• About Me

European Royal History

~ The History of the Emperors, Kings & Queens of Europe

European Royal History

Tag Archives: Niederer Adel

The House of Bismarck, Part II.

12 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by liamfoley63 in Principality of Europe, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Fürst von Bismarck, German Nobility, Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen, mediatized, Niederer Adel, Otto von Bismark, Prince von Bismarck

The House of Bismarck, Part II.

The family has its roots in the Altmark region, descending from Herebord von Bismarck (d. 1280), the first verifiable holder of the name, mentioned about 1270 as an official (Schultheiß) at the city of Stendal in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His descent from the nearby small town of Bismark is conceivable though not ascertained.

His relative Nikolaus von Bismarck (d. 1377) was a councillor and a loyal supporter of the Wittelsbach margrave Ludwig I, over which he fell out with the revolting Stendal citizens and was compensated with the manor of Burgstall in 1345. By a 1562 agreement with the Hohenzollern margraves, the Bismarcks swapped Burgstall with Schönhausen, located east of the Elbe river and formerly part of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, which also had been under Hohenzollern rule since 1513.

F6FBE828-9B3E-442F-8CCE-939730BE1662
Otto Fürst von Bismarckj

A Prussian Junker family, its most notable member, Otto von Bismarck, gained the comital title (Graf) of Bismarck-Schönhausen in 1865 and the hereditary princely status of a Fürst von Bismarck after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

Two ships of the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine), as well as a battleship from the World War II era, were named after Otto von Bismarck. Also named in his honour were the Bismarck Sea and Bismarck Archipelago (both near the former German colony of New Guinea), as well as several places in the United States, among them Bismarck, North Dakota, the state’s capital.

A Prussian Junker family, its most notable member, Otto von Bismarck, gained the comital title (Graf) of Bismarck-Schönhausen in 1865; this comital title is borne by all his descendants in the male line. In 1871, he was further created Fürst von Bismarck (“Prince of Bismarck”) and accorded the style of Durchlaucht (“Serene Highness”); this princely title descended only to his eldest male heirs.

In 1890, Bismarck was granted the title of Herzog von Lauenburg (“Duke of Lauenburg”); the duchy was one of the territories that Prussia seized from the king of Denmark in 1864. It was Bismarck’s ambition to be assimilated into the mediatized houses of Germany. He attempted to persuade Emperor Wilhelm I that he should be endowed with the sovereign duchy of Lauenburg, in reward for his services to the imperial family and the German empire.

2F50847E-F8FE-4ABF-90AE-A02287FF60D2
Princely arms of Otto von Bismarck

This was on the understanding that Bismarck would immediately restore the duchy to Prussia; all he wanted was the status and privileges of a mediatized family for himself and his descendants. This novel idea was rejected by the conservative emperor, who thought that he had already given the chancellor enough rewards.

There is reason to believe that Bismarck informed Wilhelm II of his wishes. After being forced by the sovereign to resign, he received the purely honorific title of “Duke of Lauenburg”, without the duchy itself and the sovereignty that would have transformed his family into a mediatized house. Bismarck regarded it as a mockery of his ambition, and he considered nothing more cruel than this action of the emperor.

The Duchy of Lauenburg was one of the territories which Prussia seized from Denmark in 1864, and the choice of this title was therefore a nod to Bismarck’s career.

Upon Bismarck’s death in 1898, his dukedom became extinct and his princely title passed to his eldest son, Herbert. The current prince is the Iron Chancellor’s great-great-grandson.

Princes of Bismarck

1. Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck (1815–1898)
2. Nikolaus Heinrich Ferdinand Herbert, Prince of Bismarck (1849–1904)
3. Otto Christian Archibald, Prince of Bismarck (1897–1975)
4. Ferdinand Herbord Ivar, Prince of Bismarck (1930–2019)
5. Carl, Prince of Bismarck (born 1961)

The heir apparent to the title is the current prince’s son, Count Alexei von Bismarck (born 2006).

Without becoming the member of a mediatized Family, The House of Bismark remained a member of the Niederer Adel, or Lower Nobility.

The House of Bismarck Part I

11 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by liamfoley63 in Duchy/Dukedom of Europe, Empire of Europe, Kingdom of Europe, Principality of Europe, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

German Confederation, German Empire, German mediatisation, High Nobility, Hochadel, Holy Roman Empire, House of Bismarck, Lower Nibility, Niederer Adel, Otto von Bismark, Uradel

The House of Bismarck Part I

The House of Bismarck is a German noble family that rose to prominence in the 19th century, largely through the achievements of the statesman Otto von Bismarck. He was granted a hereditary comital title in 1865, the hereditary title of Prince of Bismarck in 1871, and the non-hereditary title of Duke of Lauenburg in 1890. Several of Otto von Bismarck’s descendants, notably his elder son Herbert, Prince von Bismarck, were also politicians.

F5702124-0587-46ED-BF4A-A3AE215D77A4

Before I delve into the history of the The House of Bismarck I would like address the complex subject of the German Nobility. It will be simplified here.

The German nobility (German: deutscher Adel) and royalty were status groups which until 1919 enjoyed certain privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the German-speaking area.

Historically German entities which recognized or conferred nobility included the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806), the German Confederation (1814–1866) and the German Empire (1871–1918). All legal privileges and immunities of the royalty and nobility (appertaining to an individual, a family or any heirs) were officially abolished in 1919 by the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), and nobility is no longer conferred or recognized by the Federal Republic of Germany.

