Udo Gebhard Ferdinand von Alvensleben

Udo Gebhard Ferdinand von Alvensleben

Udo Gebhard Ferdinand von Alvensleben (born March 14, 1814 in Berlin ; † December 20, 1879 in Erxleben ) was a landowner and member of the Prussian manor house .

family

He came from the Low German noble family von Alvensleben and was a son of the district administrator Eduard von Alvensleben (1787–1876) from Redekin and of Amalie von Stedern (1789–1816) from Emersleben . He lost his mother at the age of two. His father married Dorothee von Veltheim (1801–1879) from Destedt for the second time in 1818. After his first wife, Elise Freiin von Plettenberg from Heeren , died after a short marriage in 1842, he married Ehrengard von Kröcher (1821–1895) from Vinzelberg for the second time in 1844 . This marriage produced six children, including the future Count Albrecht von Alvensleben-Schönborn (1848–1928) and Ludolf Udo von Alvensleben (1852–1923). Both later - like their father - were members of the Prussian manor house.

Life

After attending the Knight's Academy in Brandenburg an der Havel , he joined the 11th Hussar Regiment in Münster in 1832. Here he got to know his first wife and also the later Bishop of Mainz Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler , with whom he remained in contact all his life. After his marriage, he first lived in Redekin and in 1841 bought the manor Wittenmoor in the Stendal district. There he worked primarily as a farmer and forester , improving and expanding the property through acquisitions, buildings, amelioration and afforestation of heather areas on the Bockelberg . When the Minister Count Albrecht von Alvensleben on Erxleben II died in 1858 without a direct heir, Udo von Alvensleben's father Eduard and his brother Ferdinand were the feudal successors. In their name he took possession of the Erxleben II estate and the associated Uhrsleben estate and took up residence there. He was a member of the Provincial Landtag , the Communal Landtag of Altmark and the District Council in Stendal. In 1869 the family elected him as their representative in the Prussian manor house. He received the dignity of chamberlain, was hereditary ruler of the Principality of Halberstadt and knight of the Order of St. John . After his death in 1879 he was buried - like his two wives - in the Erxleben palace chapel.

Udo von Alvensleben has made great contributions to the preservation and increase of family property, to the maintenance of intellectual and historical traditions and to the rescue of endangered cultural monuments. He was responsible for twelve patronage churches. He had five of them completely restored in the course of his life, including - as the last work of his life - the castle chapel in Erxleben. At his request, the Magdeburg archivist George Adalbert von Mülverstedt put together an Alvensleben collection of documents, the “Codex Diplomaticus Alvenslebianus” (four volumes). As early as 1854, Udo von Alvensleben published the Creed of Faith, written by his ancestor Joachim I von Alvensleben in 1566. At his instigation, the Alvensleben family association was founded and he also tried very hard to strengthen the family's solidarity. Politically he was active in the Christian-conservative sense - sometimes critical of Otto von Bismarck , especially in the " Kulturkampf ", where he supported the Mainz Bishop Ketteler and promoted ecumenical efforts.

literature

• JMRaich: Letters from and to Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherrn von Ketteler, Bishop of Mainz . Mainz 1879, pp. 499–500 (contains correspondence with Udo v. Alvensleben from 1875).
• Without author: Udo v. Alvensleben † . Separate print from No. 6 of the Sunday supplement of the Neue Prussische (Kreuz-) Zeitung 1880.
• Hellmut Kretzschmar : Historical news of the Alvensleben family since 1800 . Burg 1930, pp. 183–187.
• Guido Heinrich: Alvensleben, Udo Gebhard Ferdinand von. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 , pp. 10-11.
• Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor : The last five generations of the Alvensleben in Erxleben II - 1782-1945 (written 1959). Published by the von Alvensleben eV family, Falkenberg August 2008, 44 pp.

Web links

• familie-von-alvensleben.de