valley of the Streu between Bad Neustadt an der Saale and Mellrichstadt .

Helwicus de Usleybe is mentioned as the first lord of the castle in 1160, who as Ministeriale of the Bishop of Würzburg had to secure the northern border of the duchy against the Counts of Henneberg. With the extinction of the Knights of Unsleben, the property came to the Truchsess von Wetzhausen. In the middle of the 16th century Ursula Truchsess von Wetzhausen married Wilhelm von Spesshardt, bailiff of Meiningen and Massfeld. Due to generous donations to the church, the barons of Spesshardt had to sell the property to the baron von Gebsattel in 1727 . In 1741 he sold it to the Würzburg court chancellor, imperial councilor and court palatinate count Cornelius Freiherr von Habermann, who owned the castle until the 20th century. Among other things, it housed the summer studio of the well-known Munich secession painter Hugo von Habermann . Henriette, one of the painter's two daughters, married Maximilian Graf zu Waldburg Wolfegg in 1960 . Today the castle is owned by a son of the Waldburg family, who lives there with his family.

Helmershausen

The "Yellow Castle" in the village of Helmershausen , today part of the municipality of Rhönblick in the Schmalkalden -Meiningen district in Thuringia, was built in 1562/63 and was owned by the Barons von Speßhardt from 1696 onwards. In 1766 the family sold the castle to the community. It is used privately today.

Mupperg

The castle in Mupperg near Coburg was built in 1750, but probably had an older predecessor, which was initially inhabited by the Schaumberg and Redtwitz families. Descriptions referring to this can be found in sources from the 18th and 19th centuries:

“In 1653 Wolff Albert von Schaumberg renewed the local village regulations and in the period from 1671 to 1691 Georg Heinrich von Redtwitz was named as Herr von Mupperg in the parish papers. Soon afterwards, the free Reich, Mr. Christoph Caspar von Speßhardt, Hessian lieutenant colonel, became Mr. zu Mupperg, which can be concluded with all certainty, because the pastor at the time, Joh. Stephan Besserer, named Mr. von Speßhardt on December 14, 1694 , as the local ruler, gave a commemorative sermon on his fatal step and the same Chr. Casp. von Speßhardt, although different to Unschleben on May 29, 1694, was buried in the local church, in the hereditary funeral. Mupperg remained in this respectable and benevolent family until this time, and it is to be hoped that the noble von Speßhardt family will continue to have their knighthood here undisturbed and undisturbed into the most distant times (...) "

“Mupperg is not only located in a beautiful, but also fertile river in terms of both the meadows and the fields. The manor itself, as well as a considerable part of the village, counts itself as imperial knighthood. 7 Bauerngüther argue about Neustadt, the office also has a protective flag there. The latter owner was the prince. Bambergische Herr Wissensde Rath von Speßhardt, he left 2 gentlemen sons who are still under guardianship (...) "

coat of arms

In red the headpiece of a fish diagonally to the right ; On the helmet with red-silver covers an open flight divided by silver and red across the corner, covered with the fish head, placed obliquely to the right, obliquely to the left.

Members of the family

The von Speßhardt family was related to many well-known families (see also list of Frankish knight families ). These included u. a. the Bibra families ; Erbach ; Erffa ; Stein , Truchseß von Wetzhausen .

literature

  • Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Freiherrlichen Häuser, Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1916, p. 793 ff.
  • Genealogical handbook of the nobility, Freiherrliche Häuser A Volume X, CA Starcke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1977, p. 381 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ StArchiv Münster, Marienfeld Monastery, No. 158, abr. in the Westf. UrkBuch, Vol. III, No. 756
  2. ↑ The Spessart and its forestry management, Munich 1896, p. 1
  3. ↑ Carl Binder, The former office Lichtenberg before the Rhön, Jena 1896, reprint 1982, p. 476
  4. ^ C. Kronfeld, Regional Studies of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Weimar 1879
  5. ^ Thomas Schwämmlein: District of Sonneberg. (Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural monuments in Thuringia 1.) E. Reinhold Verlag, Altenburg 2005, p. 230
  6. ^ Gustav Lotz, The Mupperg Parish, Coburg 1843, §18
  7. ^ Christian Friedrich Kessler von Sprengseisen, Topography of the Herzoglich-Sachsen-Koburg-Meiningischen Antheils an dem Duchy Koburg, Sonnenberg 1781, p. 90
  8. ↑ coat of arms of the Spessart zu Unsleben in the Aschaffenburg coat of arms book (plate 51, page 225); see also Bernhard Peter: Gallery: Photos of beautiful old coats of arms No. 1818: Jagsthausen (Heilbronn district) - grave slabs under the battlement of the old castle in Jagsthausen (1)