German nobility

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A German king (probably depicts Konrad III) as the "Bamberg Rider" or Bamberger Reiter (13th century)

German nobility (German: deutscher Adel) describes the class of Germans who had special political and social status throughout German history since the Germanic tribes of Germania where the Edlinge were the nobles.

History

Otto the Great
Coat of Arms of the Emperor and King of the Holy Roman Empire, in Johann Siebmachers Wappenbuch, 1605
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Kaiser Franz-Josef of Austria
The House of Oldenburg is a German dynasty since 1101. It has had branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg. The current Queen of Denmark, King of Norway and King of the United Kingdom are all patrilineal descendants of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of this house.
Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia and freedom fighter against Napoleon's tyranny
Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte Prinzessin von Preußen, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Princess of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, in the uniform of the 2. Leib-Husaren-Regiment „Königin Viktoria von Preußen“ Nr. 2 (Totenkopf husars)
Sigurd von Ilsemann and his wife Elisabeth with their two older sons Wilhelm-Viktor and Siegfired, painted by Adolf Pirsch (1858–1929)
German nobility in the 21st century: Ernst August Andreas Philipp Constantin Maximilian Rolf Stephan Ludwig Rudolph Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Royal Prince of Great Britain and Ireland (left) and Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen (right). At the age of 18, after the death of his grandfather, Georg Friedrich became head of the House of Hohenzollern. If Germany were still a monarchy, he would be the German Emperor today (as of 2023).

The nobility is divided into two sections: Hochadel and Niederadel (high and low nobility). Noble status was usually inherited. It originated with people who had power, influence, and land in a patchwork of hundred and more different principalities, knighthoods, abbeys, etc. all being independent under the Emperor or who received a grant of nobility from a duke or prince, king, the German King, the Roman-German Emperor or the German Emperor after 1871.

Most family traditions about a noble ancestor prove to be untrue. Members of the noble class seldom left their country or disowned their children. Illegitimate children of nobility, though not entitled to noble status, were often recorded (although the father may not have been named) and can be found in the records. The noble class formed only a small percentage of Germany's population, and Germany limited the growth of the noble class. Laws specified which children of the nobility inherited their parents' status. Although some original records such as grants of nobility still exist, you can often research your noble ancestors by using compiled sources. German nobility was frequently associated with the military (officers) and a mobile lifestyle. When the family moved frequently, compiled sources become especially helpful. The compiled sources for German nobility include both published and manuscript genealogies.[1]

Most monarchies in Europe are of German descent. They make up for almost all existing and reigning dynasties in Europe. In the past, the German House of Habsburg ruled Spain and Mexico. The House of Hohenzollern ruled Romania. German houses also ruled Greece and some other countries. Sometimes vacant thrones were offered to German ethnic nobles, sometimes they were just next in line to the throne. Contrary to a common misconception, viceroy (Vizekönig) was not an aristocratic title, but in some monarchies the official designation of a governor in colonies (Reichskommissare and Gouverneure in the German Colonies) or dominions with special prestige.

Titles (descending)

High nobility (Hochadel)

