House of Alvensleben

Alvensleben is the name of a Low German aristocratic family, whose earliest known member is Wichard de Alvensleve first mentioned in 1163 as a ministerialis of the Bishopric of Halberstadt. The family name comes from Alvensleben Castle (today Bebertal, district of Börde in Saxony-Anhalt).

History

The agnatic line of the family begins with Gebhard von Alvensleben, mentioned in 1190–1216. The Alvenslebens were hereditary seneschals (Erbtruchsessen) of the Bishopric and Principality of Halberstadt from the 12th century and had castles as the family seat from the time of the purchase (before 1282) of the castle of Erxleben and at Kalbe Castle (1324) in the Altmark. They were occasionally also castellans (Burgherren) of Calvörde Castle in Calvörde.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Alvensleben

The family coat of arms shows in gold two red fesses, the upper one emblazoned with two, the lower one with one silver roses. On the helmet with its red and gold mantling there is an upright, gnarled branch in red and gold, two branches to the right and one to the left, crowned with a silver rose.

Personalities

• Achaz Henry of Alvensleben (1716–1777), Prussian general
• Albert, Count of Alvensleben (1794–1858), Prussian minister of finance
• Albert, Count of Alvensleben-Schönborn (1848–1928), member of the Prussian House of Lords
• Alkmar II of Alvensleben (1841–1898), lieutenant general and commandant of Breslau
• Alkmar of Alvensleben (1874–1946), German doctor
• Andrew of Alvensleben (died 1565), castellan
• Anna Maria of Alvensleben (1659–1724), eldest daughter of Gebhard Christopher of Alvensleben at Erxleben I
• Armgard of Alvensleben (1893–1970), abbess of Heiligengrabe Abbey and managing director of the German Evangelical Railway Mission
• Berthold I of Alvensleben, Bishop of Hildesheim
• Busso of Alvensleben
• Christian of Alvensleben (born 1941), German photographer
• Constantine of Alvensleben (1809–1892), Prussian general
• Edward of Alvensleben (1787–1876), Landrat
• Frederica of Alvensleben, née von Klinglin (1749–1799), actress
• Frederick of Alvensleben (urk. 1301–1308), last Master of the Order of the Templers in Alemannia and Slavonia
• Frederick Joachim of Alvensleben (1833–1912), Landrat
• Frederick John, Count of Alvensleben (1836–1913), ambassador
• Ferdinand, Count of Alvensleben (1803–1889), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
• Gebhard XIV of Alvensleben (erw. 1393–1425), castellan at Gardelegen and governor (‚‘Landeshauptmann‘‘)
• Gebhard XVII of Alvensleben (died 1541), governor (Landeshauptmann)
• Gebhard XXIII of Alvensleben (1584–1627), Governor (‚‘Landeshauptmann‘‘) Beeskow uns Storkow
• Gebhard XXV of Alvensleben (1618–1681), statesman and historian
• Gebhard John I of Alvensleben (1576–1631), lord of the manor and builder of an observatory
• Gebhard Charles Ludolf of Alvensleben (1798–1867), Prussian general
• Gebhard John Achaz of Alvensleben (1764–1840), landowner
• Gebhard Nicholas of Alvensleben (1824–1909), senior master forester
• Gustav of Alvensleben (1803–1881), Prussian general
• Gustav Hermann of Alvensleben (1827–1905), Prussian general
• Gustav Constantine of Alvensleben (1879–1965), businessman in Vancouver, Canada
• Hans Bodo, Count of Alvensleben-Neugattersleben (1882–1961), landowner and President of the German Gentleman’s Club
• Hermann of Alvensleben (1809–1887), Prussian general
• Joachim I of Alvensleben (1514–1588), scholar and reformer
• John Ernest, Count of Alvensleben (1758–1827), cathedral dean and Brunswick minister
• John Frederick II of Alvensleben (1657–1728), Hanoverian minister
• John Frederick Charles of Alvensleben (1714–1795), British-Hanoverian minister
• John Frederick Charles II of Alvensleben (1778−1831), Prussian general
• John Louis Gebhard of Alvensleben (1816–1895), lord of the manor and musician
• Charles Augustus I of Alvensleben (1661–1697), privy councillor in Hanover and Canon of Magdeburg
• Kathleen King of Alvensleben, architect
• Kuno of Alvensleben (1588–1638), Canon of Magdeburg
• Ludolf of Alvensleben (1844–1912), Prussian major general and lord of the manor
• Ludolf X of Alvensleben (1511–1596), statesman
• Ludolf Augustus Frederick of Alvensleben (1743–1822), royal Prussian major general, commandant of Glaz Fortress and Inspector of the Silesian Army
• Ludolf-Hermann of Alvensleben (1901–1970), Nazi Reichstag MP and lieutenant general in the Waffen SS
• Ludolf Udo of Alvensleben (1852–1923), county deputy and Prussian politician
• Louis Charles Alexander of Alvensleben (1778–1842), Prussian officer and literary figure in Theodor Fontane’s novel Schach von Wuthenow
• Louis of Alvensleben (1805–1869), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
• Louis of Alvensleben (playwright) (1800–1868), German playwright
• Margarethe of Alvensleben (1840–1899), abbess of Heiligengrabe Abbey
• Oscar of Alvensleben (1831–1903), German landscape artist
• Phillip Charles, Count of Alvensleben (1745–1802), Prussian state and cabinet minister
• Professor Reimar von Alvensleben (born 1940), agrarian economist
• Rudolf Anthony of Alvensleben (1688–1737), Hanoverian minister
• Udo Gebhard Ferdinand of Alvensleben (1814–1879), landowner and member of the Prussian House of Lords
• Udo III of Alvensleben (1823–1910), landowner and author
• Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor (1897–1962), German art historian
• Sophia of Alvensleben (1516–1590), abbess of Althaldensleben Abbey
• Valentine of Alvensleben (1529–1594), castellan at Gardelegen and Erxleben
• Werner II of Alvensleben (erw. 1428–1472), castellan at Gardelegen, Electoral Brandenburg councillor and court marshal (Oberhofmarschall)
• Werner VIII of Alvensleben (1802–1877), Prussian general
• Werner, Count of Alvensleben-Neugattersleben (1840–1929), landowner and businessman
• Werner von Alvensleben (1875–1947), merchant and politician
• Wichard von Alvensleben (1902–1982), farmer and forester, officer
• Wichard von Alvensleben (Go-Spieler) (1937–2016), lawyer, Go player

Sources

• Siegmund Wilhelm Wohlbrück: Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben und dessen Gütern. 3 Bände, Berlin 1819–1829. Band I, Band II, Band III
• George Adalbert von Mülverstedt: Codex Diplomaticus Alvenslebianus. Urkundensammlung des Geschlechts von Alvensleben. 4 Bände, Magdeburg 1879, 1882, 1885, 1900.
• Hellmut Kretzschmar: Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben seit 1800. Burg 1930
• Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: Alvenslebensche Burgen und Landsitze. Dortmund 1960.
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Vol. 53, 1972, Adelslexikon

See also

• List of German nobility

External links

• Internet page of the House of Alvensleben
• House of Alvensleben in the Wildenfels castle archive