In Germany, nobility and titles pertaining to it were recognised or bestowed upon individuals by emperors, kings and lesser ruling Royals, and were then inherited by the legitimate, male-line descendants of the ennobled person. Families that had been considered noble as early as pre-1400s Germany (i.e., the Uradel or ancient nobility) were usually eventually recognised by a sovereign, confirming their entitlement to whatever legal privileges nobles enjoyed in that sovereign’s realm.

In the evolution of noble titles in Germany two separate classes of nobles developed. Uradel (German for ancient nobility) is a genealogical term introduced in late 18th-century Germany to distinguish those families whose noble rank can be traced to the 14th century or earlier. The term is in juxtaposition of the word Briefadel, a term used for titles of nobility created in the early modern period or modern history by letters patent. Uradel and Briefadel families are generally further divided into the categories adlig (untitled and titled nobility), freiherrlich (baronial), gräflich (comital), and fürstlich (royal, princely and ducal) houses.

BFC63179-4567-4DB3-ACEA-A99DAF8A0BEF

The Uradel were further divided into the Hochadel (“upper nobility”, or “high nobility”) and the Niederer Adel (“lower nobility”). here is a definition of each class.

Hochadel

The Hochadel were those noble houses which ruled sovereign states within the Holy Roman Empire and later, in the German Confederation and the German Empire. They were considered Royalty; the heads of these families were entitled to be addressed by some form of “Majesty” or “Highness”. These were the families of kings (Bavaria, Hanover, Prussia, Saxony, and Württemberg), grand dukes (Baden, Hesse and by Rhine, Luxembourg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), reigning dukes (Anhalt, Brunswick, Schleswig-Holstein, Nassau, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen), and reigning princes (Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Liechtenstein, Lippe, Reuss, Schaumburg-Lippe, Schwarzburg, and Waldeck-Pyrmont).

The Hochadel also included the Empire’s formerly quasi-sovereign families whose domains had been mediatised#(see below) within the German Confederation by 1815, yet preserved the legal right to continue royal intermarriage with still-reigning dynasties (Ebenbürtigkeit). These quasi-sovereign families comprised mostly princely and comital families, but included a few dukes also of Belgian and Dutch origin (Arenberg, Croÿ, Looz-Corswarem). Information on these families constituted the second section of Justus Perthes’ entries on reigning, princely, and ducal families in the Almanach de Gotha.

During the unification of Germany, mainly from 1866 to 1871, the states of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (in 1850), Schleswig-Holstein and Nassau were absorbed into Prussia.

In addition, the ruling families of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen were accorded the dynastic rights of a cadet branch of the Royal House of Prussia after yielding sovereignty to their royal kinsmen. The exiled heirs to Hanover and Nassau eventually regained sovereignty by being allowed to inherit, respectively, the crowns of Brunswick (1914) and Luxembourg (1890).

Niederer Adel

Nobility that held legal privileges until 1918 greater than those enjoyed by commoners, but less than those enjoyed by the Hochadel, were considered part of the lower nobility or Niederer Adel. Most were untitled, only making use of the particle von in their surnames. Higher-ranking noble families of the Niederer Adel bore such hereditary titles as Ritter (knight), Freiherr (or baron) and Graf. Although most German counts belonged officially to the lower nobility, those who were mediatised belonged to the Hochadel, the heads of their families being entitled to be addressed as Erlaucht (“Illustrious Highness”), rather than simply as Hochgeboren (“High-born”).

There were also some German noble families, especially in Austria, Prussia and Bavaria, whose head bore the titles of Fürst (prince) or Herzog (duke); however, never having exercised a degree of sovereignty, they were accounted members of the lower nobility (e.g., Blücher, Pless, Wrede). Bismarck is such an example of a House belonging to the Lower Nobility and never exercised a degree of sovereignty.

# German mediatisation was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularization of a large number of Imperial Estates. Most ecclesiastical principalities, free imperial cities, secular principalities, and other minor self-ruling entities of the Holy Roman Empire lost their independent status and were absorbed into the remaining states. By the end of the mediatisation process, the number of German states had been reduced from almost 300 to just 39. Despite losing sovereignty the former ruling houses of these states were still considered Hochadel under laws adopted by the German Empire.

Recent Posts

  • January 27, 1859: Birth of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia
  • History of the Kingdom of East Francia: The Treaty of Verdun and the Formation of the Kingdom.
  • January 27, 1892: Birth of Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria
  • January 26, 1763: Birth of Carl XIV-III Johan, King of Sweden and Norway.
  • January 26, 1873: Death of Amélie of Leuchtenberg, Empress of Brazil

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012

From the E

  • Abdication
  • Art Work
  • Bishop of Rome and the Catholic Church
  • Charlotte of Great Britain
  • coronation
  • Crowns and Regalia
  • Deposed
  • Duchy/Dukedom of Europe
  • Elected Monarch
  • Empire of Europe
  • Famous Battles
  • Featured Monarch
  • Featured Noble
  • Featured Royal
  • From the Emperor's Desk
  • Grand Duke/Grand Duchy of Europe
  • Happy Birthday
  • Imperial Elector
  • In the News today…
  • Kingdom of Europe
  • Morganatic Marriage
  • Principality of Europe
  • Regent
  • Royal Bastards
  • Royal Birth
  • Royal Castles & Palaces
  • Royal Death
  • Royal Divorce
  • Royal Genealogy
  • Royal House
  • Royal Mistress
  • Royal Succession
  • Royal Titles
  • royal wedding
  • This Day in Royal History
  • Uncategorized

Like

Like

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 414 other subscribers

Blog Stats

  • 956,345 hits

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • European Royal History
    • Join 414 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • European Royal History
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...