  • Kaiser, Kaiserin (Emperor, Empress)
  • König, Königin (King, Queen)
  • Erzherzog, Erzherzogin (Archduke, Archduchess)
    • Archduke (abbreviation: Ehzg.) was the title of the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria as Archduke of Austria from 1453 to 1918, Archidux Austriae (Medieval Latin; abbreviation: AA). From the 18th century onwards, the female descendants of the Habsburg-Lorraine family also bore the title. All Roman-German Emperors and Kings from the House of Habsburg elected from 1486, and from 1780 Habsburg-Lorraine, bore the title in the sense of a hereditary title of nobility and in this sense all Emperors of Austria also bore it from 1804.
  • Großherzog, Großherzogin (Grand Duke, Grand Duchess)
    • Grand Duke is a European title of nobility between Duke and King. The dominion is a grand duchy. The heir to the throne of a Grand Duke bears the title "Hereditary Grand Duke". The provisions of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 also elevated other German princes to grand dukes – the previous dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, of Mecklenburg (Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz) and of Oldenburg (in the latter only actually used from 1829). Close dynastic connections to the Hohenzollerns in Prussia and to the Romanovs in Russia were decisive for these increases in rank.
  • Herzog, Herzogin (Duke, Duchess)
    • Originally, dukes were Germanic generals who were chosen for the duration of a campaign by the free men of a tribe through elections within the framework of a thing. Usually, warriors were chosen who had great experience and good standing in the community. The size and fighting power of the followers usually also played an important role. Well-known Germanic dukes were Ariovistus, Arminius, Marbod and Widukind. In the Merovingian period, dukes were royal officials with primarily military duties in the Germanic and Romance tribal areas conquered by the Franks, which the Merovingian kings could not subject to their direct royal rule without the recognition of a local intermediary power. These include Alemannia, Bavaria, Franconia (around Würzburg), Aquitaine and Brittany. In the early Middle Ages, hereditary tribal duchies arose in the area of ​​the Frankish Empire, which were abolished by the Carolingians, but revived with the decline of central royal power at the end of the 9th century. The tribal dukes in East Francia at the time of Henry I (Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936) were usually members of regional ruling dynasties, who exercised rights in an area related to the respective tribe via the local counts and noble lords on behalf of the king, e.g. B. led the army ban or convened state parliaments and held court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the tribal duchies of the Holy Roman Empire increasingly morphed into territorial and titular duchies through division. According to this, a duke was the ruler of certain territories, often divided geographically, or bearer of the noble title bestowed by the king. Which counts and noblemen recognized his suzerainty was v. a. depends on the assertiveness of the respective duke. The dukedom was granted by the king as a fief and could also be revoked.
  • Kurfürst, Kurfürstin (Elector/Electoral prince, princess)
    • An elector was one of the originally seven highest-ranking princes of the Holy Roman Empire who, since the 13th century, had the sole right to elect the Roman-German King (electoral dignity or Kurwürde), with whose dignity since the 10th Century the claim to the empire was connected.
  • Fürst, Fürstin (Prince, Princess)
  • Pfalzgraf, Pfalzgräfin (Palatine Count/Palsgrave, Palatine Countess)
    • They were originally officials and representatives of the king or emperor. They presided over the Court Court and held a managerial function of a general nature. They also acted as liaisons between supplicants from the empire and the king or emperor. In the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire there was a Count Palatine for each duchy. Later most of the Palatine counties were incorporated into a more powerful principality. From the late Middle Ages, the only remaining Count Palatine near the Rhine belonged to the Imperial Princes and was effectively on an equal footing with the dukes. The salutation of the princely Count Palatine (Count Palatine of the Rhine) was (Royal) Highness.
  • Markgraf, Markgräfin (Margrave, Marquess, Marchioness/ Margravine)
    • In the Holy Roman Empire, the margraves, equal to the landgrave and palatine count, belonged to the estate of imperial princes (Reichsfürstenstand) and were therefore effectively equal to the dukes. The salutation of the margraves was (royal) highness. Numerous margraves, who originally came from the lower nobility or knighthood, were able to build up a powerful position in the Marche, which was later used for political power within the empire.
  • Landgraf, Landgräfin (Landgrave, Landgravine)
    • Initially official title of a fief bearer directly from the king. Later, the landgraves of Thuringia and Hesse belonged to the imperial princely estate and were almost on an equal footing with a duke.
  • Reichsgraf, Reichgräfin (Imperial Count, Imperial Countess)
    • The originally so-called Count's owners of territories directly under the Empire, who had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire and thus belonged to the so-called Imperial Estates. They are counted among the high nobility. After 1803 they lost their semi-sovereign position through mediatization (usually as a result of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), i.e. through affiliation to neighboring larger territories, and were then referred to as "lords of the estate". So the Reichsgrafs were subordinated to their former "neighbors" (as the new sovereigns). However, they retained the equality with the ruling dynasties and are still allowed to wear a princely hat over their coat of arms.
  • Erbgraf
    • The first-born son or heir of an imperial estate (according to mediatization, a noble) and thus a noble count (comparable to an hereditary prince).

