Henckel von Donnersmarck

Henckel coat of arms

The Henckel von Donnersmarcks are a German noble family from the former region of Spiš in Upper Hungary, now in Slovakia. The founder of the family was Henckel de Quintoforo in the 14/15th century. The family estate is in Donnersmarck (slovak: Spišský Štvrtok).

History

In 1417, during the time of the Council of Constance, the Holy Roman Emperor and Hungarian King, Sigismund of Luxembourg, granted the three brothers Peter, Jakob and Nicholas a coat of arms.[1]

During the 15th and 16th centuries John II (1481–1539), an eminent scholar, corresponded with Martin Luther, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Philipp Melanchthon. He began his career as a pastor in Levoča and Košice. Later, he stayed at the court of the Louis II of Hungary and his wife Maria of Austria. In 1531, he came to Silesia and became a canon in Breslau (Wroclaw), Silesia. He died there eight years later and was buried in the local cathedral.

Lazarus Henckel (or Lazarus the Elder) (1551–1624) was a banker and mine owner, and financier of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II's war with the Turks. In return for his service he was given a number of privileges; in 1607 he and his sons were ennobled with the surname von Henckel von Donnersmarck.[1] The family seat became the castle at Neudeck (Świerklaniec).

Lazarus II (or Lazarus the Younger) (1573–1664), called the Lazy was made Baron of Gfell and Vesendorff by the Habsburg emperor, Ferdinand II, at Regensburg in 1636. In 1651 Archduke Ferdinand Karl of the Tyrol raised his title to that of Count in the Habsburg Hereditary Lands, and he received the same title in the Kingdom of Bohemia from Emperor Leopold I in 1661, the title being hereditary for all legitimate descendants, male and female, in the male line.[1] In 1697 the Henckels' inheritance of the Freien Standesherrschaft of Beuthen (Free Lordship of Beuthen), under the Bohemian crown, obtained Imperial confirmation as a hereditary Fideicommis, a family trust heritable by masculine primogeniture, on which estate would later be based the family's admission to Prussia's House of Lords until 1918.[1]

In the following centuries the descendents of Lazarus II split into several lines and branches.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the family was the second richest in Prussia after the Krupps.[2] Hugo I Henckel von Donnersmarck (1811–1890) (a steelworks founder and owner), and Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830–1916) were both wealthy industrialists. In 1854 and 1887 the family was given seats in the Prussian Hereditary House of Lords and on 18 January 1901 Guido received the Prussian title of Prince from German Emperor Wilhelm II, heritable by masculine primogeniture.[1]

Following the defeat of the Third Reich in 1945, the Henckel von Donnersmarcks lost their fortune due to expulsion from Silesia by Ukrainian troops of Soviet Army.

In 2007 director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for his spy drama The Lives of Others.

Family members

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XV. "Henckel v. Donnersmarck". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1997, pp. 590-592. ISBN 9783798008144
  2. ↑ Spiegel49 2010, p. 144

Bibliography

  • Henckel von Donnersmarck, A. Perlick, w: Neue Deuitsche Biographie, Bd 8, Berlin 1969, s. 516
  • Henckel von Donnersmarckowie. Kariera i fortuna rodu, A. Kuzio-Podrucki, Bytom 2003
  • Beier, Lars-Olav (2010). "Unter Genieverdacht". Der Spiegel (in German). Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein (49): 144. Retrieved 2011-01-08. 
  • Zamki Donnersmarcków, J. A. Krawczyk, A. Kuzio-Podrucki, Radzionków 2002
  • Herbarz bytomski, A. Kuzio-Podrucki, P. Nadolski, D. Woźnicki, Bytom 2003
  • Henckel von Donnersmarckowie. Kariera i fortuna rodu, Arkadiusz Kuzio-Podrucki: . Rococo, Bytom 2003 ISBN 83-86293-41-1 (polnisch)
  • Zamki i pałace Donnersmarcków. Schlösser der Donnersmarcks, Jarosław Aleksander Krawczyk, Arkadiusz Kuzio-Podrucki: . 2. Auflage. Drukarnia Skill, Bytom 2003 ISBN 83-86293-41-1 (deutsch und polnisch)
  • Guido Graf Henckel Fürst von Donnersmarck:in: Schlesier des 19. Jahrhunderts (= Schlesische Lebensbilder; Band 1). Hrsg. namens der Historischen Kommission für Schlesien von Friedrich Andreae. 2. Auflage. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1985 ISBN 3-7995-6191-9, J. Bitta
  • Henckel von Donnersmarck Graf (seit 1901 Fürst) Guido: H. Nussbaum, in:Biographisches Lexikon zur Deutschen Geschichte. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1967, Karl Obermann, Heinrich Scheel u.a. (Hrsg.)
  • Hugo Reichsgraf Henckel Freiherr von Donnersmarck und die Geschichte seines Hauses. Wien nach 1890?
  • Henckel von Donnersmarck Hugo, in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexicon 1815-1950. Band II. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1959
  • Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste. Zweite Sektion H-N. Leipzig, 1829 S.389
  • Günther Probszt (1969), "Donnersmarck, Lazarus I. Henckel von", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 517–518 
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