Lower nobility(Niederadel)

  • Graf, Gräfin (Earl/Count, Countess)
    • The mere titular counts, who received their title of count “vom Reich” (i.e. from the supreme head of the empire, the Roman-German Emperor or, as a substitute, an imperial vicar) as an increase in rank, but did not rule any territories with a seat and vote in the Reichstag, were also regarded as referred to as imperial counts. However, they belong to the lower nobility and do not rank above such counts who have received their titles from other monarchs.
  • Altgraf, Altgräfin
  • Burggraf, Burggräfin
    • The domain of a burgrave was called burgrave (lat. prefectura). The burgraves, who belonged to the local lower nobility, sometimes adopted the official designation as part of their name.
  • Raugraf, Raugräfin (Raugrave)
    • Members of the family gained influence in the Rhenish high foundations and in secular offices.
  • Rheingraf, Rheingräfin (Rhinegrave)
    • The Rheingraves were an aristocratic house that emerged from the Embrichones, who acted as Gaugrafen in the Rheingau in the 11th century. Through marriage, the title passed to the Lords of Stein on the lower Nahe. When they also inherited the extinct Wildgraves at the beginning of the 15th century, they called themselves Wildgraves and Rhinegraves. In 1459/1475, they inherited the Counts of Salm (Obersalm) and then called themselves Counts of Salm.
  • Wildgraf, Wildgräfin (Wildgrave)
    • The noble family of the Wildgraves came from a division of the house of the Nahegau counts in 1113.
  • Reichsfreiherr
  • Freiherr/Baron, Freifrau/Baronin, Freiin/Baronesse
  • Reichsritter (Imperial Knight/Dame)
  • Ritter (Knight/Dame)
  • Edler, Edle (Noble)
    • Edler, derived from "noble lord" or "noble gentleman", was a title of nobility that could be requested in the event of ennoblement. It was awarded mainly in Bavaria and Austria from the late Middle Ages until 1918. A noble was below the status of knights and barons, but formally above that of the untitled nobility. In Austria, the distinction between people with a simple von and the salutation Edler von was already so blurred in the 19th century that the word of honor Edler was counted among the simple nobility and could be requested by any newly ennobled person for an additional fee.
  • Von (Herr von, Junker, Frau von, Fräulein von)

Significant Germanic/German nobles worldwide (small selection)

  • Christoph von Pfalz-Neumarkt (1416–1448), King of Denmark (1440–48, as Christopher III), Sweden (1441–48) and Norway (1442–48) during the era of the Kalmar Union
  • Christian Prinz von Oldenburg und Delmenhorst (1426–1481), King of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also duke of Schleswig and count (after 1474, duke) of Holstein (within the Holy Roman Empire). He was the first king of the House of Oldenburg.
  • Georg Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1660–1727), as George I King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover.
  • Friedrich August I. Kurfürst von Sachsen (1670–1733), most commonly known as Augustus (II) the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in the years 1697–1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. His only legitimate son, as Frederick Augustus II Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire, became as Augustus III king in 1733.
  • Adolf Friedrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1710–1771), King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. He was an uncle of Catherine the Great.
  • Karl Peter Ulrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1728–1762), as Peter III Emperor of Russia (House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov)
  • Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst (1729–1796), as Catherine (II) the Great reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III.
  • Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach (1815–1867), from 1832 to 1862 first king of Greece
  • Ferdinand August Franz Anton, Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1816–1885), King of Portugal jure uxoris as the husband of Queen Maria II, from the birth of their first son in 1837 to her death in 1853. He retained the style and title of king even after the death of Maria II and her succession by their children Pedro V and then Luís I. His sons were kings regnants, while Ferdinand himself was a king-father during their reigns.
  • Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria Erzherzog von Österreich (1832–1867), born in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire, German Confederation, Maximilian, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, 1857–59 and as Konteradmiral (rear Admiral) Commander in Chief of the Austrian Imperial and Royal War Navy (until April 1864), became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his murder in Mexico on 19 June 1867.
    • The emperor's Aide-de-camp (Flügeladjutant) Prussian Major, Brevet Brigadier General of the US-American Union Army during the American Civil War and Imperial Mexican Colonel Felix Constantin Alexander Johann Nepomuk Prinz zu Salm-Salm (1828–1870) with his husars tried to help him escape, but the attempt failed. Soon after, Prinz zu Salm-Salm returned to Europe and re-entered the Prussian Army as major in the 4th Guards Grenadiers regiment. He was killed (⚔) at Saint-Privat-la-Montagne during the Battle of Gravelotte in the Franco-Prussian War. His faithful American-born wife Agnes Elisabeth „Winona“, née Leclerq Joy, who again, like in Mexico, had joined him, serving as a nurse on the battlefield, had his mortal remains transferred to the family crypt in Anholt Castle, Germany.
  • Leopold Stephan Karl Anton Gustav Eduard Tassilo Fürst von Hohenzollern (1835–1905), head of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, offered the Spanish Crown by the new government in 1869. The offer was supported by Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck but opposed by the French Emperor Napoleon III on the grounds that the installation of a relative of the Prussian king would result in the expansion of Prussian influence and the encirclement of France. This was one of the reasons which led to the Franco-German War.
  • Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1839–1914), monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (Domnitor) from 1866 to 1881, and as King from 1881 to 1914.
  • Ferdinand (I) Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1861–1948), second monarch of the Third Bulgarian State, firstly as ruling prince (knyaz) from 1887 to 1908, and later as king (tsar) from 1908 until his abdication in 1918.
    • Under his rule Bulgaria entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers in 1915. His son, Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver Sakskoburggotski, Prinz von Tarnowo, was Tsar of Bulgaria from 3 October 1918 until 28 August 1943 in WWII. In his personal diary, Joseph Goebbels expressed doubts that the Italian government, in the person of Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio, was responsible for Boris III's death. According to Goebbels, Hitler was convinced that the Italian royal court was the organizer of the poisoning of Boris III, as Princess Mafalda of Savoy, sister of Joan of Bulgaria, was visiting Bulgaria four weeks before the monarch's death and her visit coincided with the events of 25 July 1943, the overthrow of Benito Mussolini (Fall Achse), supported by King Victor Emmanuel III. Boris's son Simeon von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, as Simeon II and a minor from 1943 to 1946 (under a Regency Council headed by Boris's brother Kyrill Heinrich Franz Ludwig Anton Karl Philipp Prinz von Bulgarien), the last Tsar of the Tsardom of Bulgaria, pointed out as probable the hypothesis that the USSR was also interested in the Tsar's death, in which case the NKVD intervened.
  • Ferdinand von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1865–1927), King of Romania

Further reading

  • Simon Bening / Antonio de Hollanda: Genealogy of the Royal Houses of Europe and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, 1530–1534
    • On 26 pages they present 13 full-page miniatures with partly historized borders and 29 marginal depictions. The order, conceived as a collaboration between Lisbon and Bruges, was probably given by Ferdinand of Portugal (1507–1534) from the House of Burgundy (Capetian dynasty of Frankish, therefore Germanic origin), who, according to the diplomat Damião de Góis (1502–1574), had a genealogy made from Noah to his father King Manuel I.
  • Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch, 1778 to 1942
  • Handbuch des preußischen Adels, 1892 and 1893
  • Deutsche Adelsgenossenschaft: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Adels, Volume 3, Verlag W. T. Bruer, Berlin 1899

External links

References

  1. ↑ Germany Nobility
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